Book Review: "The Hearing Test" by Eliza Barry Callahan

Sometimes I’m so taken by the synopsis of a book that I read a few pages and then buy it without looking at any reviews. At times this experiment is successful and I find a gem I might not have otherwise known about.

Other times, however, it’s like only walking around the store once when you try on a pair of shoes—you don’t experience the discomfort until you’ve done a little more walking. And in this case, the book’s quirks weren’t evident until I got about 20 pages in, and I had already bought the shoes, umm, book.

In The Hearing Test, a young artist awakes one morning with “a deep drone in my right ear accompanied by a sound I can best compare to a large piece of sheet metal being rocked, a perpetually rolling thunder.” At first she thinks she might have water in her ear after a swim. But the doctors quickly diagnose her with Sudden Deafness, as she had lost low-end hearing.

This news throws her for a loop. The doctors don’t believe she’ll regain her hearing, and in fact, this could be a sign of a larger problem which might ultimately result in profound deafness. But while this is certainly worrying, she is determined not to let herself obsess over what might happen.

The book is essentially a record of her year—the interesting and the mundane things that occur. Many times it’s her recounting conversations she had with random people, conversations with so many extraneous details it’s like talking to a friend who is prone to veer off topic and onto other paths. It’s also a reflection on her happinesses and disappointments, her fears and triumphs.

Most of the book is told in a stream-of-consciousness style, without context for what the author shares. (Also, conversations are reflected with no quotation marks.) I think this was beautifully written—the language was so evocative—but it was mostly over my head. Ah, well…

Book Review: "Hello Stranger" by Katherine Center

Sadie has been determined to follow in her late mother’s footsteps and become an artist. But her lack of success has certainly created a wedge between her and her surgeon father, who vowed he’d never give her a dime once she decided to give up medical school to pursue art.

And finally, she’s on her way. She’s placed as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society’s competition (a contest her mother was a finalist in when she died), and winning this could be the break she needs, financially and career-wise.

She’s ready to celebrate–and the next thing she knows, she’s lying in a hospital bed, in need of urgent brain surgery. Although her doctor says the surgery can wait until after the competition is over, her father forces her into having the surgery right away, because the medical problem she has was the same thing that killed her mother.

While the surgery was supposed to be fairly routine, Sadie is shocked to discover that the surgery left her with a “probably temporary” case of prosopagnosia, or face blindness. She can see perfectly, but when she looks at a person’s face, it appears to her as a jumble of mismatched parts. It’s tremendously difficult for anyone to deal with, but especially for someone who paints portraits for a living. Even when she encounters a person she knows, she doesn’t recognize them, because the lack of facial recognition throws off her perceptions.

As she tries to deal with the potential of having to live with this condition permanently, as well as confront the major family issues she has faced for years, she finds herself falling for two very different men at the same time. She keeps thinking about her dog’s veterinarian, imagining a life with him. But why does her mind keep wandering back to one of her neighbors, who seems like he’d be less of a suitable choice? Is she doomed to a life alone?

Katherine Center is definitely an auto-buy author for me. This was a sweet read, but not one of my favorites of hers. There’s a twist that I suspected very early on, and I thought the whole family dynamic was just too unbelievable and annoying for me, especially given the destruction caused and the reasons behind it.

Book Review: "The Hero of This Book" by Elizabeth McCracken

The Hero of This Book, the new novel from Elizabeth McCracken, is thought-provoking and emotional.

“Once somebody is dead, the world reveals all the things they might have enjoyed if they weren’t.”

When is a memoir not a memoir? That is a question raised a lot during this book. The narrator, a writer, is grieving following the death of her mother 10 months earlier. She decides to take a trip to London, which was the last place she traveled with her mother a few years earlier.

As she wanders the streets and sees the sights—some they visited on their trip—she thinks a lot about her mother and their relationship. Her mother was tough, feisty, fiercely intelligent, and had to deal with multiple physical challenges which affected her ability to walk and stand. But her mother was also a private person, and there are many things that she never truly knew about her.

