Review: The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1)

Hmmmmm.

2 stars. Cormoran Strike, one-legged private detective and scruffy bachelor, has just landed a new assistant - and a new case. Lula Landry, supermodel and paparazzi darling, died after apparently jumping off her balcony. Only her brother doesn't believe she jumped, as he's willing to pay double. 

Look, this is just okay, alright? The writing is pretty amateur, though it definitely contains that zippy, readable quality that hooks you in well enough. It's very British, and contains a lot of unnecessary words; a lot of excessive imagery and similes and metaphors. 

And the plot - ridiculous. He grabs her by the breast?! By the breast??? The part with the flowers leaving drops of water big enough for a security doorman to slip on them? The painfully obvious killer who sits there listening while Strike talks - and talks - and talks about his crime? Comparing body hair to coconut matting?!

The dialogue, too, don't even get me started. It's just unrealistic. The flow of conversation felt ... droll. And the characters. Every character was a cartoon. Galbraith seems obsessed with physical flaws. Don't get me wrong, highlighting a character's appearance can be interesting when well-done; this just felt mean. Like he was mocking, or bullying, people with acne or bad teeth or different accents. 

It's also clear that Galbraith injected his own agenda, not very subtly, into the story. We all know how he feels about the media, there's no need to bump us over the head with it. There's a way to gracefully incorporate a political agenda but this just felt lazy. 

The truth is, though, I couldn't put this down. Like a mediocre but addicting episode of a BBC mystery from the 80s. I sort of skimmed through the end, because of all the damn talking, but the whole thing was engaging enough. I will be reading more, dammit, and I hope Robin gets to be more than a sexy supporting character. And I hope we get to see people doing stuff, instead of just sitting around talking about doing stuff. 

Bottom line: try harder, Galbraith. I know your achievements are unparalleled, but I'm allowed to call you imperfect. 

The Cuckoo’s Calling on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

5 stars. I can't get enough. I watched the documentary, I consumed the articles, I listened to the podcast - and now I've read the book. I couldn't put it down. This is by far the most comprehensive, thorough, insanely compelling account of what went down at Theranos and I'm tempted to start over and read it again. I squinted, I gasped, I chuckled, and I could not poker face away my expression of disbelief while reading on the train. I was not prepared for the frankly UNBELIEVABLE stranger than fiction details here. 

THIS IS AN ASTOUNDING STORY. THIS IS A MUST-READ. 

Who IS Elizabeth Holmes? Through John Carreyrou's impressive piece of investigative writing, we can indulge our fascination with her mystery. Using dry, practical writing to channel the voices of those involved, he pieces together anecdotes from her upbringing, her years at Stanford, her early days as a notably female entrepreneur and CEO, her stubborn rise to the top and her dramatic fall to the ground. He chips away at her quirky appearance - physical and otherwise - in an attempt to reconcile the trailblazer with the crime. 

And it's stunning. And it's, awesomely, not just about her.

Here we get a detailed account of Theranos' early days: its attractive mission, the early concerns and the relentless ambition. We meet the Board and the lab techs and the investors and the partners and we learn the ins and outs of lab testing technology. We learn what's possible and what's not possible and we watch open-mouthed as ignorance, denial and fear usurp rational thinking. We get to know the heroes in this story and the man who put pen to paper to make things right.

It's really a story about us. A very human story about ambition, greed, fame, fear, and FOMO. We should absolutely look at this story as a lesson, or as a collection of lessons: fill your Board with EXPERTS. Do your research. Admit your mistakes. Don't manage with intimidation - a "culture of fear" will absolutely backfire. Check your fucking ego. DON'T ENDANGER LIVES. And also oh my fucking god DON'T LIE. But as a whole it's also a heartening reminder, at least in my opinion, that journalism still works, in a sense, for the people.

I hope this comes across as fair, but it's encouraging to know that somewhere out there, ethics still matter. Even in a country that elected a sexual predator to its highest office ... rich, selfish people can still face consequences for their actions. Justice exists somewhere thanks to the lab techs and the interns and the legal underdogs. Recognizing that this story is layered and complicated, and that the case is ongoing, of course, I'll admit that seeing Theranos go down was sickeningly satisfying. Elizabeth, Sunny: you will be remembered as fraudulent fools. 

