The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Amy       
Lynnie    

fantasy

NOTE: We originally read The Night Circus in 2011, before we had this blog. But since Amy just re-read it for a book club discussion, we're finally blogging our reviews.

The circus arrives without warning. Within the black- and white-striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements, only open at night. But, behind the scenes, there is a magical competition taking place of which very few people are aware.

Amy's Review

What an intriguing novel! I liked it! I think I would really prefer to give it 3-1/2 stars, but will let it have 4. There were several things I didn't love about this novel but the creativity of the setting, the circus attractions and designs, and the story itself won me over. It was sometimes slow-paced but bounced back up every time without too much delay. I didn't like that I had to make an effort to keep up with the timeframe changes. I also didn't like that the one character whose prominence I had been questioning--why was he given such a feature in this novel?--seemed to only be inserted so that Erin Morgenstern could kill him off. That particular storyline felt manufactured and cheapened the otherwise interestingly woven relationships among the characters. Morgenstern's sense of style, mystique, art, and design astounded me...especially since her words were clear enough for me to visualize everything without becoming boring. I bet she gives great parties like Chandresh with new decorations every time. 

2021 reread comment: I enjoyed it again and agree with my basic sentiments from 10 years ago, although, I wasn't so bothered by the presence of the character who was killed off. I also enjoyed finding some seeds of Morgenstern's future novel, The Starless Sea, which is one of my favorite novels EVER! Morgenstern is truly so creative and visually atmospheric.

Lynnie's Review

There are some parts of this book and some characters (Bailey and the twins, for example) I absolutely adored. Others, I merely tolerated in hopes that I could get to the parts I liked better. I really enjoyed the idea of the circus and, generally, when the story focused on that, I was eager to continue. However, when the story moved away I found myself putting the book down and caring less and less about what was going on. I was also annoyed by Morgenstern's jumping around from time period to time period. Overall, a very interesting read, and sometimes a very entertaining one, but when the story lost focus, so did I.

   

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

Amy  

historical fiction, women's fiction

Taking place in WWII England (which is the setting of every Jennifer Ryan novel I’ve read), women are attempting to carry on while the men are fighting the war. Many of the women are contributing to the war effort via important jobs while others are attempting to simply survive, especially considering the skimpy food rations. The BBC decides to sponsor a cooking contest which will create an opportunity for fame and fortune for whichever cook makes and presents the best recipes using rationed food. This will aid “the army that guards The Kitchen Front”. Focusing on the four contestants, the story describes their lives and food-related dilemmas.

Frankly, it took a while for me to get into the story. I don’t believe I had that problem with Ryan’s other novels. I suspect part of my problem was that I’m not a foodie nor am I an appreciator of food competitions. But I have enjoyed Ryan’s other novels and decided to give it a chance. After becoming familiar with the key players, the deeper dives into their situations held my interest. And the characters began to grow on me. Even though the sections with all the cooking details dragged a bit for me, the story had many tender moments and had a nice ending. I did also enjoy learning about the challenges of putting food on the table during the world war. I hadn’t before given a great deal of thought to it in areas like England where there was actually some variety in food supplies.

The audiobook narrator, Jasmine Blackborow, did a terrific job with voice acting and had a decent vocal repertoire too with a variety of accents. I give her an A.

   

All These Warriors (Monsters #2) by Amy Tintera

 Lynnie 

Contemporary Sci-fi, young adult, series

I've read several books by Amy Tintera now and I truly adore her books. All These Warriors is the second and final book in her Monsters duology and it was just as wonderful as the first in the series, All These Monsters.

When reviewing All These Monsters, I wrote, "Tintera likes to write about the fight; her characters usually belong to some sort of misfit army and All These Monsters carries that tradition forward. In an Earth that's been invaded by violent creatures called 'scrabs', both private and government groups are forming to fight the invaders and keep people safe."