What’s interesting about this book is that Elizabeth McCracken’s mother died also, and there are similarities between the narrator and mother in this book and the mother and daughter in real life. McCracken (or the narrator) spends much of the book considering whether writing about her mother’s life would be a violation of her privacy, even after death. But someone who lived a life like her mother deserves someone to write about her.

The very meta nature of this book made it both fascinating and a little bit frustrating. The narrator’s mother was very vividly depicted in the book, but when the focus wasn’t on her, it wasn’t as interesting to me.

Book Review: "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin

One of the most beloved books of the year is this sweeping story of friendship, love, grief, recovery, and video games.

Sadie and Sam meet in the hospital when they are 11 years old in the late 1980s. Sadie is visiting her older sister and Sam is recovering from one of several surgeries to repair his foot, which was crushed in a car accident. She finds Sam in the hospital’s game room and she is impressed with his skill at Super Mario Bros.

Even though Sam hasn’t spoken to anyone since he came to the hospital, he and Sadie strike up a friendship, mostly bonding over video games. She even comes to the hospital to visit him after her sister is released, and they spend a great deal of time together until an argument ends their friendship.

Years later, Sam spots Sadie on a crowded subway platform in Boston. He knows she’s a student at MIT, while he attends Harvard, but they’ve not seen each other since they were 13. But quickly it’s as if no time has passed, and that encounter is the spark that leads to their partnering on developing a video game.

The story follows them over the next 15 or so years, as they become famous video game developers, and deal with personal and professional ups and downs. Their friendship is tested time and again, with jealousy, misunderstandings, ambition, and tragedy affecting them. It’s a powerful and emotional story, which meandered a bit too much for me, but it definitely kept me invested in the characters’ stories.

While you don’t have to know much about video games to read this, it would help. But I enjoyed the portrayal of their creativity and genius, as well as the commentary about video games’ effect on society.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!

Book Review: "The Baseball Widow" by Suzanne Kamata

Suzanne Kamata's The Baseball Widow is a well-written exploration of family, belonging, connection, and, of course, baseball.

Christine has longed for connection, for purpose, to belong. When she meets Hideki, a teacher, she thinks their relationship will sustain her, but it isn’t until after she goes abroad to help Cambodian refugees that he realizes how much he needs her.

Once she returns to Japan, they get married and Christine gives birth to two children, including a young daughter with multiple disabilities. She needs her husband more than ever. But Hideki serves as a coach for his high school’s baseball team, a responsibility he takes very seriously, so he spends more time with his team than he does his family.

When Christine and Hideki’s son is bullied in school, a neglected and overwhelmed Christine takes the children home to the United States, thinking they might be safer there. But while she might have more help at home, she also has more temptation—in the form of Andrew, a friend from high school whose service in Fallujah left him emotionally and physically scarred.

Will Hideki realize that he may lose his family before it’s too late? Will Christine realize what’s most important to her? What sacrifices will both need to make?

This was a beautiful, thought-provoking book about being caught between two cultures. Thanks to Suzy Approved Book Tours, Suzanne Kamata, and Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing for inviting me on the tour and providing a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

The Baseball Widow publishes 10/5.

Book Review: "When We Were Young" by Richard Roper

Is there anything quite like an old friend? See what you think after reading Richard Roper's new novel, When We Were Young.

Another late night getting surprisingly emotional over a book…this was another good one!!

Joel and Theo were childhood best friends who dreamed of being comedy writers. They haven’t spoken since one fateful night when they were 16.

Now, Joel is the writer of a hit television series and is still dating his high school girlfriend. Theo, on the other hand, is about to get evicted from his parents’ garden shed, where he’s been living for the last two years. He’s still reeling from a breakup and some career disappointments.

Joel shows up unexpectedly on Theo’s 30th birthday to remind him that they once made a pact to hike all 184 miles of the Thames Pass when they turned 30. Even though the last thing Theo wants us to spend an extended amount of time with his former best friend, Joel extends a carrot that’s too good to resist, and besides, what else is Theo doing?