I want to go into the writing, too: it often crossed my mind, while reading, that pulling this together into an accessible narrative must've felt insurmountable at times. John Carreyrou deftly weaves together thousands of tangled, concurrent threads - including a lot of technical, scientific, medical and legal jargon plus some stuff about mechanical engineering - into a powerful pageturner. He never comes across as anything but dedicated to the truth and, maybe in some places, incredulous along with the rest of us.

I will obsessively follow this frightening story until it concludes. It's just interesting. And in the meantime, in-between the frantic Googling, I will re-read this book. I will highlight excessively and send passages to friends and family. Hats off to you, Carreyrou, for taking an incredible story and writing it well. Bad Blood is my favorite read of 2019, so far.

Bad Blood on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: The Paying Guests

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. I have so much praise for this book, I hardly know where to begin.

First of all, Waters has a tremendous ability to build tension and maintain suspense without being predictable. It’s a story we’ve all heard: an affair, a murder, a cover-up, a scandal, heartbreak, social constraints … and yet somehow, it reads like a smooth thriller. A thriller of the heart, or something. I realize that makes it sound like a soap opera - and maybe it’s a little pulpy, but emotionally it’s incredibly sophisticated.

I am also particularly impressed by Waters’ ability to flip the lesbian historical novel upside down. I am certainly not an expert in LGBT literature, nor can I comment from a homosexual perspective, but it was refreshing to read about a protagonist who had already “discovered” her orientation, had already experienced her first lesbian relationship, had already come to terms with her identity. We see the confusion, fear and crisis normally found in a historical (or modern) novel like this instead in her love interest, Lillian.

This is a simple story, really. It’s contained. It goes deep instead of wide, which is why I have trouble understanding the comparison to Dickens. To Rebecca, certainly, although Waters I think is a little more straightforward (no hidden undertones here!). She drives things forward without sacrificing delicious details; in fact, the details are what drew me in - the glances, the moments of incredible anxiety, the nature of a smile - Waters examines huge themes by focusing on the cracks in the wall rather than the foundational issues. And it really works.

I have almost nothing to say about the language, which is a great thing. Waters is superb. She was born to write novels like this.

This is the type of book I might have enjoyed as a teenager, the type of book that maybe/possibly/probably should be taught to young people to expand their idea of sexuality through a historical lens. But it’s also quite simply about people - good people, decent people, admirable people - who do something wrong.

The Paying Guests on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal]

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 RE-READ PER MONTH 03 / 12

5 stars. I LOVE THIS BOOK. This was my third re-read and I couldn't put it down. It always sends tingles down my spine in the best way. Smart, accessible, darkly funny.

It essentially tells the story of a student-teacher affair through the eyes of an abhorrent, deeply unreliable narrator. Barbara Covett is her name, Covett being a clever twist on her voyeuristic, overwhelming desire to ... control, be noticed by, be consumed by, be desired by the target of her obsession. She is an arrogant, pretentious stalker who happens to fixate on the lovely and naive Sheba Hart, a new art teacher at her school. When Sheba embarks on a dangerous and elicit affair with a student, Barbara utilizes the situation to her advantage until everything explodes in a disastrous and life-altering climax.

I just LOVE THIS BOOK. It checks all the boxes for me: unreliable narrator, snappy British writing, scandalous details about a tantalizing affair, deep exploration of the female identity, comprehensive exploration of the female identify including how foolhardy and clueless and selfish and competitive women can be, repressed homosexuality, fierce and bold emphasis on appearance versus reality, crisp, page-turning prose, the list goes on. 

And Barbara, oh Barbara, what a beautiful character. So fucking critical of everyone. She's so transparent it makes me laugh, out loud. How often do you suspect that someone is a creepy hypocrite and get an unlimited peek behind the curtain to confirm? Constantly accusing others of self-deception and playing the victim and she's the worst offender. Nobody - nobody - is safe from her zingers. Actually, I tend to see a little bit of Barbara in all of us, mentally putting others down, reading and re-reading and over-analyzing and judging other people. We all take a bit of comfort building our own illusions and living in them.