Focusing once again on American Team 7- because we would all be gutted if she didn't- Tintera takes us right back into the action as we learn the fallout from the events of the first book. There's less fighting-action in this book as the team tries to determine the best way to bring down Julian and the corporations who are trying to train scrabs for their own personal use. The slower pace of the story might be a turn off to some, but I really enjoyed the opportunity to focus on the characters more than the situation they were in. Tintera creates wonderful characters that you want to cheer for; of course, Edan is the perfectly crafted anti-Julian and while it might be cliche it was still wonderful to watch his relationship with Clara unfold slowly and patiently. I was particularly relieved that Tintera did not try to redeem Julian- a trope I would be happy if I never had to read it again.

This was a satisfying conclusion to the story, with just enough of hint of what's ahead for our characters in the epilogue. I can't wait to see what Tintera writes next.

 

 

 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Amy  

Lynnie

contemporary fiction 

 

Amy's Review

Anxious People is the story surrounding a failed bank robbery in Sweden—the bank robber’s desperation that led up to it, the people who were impacted when the bank robber created a hostage situation, and the police investigating the crimes and attempting to locate the bank robber. This is also a story concerning suicide.

Of course, as you might expect, the story is serious and thought-provoking when dealing with those issues. But it is also a humor-filled novel! (The excellent voice acting on the audiobook had me laughing out loud a few times—see below.) This novel does not take itself seriously and that was one of its best features. Fredrik Backman crafted the story brilliantly, beginning after the bank robbery and hostage situation with the police investigation. The story developed through flashbacks of the events from all of those involved. Backman occasionally referenced the fact that this was a story, taking the reader out of the story momentarily, but adding to the suspense. The characters were charming and the story-weaving was masterful. I enjoyed every minute. There are surprises, devastations, self discoveries, relationship-centered situations, coincidences, family dramas, and romances. And there’s a rabbit. And a bridge. And pizza.

I really loved it and cannot think of any reason to dock any points so I’m giving it 5 stars!

This is the third Fredrik Backman audiobook I’ve heard which has been narrated by Marin Ireland. She really outdid herself in this one. Her range of different voices was stellar. Her delivery of the humor was spot on. And, as I mentioned above, the voice acting was excellent. A+! This performance might win my favorite narration of the year. Undoubtedly, it also contributed to my love of this novel.

Lynnie's Review

The second book I’ve read by Fredrik Backman, Anxious People was an absolutely charming novel from start to finish.

After an attempted bank robbery that happens as a result of desperation and poor planning, the robber takes a group of people attending an open house for an apartment hostage. This is their story; how a group of strangers in a most unusual situation cope, collaborate, survive, and ultimately thrive.

There are surprises, relationships, laughter, and revelations in these pages as the characters come to terms with their pasts and the possibilities for their futures. Full disclosure, suicide is a major theme of the novel so if that bothers you steer clear, though it is treated with great respect throughout. I absolutely adored this story & can’t recommend it strongly enough.

   

Short Story Collections by Danielle Evans and Helen Ellis

I recently read a couple of short story collections and decided to review them both together.

--Lynnie 

 

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

For a short book of short stories (& a novella), The Office of Historical Corrections actually took me a while to read. Like any short story collection, some stories resonate more than others (Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain & Alcatraz, for example), but each one feels uncomfortable in very specific ways, shining a light on dark places and ideologies. Danielle Evans has certainly created a collection that will make you think, and there's a lot of value in that. Curiously, the title novella comes at the end of the book and I wish it had been the first story. I found that by the time I got to the novella, I had less patience for the story than I might have if it had been the first one I'd read in the collection.  Still, there's no denying the power of these stories to help you step outside of your comfort zone and give both voice and visibility to characters who deserve to be seen.  

 

Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis  

I adored Helen Ellis' American Housewife, so I was more than happy to spend some more time with her thoughtful musings on the world. This book appears more autobiographical that the other collection of short stories I read and I chuckled and nodded my way through each of them. It was easy to relate to Ellis' stories of her grown-ass lady friends and their friendships, foibles, menopause, & more. Ellis is most certainly "my kind of people" & her stories are entertainment personified- self-deprecating when necessary, a bit catty, and full of fun details. I can't wait to read the next thing she writes!