While they make a promise not to rehash the past, of course, they can’t escape it. But there are things they don’t want to tell one another—things that could have changed the last 14 years and things that could impact the future.

As I’ve said before, I love books about old friendships and coming to terms with the past. When We Were Young snuck up on me and surprised me, and I really cared about these characters. It’s a beautifully written and emotional story, one that I’ll think of the next time I consider reaching out to an old friend.

Book Review: "Seven Days in June" by Tia Williams

In Tia Williams' latest novel, Seven Days in June, a second chance at their love story gives them everything to gain—and everything to lose.

“I remember that I’m not lonely. I’m alone. When I’m comatose from writing and mothering, when I’m hurting too badly to cook, talk, or smile, I curl up with ‘alone’ like a security blanket…Alone never gets disappointed by me.”

Eva is the bestselling author of an erotica series featuring a vampire and a witch. She’s struggling to finish book 15, dealing with chronic pain, which is a disability she’s lived with her whole life, and she's trying to be the best single mom to her precocious preteen daughter. She doesn’t feel she’s succeeding anywhere.

When prizewinning author Shane Hall shows up at a literary panel where Eva is speaking and begins waxing poetic about her work, it sets the Black literary community afire. But what no one other than Shane and Eva know is that 15 years ago they fell madly in love over the period of a week, only to have everything fall apart. The fact is, each has been using the other as inspiration for their work since then.

Shane’s return throws Eva’s life into upheaval. Their chemistry is still undeniable and the thought of letting each other go again is something neither wants to consider. But Eva is not sure she wants to leave herself vulnerable again, not sure if she can take the risks he could bring to her life and her daughter’s.

Over the course of seven days, they try to decide whether to let themselves fall again and what that vulnerability will mean. At the same time, the story looks back on the first seven days they spent together all those years before, and how indelibly it changed them.

Boy, this was so fantastic. It was poetic and steamy and beautiful and sad, really just amazing. Shane and Eva are such complex characters and their story hooked me from start to finish. I didn't want this to end!

Book Review: "How Lucky" by Will Leitch

Will Leitch's new novel, How Lucky, is an utterly unforgettable, beautiful book about hope, friendship, and survival.

If you were to look at Daniel, you’d assume he was miserable. Since childhood he’s lived with a degenerative disease that has confined him to a wheelchair, mostly unable to speak, and he knows ultimately that this will be his death sentence.

But while Daniel may not be living the kind of life people envy, he has a full life. He has friends and a strong support system of people who care about him, a job for a regional airline, and living in Athens, Georgia, he loves to experience the jubilation of college football and how it transforms everything.

“Real life, mercifully, isn’t a thriller. Those things don’t happen to you, and they don’t happen to me. My life is nothing but small moments, and so is yours. We don’t live in a series of plot points. We should be thankful for that. We should realize how lucky we are.”

One morning Daniel sees a young woman walking down the street past his house. She does this every day. But on this day he sees her get into a car, and the next day he hears she has gone missing.

What could have happened to this woman? Daniel wants to tell the police what he knows, but will they believe someone like him? What Daniel doesn’t realize is he’ll set a chain of events in motion which could threaten his life—but he’d probably do it anyway for the sake of the young woman.

How Lucky is suspenseful, uplifting, funny, poignant, and utterly charming. It has elements of Rear Window but it’s a story all its own, with one of the most engaging and wonderful protagonists I’ve ever seen. It makes you think, it’ll make you smile, and if you’re like me, you’ll probably tear up.

Leitch did such a great job creating these characters and definitely did his research on what it's like to live with a disability like Daniel's. And extra points for commentary on the fact Glenn Close STILL hasn’t won an Oscar!!

Book Review: "Most Likely" by Sarah Watson

Sarah Watson's debut novel, Most Likely, is a great story about friendship and how far it can take you—like all the way to the Oval Office.

Ava, CJ, Jordan, and Martha have been best friends since just before kindergarten. They’ve always had each other’s backs through good and bad times, and in 30 years, one of them is going to be elected president.

The book focuses on their senior year of high school. Ava has battled depression and insecurity, as well as questions about her family; CJ wants to make something of herself and hopes getting into Stanford might be the launching point, despite her abysmal SAT scores; aspiring journalist Jordan is doggedly focused on finding the right story to jump start her career; and Martha's ambitions are tempered by financial realities and her uncertainty about what her sexuality might mean to her future. They each are determined to leave their mark on the world.

"Im probably biased, but if I had to pick the one love story that matters most, it would be mine. I'm not talking about [name withheld to maintain surprise]. Even though they are completely wonderful. I'm talking about the other one. The three loves of my life. Right here in this room."

Most Likely is a really compelling story of the ups and downs of friendship, family, love, self-esteem, and stepping out of your comfort zone. You don’t know who will be president until the very end (although if you’re paying attention, you realize it just before) and I was totally invested. (Watson even tries to throw you off the trail a few times.)

Sure, there are some predictable moments and times when you just want to shake the characters so they’ll say what they need to, but this was a really enjoyable book, and the friendships seemed genuine. I'd love to see this as a television movie or feature film.

Another good Pride Read to add to the list!

Book Review: "Maybe Someday" by Colleen Hoover

Maybe Someday is another home run from Colleen Hoover, leaving me sniffling and teary-eyed!! (This has become a regular occurrence when reading her books!)

From the moment she seems him playing the guitar on his apartment balcony, something about Ridge mesmerizes Sydney. He’s handsome, sure, but he has an indescribable appeal which, coupled with his talent, draws Sydney out on to her balcony across the way so she can listen to him play. She's embarrassed to admit this to her best friend and roommate, so she just pretends to study on the balcony a lot.

When Ridge notices Sydney singing words to the songs which don’t exist, he seeks her help with lyrics. Since she has a serious boyfriend, they just text back and forth, and songs are born.

One night everything falls apart for Sydney when she discovers her boyfriend and her roommate have been sleeping together. Ridge sweeps in to help his valuable lyricist and she temporarily moves in with him and his roommates. But what ensues is far more complex, intense, and emotional than it seems on the surface, leaving both of them to decide what path is the right one to take.

"How can two good people who both have such good intentions end up with feelings, derived from all the goodness, that are so incredibly bad?"

This book surprised me with a few of the twists Hoover threw in. They really brought a fascinating and utterly compelling perspective to the book and the love stories within it. Maybe Someday is super steamy at times, utterly poignant at others, and it really makes you wonder how even with the best of intentions you can hurt someone else so deeply.

I’ve become an enormous CoHo fan, having read five or six of her books in the last several months. I need to keep diving into her backlist! Any recommendations on which book of hers to read next?

Book Review: "The Good Daughter" by Karin Slaughter

You said it, George Takei! I seriously cannot get over this book.

Over the last few months I've seen a number of friends on Goodreads waxing poetic about Karin Slaughter. I like a good crime novel/thriller, so I figured I'd need to check her out at some point. Then I heard about her newest book, The Good Daughter, so I thought, "Let's give this the old look-see, shall we?"

DAMN, Karin Slaughter. You knocked my freaking head off with this one.

It was a fairly typical night for teenage sisters Charlotte (Charlie) and Samantha (Sam) Quinn of Pikeville, Georgia. Well, as typical as it could be considering their house had been burned down by people who didn't like that their father, the local defense attorney, had gotten a rape suspect acquitted, not to mention all of the other criminals he represented. But as the girls and their mother waited for their father to come home, a terrifying attack occurred, one which left physical and psychological damage, causing scars real and emotional, and forging secrets that changed everything.