 

 

Beartown, Us Against You, and The Winners (Beartown #1,#2, #3) by Fredrik Backman

Amy  

fiction

As promised by the title, this novel is about Beartown, an extremely small town on the edge of the forest in Sweden, and the people who reside there.  The town’s only claim to fame is that they’ve had a few instances of hockey brilliance in the distant past. They are currently hoping for a huge hockey win from their junior team which could boost the economy of the troubled town. And then, on a night of high hopes, a tragedy occurs which will rock the town and force citizens to take sides.

The first half of the novel was mostly an introduction to all of the townspeople at a perfect pace for getting to know them fairly well. Unlike some novels where this sort of introduction can feel tedious or cumbersome, Fredrick Backman successfully navigated this character study and made me want to keep reading. The story introduced us to all sorts of different people from teenagers to the elderly. Each had a unique story, some were quirky. But most seemed very real.  

Then, at the halfway point, a crime occurred and I was hooked. Really, before that point, the author had dropped a few obvious hints within the story stating that certain characters would later wish they’d done something differently or that certain moments would be imprinted in people’s heads. So I knew some significant incident was coming. It was an infuriating rape situation (warning for those with triggers) which, unfortunately, played out in exactly the way it often does in real life. The novel treated all of this really well.

When I borrowed the audiobook, I saw on the cover that it mentioned HBO. I discovered that HBO had created a TV series from the novel and I do believe this could make a great TV series because of all the characters and the interesting townscape.  However, it would be even more upsetting to watch this acted out than it was to read it so I won’t be seeking the series out.

The audiobook narrator was Marin Ireland and she was a terrific audiobook narrator with a large voice repertoire and wonderful voice acting. I’ll give her an A.

Amy  

fiction

Picking up soon after Beartown ended, Us Against You continues to describe the lives of the townspeople we’ve come to know as well as introduces a few new folks. Sadly, the town is really struggling following the events in the first novel. Yet, there is kindness, repentance, character growth, and hope by the end of the novel. Backman really understands human nature and is excellent at explaining and describing actions and behaviors. He breaks the reader’s heart but manages to warm it a bit before the novel ends. This was a really good sequel. I will definitely read the next novel in the series when it is released (supposedly next month). I’m actually interested in watching the HBO series now.

The audiobook was, once again, read by Marin Ireland and she did a great job again. However, she noticeably pronounced two proper names differently in this novel than the last one. I can only assume that she was corrected after the audiobook for the first novel was produced. That’s shoddy production and resulted in inconsistency between the novels.  I’ll give Ireland a break and not dock her any points even though it seems that these questions about pronunciations when dealing with names from another country should have been squared away from the get go. I’ll give her another A.

Amy  

fiction

Rejoining the community of Beartown, Fredrik Backman first reminded the reader about the characters who had been introduced earlier in the series while introducing some new ones. This was a good thing for me. However, at over 1/3 of the way through the novel, the story was not going anywhere. Normally, Backman novels suck me in almost immediately. This one did not. It did finally develop storylines that were somewhat interesting but this novel is, by far, my least favorite of Backman’s novels.  It was too much of the author’s pontifications and not enough of an engaging storyline. The characters were mostly depressed, stuck, and/or dissatisfied.  There was a lot of internal politics. (Blech!) There wasn’t as much witticism as he usually throws in. On top of that, the novel was repetitive and too long. Did Backman lose his editors? This one just felt so completely different than all his other novels and not in a good way. Normally, he expresses his keen insight into human nature with more subtlety but he literally held court with his musings in this novel. It grew old and long.

It didn’t really make me want to keep reading until after the halfway mark. And then, toward the end there was a very difficult chapter to read. I persevered because I felt I owed it to Backman and myself to finish it. The ending of the novel was good! But at least part of me was just glad that it finally ended.

The narrator was, once again, Marin Ireland.  She’s always terrific with great voice acting and a nice vocal repertoire.  She gets an A here.