Twenty-eight years later Charlie has pulled her life together as best as she could, and is now a lawyer like her father. Despite all that occurred that night, and the abuse she dealt with later, she never could leave Pikeville, which isn't always the easiest thing to deal with. And then she finds herself a witness to a shocking, senseless act of violence which traumatizes the entire town. Not only does her role in the incident—and her reaction to it—put her back in the spotlight again, but it causes the memories of that night 28 years ago to resurface, memories which threaten to tear her life and her family—and perhaps others—completely apart.

"...she was such an idiot that again and again she expected her father to be the kind of person who worried about his daughter the way he worried about pimps and gangbangers and murderers."

The Good Daughter gets your adrenaline pumping from the very beginning, and quickly entangles you in the lives of the Quinns and the people of Pikeville. My heart was beating so fast at times while reading this book, because Slaughter is the kind of storyteller who makes you feel you are right there in the middle of the everything as it is happening. Some of the violence is disturbing and distressing, but it's never gratuitous.

The characters aren't entirely sympathetic, so you don't know exactly who to trust, and you know there will be surprises along the way. I just hoped and prayed that Slaughter wasn't going to choose one particular path down which to take her story, and I was really glad she didn't. But so many times as I was reading, I kept thinking to myself, "Yes! This is how you tell a story. This is how a thriller should be."

Was it entirely surprising? Perhaps not. But this book packed a real punch, and has definitely left me with a new favorite author. If you like this genre and can deal with some violence, pick up The Good Daughter. I can't stop thinking about this one and how much I was blown away by it, and I can't wait to get into Slaughter's other books, because if they're this good?

Wow. Just, wow.

Book Review: "The Driver" by Hart Hanson

When I saw that Hart Hanson, creator of the television show Bones, had written a thriller, I jumped on it pretty quickly. And while there are certainly similarities between the show and the book, particularly the smart-ass banter between the characters, The Driver is a rip-roaring, complex, humorous, and satisfying thrill ride, with some fantastically memorable characters.

Michael Skellig is a limo driver, the owner of his own limousine company. A former Army Special Forces officer who has seen and done things he doesn't like to talk or think about, he hears voices on the wind of those he has killed in the past. But strangely, these voices don't mean him harm, they warn him of impending danger, and sometimes force him to wise up before something goes totally awry. Skellig's employees are all fellow veterans, each with their own set of issues to deal with, whether physical, emotional, or cultural.

"I don't know for absolute sure whether the voices I hear in the wind are supernatural or if they're just in my head. Do they tell me things I don't know or things I just don't know consciously? Are those voices my own guilty subconscious trying to tell me something and the only way to get my attention is to speak to me in the voices of those whose lives I've taken? Or do ghosts actually exist?"

Skellig has spent more than a day driving Bismarck Avila, a skateboard star-turned-business mogul, from place to place. While waiting for Avila to come out of a hotel, he is waiting with his car in an alley when the voice of one of his victims warns him that trouble is on the way. He rushes into the hotel and is able to thwart an attack on Avila's life, although in the process one of Avila's bodyguards is killed. And when Skellig wakes up in the hospital a few hours later, he finds himself the only suspect in the bodyguard's murder.

Being at the right and wrong place at the right and wrong time throws Skellig into the midst of Avila's problems, which further intensify around the time he blackmails Skellig into becoming his personal driver. People around Avila keep winding up dead, and Skellig is too curious and too noble just to let things unfold around him. And as the danger mounts for Skellig and his colleagues, it also causes friction in his relationships with his sometime-girlfriend (and attorney), Connie, and his friend and periodic nemesis, Detective Delilah Groopman, Connie's best friend, with whom Skellig has always been a bit infatuated.

The Driver is a wild ride which will make one hell of a movie. Hanson has created some complex characters whom I hope to see more of, and as you might imagine, he has a knack for memorable dialogue and some pretty fantastic action scenes. He throws in some gimmicks as well which irritated me a little—in trying to describe how one character speaks, he writes many of the words this character says In Capital Letters, and another tends to talk in fragments, so. He writes. That way. (See what I mean?)

But those quirks aside, I really enjoyed this book and hope it's just the start of a long relationship with Skellig and his ragtag band of compatriots. This is a fun, cool read, and hopefully it marks the start of a fantastic writing career for Hanson.

NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Kids of Appetite" by David Arnold

As I was devouring (no pun intended) David Arnold's sensational new book, Kids of Appetite, I started pondering the existential question, "Why do I read?" As you'd probably imagine there isn't one easy answer to that question—at different times I may read for entertainment, escape, information, motivation, or to be moved, and quite often it's a combination of more than one of those.

While I didn't set out to read Kids of Appetite to be moved, this story of the bonds of friendship, preserving your own identity, overcoming tragedy, giving yourself (and others) a second chance, and the jumble of emotions which accompany first love absolutely moved and dazzled me. This is truly a special book, full of emotion, surprise, and beautiful storytelling, and it has found its way into my heart.

"We are all part of the same story, each of us different chapters. We may not have the power to choose setting or plot, but we can choose what kind of character we want to be."

Things haven't been the same since Victor Benucci's father died two years ago. Afflicted with Moebius syndrome, a neurological disorder that primarily causes facial paralysis, Vic is unable to blink or show much facial expression at all, which causes him to be ridiculed and treated as if he's stupid, which he most certainly isn't. He finds it difficult to make friends, and he misses his father tremendously, as he introduced Vic to the beauty of asymmetry in art. But as Vic's mother is trying to rebuild her life, he doesn't know how he fits in.

In the midst of an emotional crisis one night, Vic runs into Madeline Falco, a beautiful girl he's seen around a few times before. Mad has more than her own share of tragedy to overcome, but she recognizes in Vic a kindred spirit in need of help. She introduces him to her three companions, with whom she shares a unique family-like existence. They offer to help Vic with one major challenge he has undertaken—to solve the riddle his father left for his mother regarding where to scatter his ashes. But as Vic recognizes he can't hide forever, he is completely drawn to Mad, and he finds that she is as much in need of rescue as he is.

"I think Mad saw in books what I saw in art: the weightless beauty of the universe."

The book alternates between chapters narrated by Vic and Mad, and also shifts between the present, during which a police investigation is taking place, and eight days prior, when Vic meets Mad and her friends. While there are some twists in the plot that are given away in the book's synopsis, some are not, and part of this book's beauty is in letting the story unfold for you, so I'll stop with my plot summary.

I honestly cannot say enough great things about this book. While it's classified as YA, it definitely doesn't feel that way except for the fact that the main characters are teenagers. It's just so well-told, so moving, and anyone who has struggled with loss, feelings of powerlessness, and being ostracized for being different when inherently you're the same will identify with it. I haven't read Arnold's first book, Mosquitoland, yet, but you can bet I will.

It's amazing to think that there are still three months left in 2016 and I've already read so many incredible books which have left indelible impressions on me. Kids of Appetite is definitely one of those.

Book Review: "The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko" by Scott Stambach

"...from what little I know of the outside world, I am fairly certain that my comrades and I live in hell. For most of us, the hell is in our bodies; for others, the hell is in our heads. And there is no mistaking that, for each of us, hell is in the empty, clinical, perfectly adequate, smudgy, off-white brick walls that hold us in here. In spite of my intelligence, I'm forced to accept that I'm one of the lucky ones."

Ivan Isaenko has lived at the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus since he was born 17 years ago. While he suffers from significant physical disabilities, his intellect and his sense of humor are sharp, so he spends his monotonous days reading any book his favorite nurse, Natalya, brings him, and he keenly observes what is going on and being discussed around him, often faking a catatonic state so he can eavesdrop on conversations among doctors and nurses. And when those activities don't satisfy him, he uses his condition to manipulate those around him, much to the significant aggravation of the nurses and the hospital's cantankerous director.

Given his disabilities, Ivan knows he'll never live the type of life he reads about in books or watches on old television shows during TV time each day. He never knew his parents, since they abandoned him shortly after birth. He knows he'll never fall in love or have a relationship with a woman. Most of all, he knows he'll never leave the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children, unless it's after his death. But if it's any consolation, he has the whole system in the hospital figured out—he can tell before almost anyone which of his fellow patients have less than three months to live based on the medicines they're allotted.

And then Polina arrives. Polina is beautiful. Polina once had parents, a boyfriend, a life outside the hospital, but after her parents' death and her leukemia diagnosis, she has nothing. Ivan is immediately bewitched by her beauty, her intelligence, and her spirit, but he is too afraid to even look at her for fear she will be repulsed by his physical condition. Yet little by little, the two people who decided to never let anyone in begin to trust each other, and develop a relationship of sorts which challenges them both. Suddenly, Ivan has transformed from someone who never really wanted anything to someone who wants one thing only: he wants Polina to live.

As you might imagine, a book taking place in a hospital for gravely ill children definitely has some emotional undertones, but for the most part, Scott Stambach is careful to keep the story from becoming too maudlin. There is more than enough sly humor, talk (and descriptions) of blood and other bodily secretions, obsession with sex (much like you'd expect from any 17-year-old), and fighting against authority to lighten the mood now and again. While some of the characters are little more than caricatures of typical Soviet Bloc-type people, Ivan, Polina, Natalya, and, to a smaller extent, the hospital director, are fascinating, complex characters. This is a funny, sarcastic, thought-provoking, and moving book, and you find yourself becoming invested in Ivan's story even as you know how it will unfold.

I thought the book started fairly slowly and took a while to pick up steam; while reading the first quarter of the book or so I wondered if I should keep reading. But once Polina appeared in the story, the plot really took shape, and Ivan went from becoming a quirky, slightly annoying (yet sympathetic) character to a fully realized character, one who was very interesting. Being a sap, I definitely teared up at times reading this, but it wasn't a depressing read, just an enjoyable, sweet one. (The one thing that makes me bristle, however, is the marketing ploy that calls this book The Feault in Our Stars meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. No, no, a thousand times, no.)

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Infinite Home" by Kathleen Alcott

Lyrical, moving, and absolutely exquisite, Kathleen Alcott's Infinite Home had me marveling at her beautiful, almost poetic prose, reveling in the memorable characters, and even getting a bit choked up from time to time.

This is a book about how we find comfort, and sometimes anguish, in the home we make for ourselves and the family we choose to embrace, biological or otherwise. It's also a book about finding strength where we didn't know we had it, and the different ways we adapt to and cope with change.

Edith has been the landlord of a Brooklyn apartment building for years, since she and her late husband Declan bought it. The building was home to some of her greatest joys and some of her greatest sorrows and regrets. She is a model landlady, caring for and nurturing her tenants, knowing when they are in need and knowing just what to give them, although she can't solve all of their problems. Her tenants are a group of troubled but giving people—Thomas, a successful artist whose life is turned upside down after a stroke leaves one of his arms paralyzed; Adeleine, whose obsession with antique objects helps her build a home she never wants to leave; Edward, once a popular comedian, whose childhood has scarred him emotionally; and the amazing, childlike, loving Paulie, whose sister Claudia fulfills her parents' wish that her brother be taken care of appropriately.

When Edith's mental and physical condition weakens, her estranged son returns home to claim the building and wants to evict all of her tenants. As they try to navigate the thoughts of their future, they each must confront challenges and determine what is next for them. But this will require courage, strength, even going beyond their comfort zones.

I absolutely loved this book. It's told in very short chapters, but Alcott's use of language and imagery made me literally sigh and gasp at times. There was one point that I worried she was going to take the book down a path I absolutely dreaded, but she resolved that thread quickly and to my satisfaction, differently than I expected. This is a memorable book, both for how it is told and the characters on whom she focuses, many of whom will stick in your brains and your hearts as they did mine.