(Pay close attention, because there are other little lessons like that embedded in these pages. Lessons about marriage and monogamy and children and friendship and female friendship and aging and sex.) 

I think part of the brilliance, too, is that Barbara rather honestly depicts how people react to her, and does so indignantly. Can you believe he said that? Can you believe he treated me in such a manner? As though outrage is the only acceptable reaction. Ironically, by depicting these interactions so honestly we are able to see the truth - that she's actually awful. We see this through her attempts to obscure it, through her lack of self-awareness.

I could go on and on and on. The movie adaptation is also fantastic if you're interested in a less darkly humorous version of the story. Truth be told I can't picture anyone but Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench in the roles of Sheba and Barbara, even if I try. This is just a truly amazing story - an incredible character study and a genius piece of writing with a sick ending. I can't wait to re-read it again.

Clever and nasty is what this book is. Clever and nasty.

What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Cross Her Heart

4 stars. I see why there were mixed reactions to this book. Yes, it's completely ridiculous and unrealistic and perhaps even predictable for those of us well-versed in the twists and turns of psychological thrillers. But look, I think I may have liked it for those reasons...? I really enjoyed turning the pages of this one, I really felt the drive to keep going. The writing was great, the characters were distinct and the ending was surprisingly satisfying.

Cross Her Heart is a multiple-POV thriller with flashbacks. In short, concise chapters (which I personally love), Sarah Pinborough tells the story of Lisa and her daughter Ava and how they cope when they are threatened by a seriously masterful villain from Lisa's past. The story unfolds through the eyes of Lisa, Ava and Lisa's best friend Marilyn, each of whom has secrets of their own. It's a classic, twisty, fast-paced mystery with a heart-stopping (if somewhat tidy) conclusion.

As others have pointed out, things do feel a bit forced here. Characters have questionable motivations. Characters fall in love after one date. Characters are generally stupid, fooled and tricked into scenarios I could see coming a mile away. But this is a popcorn book, and I was willing to suspend belief just to let the intensity of the story wash over me. It's a tight plot, you have to admit. Maybe it's cliche at times, but the writing is solid. And there are some fantastic girl power moments.

Maybe you will see it coming. Maybe you won't. Just enjoy the ride. I've certainly read worse.

Cross Her Heart on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Jurassic Park

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 03 / 12

4 stars. This was so awesome. My heart is still pounding! 

I can't believe I haven't read this before, which makes it perfect for my 2019 challenge. Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies of all time (I say that like it's weird - is there anyone who doesn't love Jurassic Park?!), but I didn't expect that reading this would lend so much interesting context and perspective to the A+ premise.

I'm not even sure what I can say about this, other than holy shit, dinosaurs are so cool. Even after personally witnessing how scary and terrible they can be, I can't promise that if I had the ability to clone/create them/bring them back from extinction, I wouldn't. I totally perceive the dangers of hubris and greed but COME ON! DINOSAURS! <- I will be the downfall of the human race.

Docking a star for some outdated stuff, including sexism, mild racism and fat-shaming, plus the preachy speeches from Dr. Malcolm (he wasn't wrong, but he was super annoying). The movie essentially corrects all of this and improves on some of the superfluous plot points. Otherwise, this is a suspenseful, scientific masterpiece. I will read this aloud to my kids. 

Jurassic Park on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: Menagerie

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. Very entertaining. Rachel Vincent paints a creative, character-driven world dripping with fantasy and charm. Her presentation is impeccable and the reader doesn't have to make leaps and bounds to buy in to the magic. By the end of this story I was really rooting for the characters and hoping for the best.

I do have a few things to grumble about (sorry, it's what I do):

Menagerie has dark moments, but I wouldn't consider it to be that dark, necessarily. I wanted it to really go there and felt a little unsatisfied. The writing itself felt way too YA/amateur at some points and the pacing/transitions could've been smoother.

In the beginning, we spend a lot of time watching Delilah push and get pushed back, and while I admire her moxy, her actions came off as so incredibly dumb. She often chose to be loud instead of smart, and again, while I love the fact that she's a fighter, I would've loved better strategy a lot more.

Lastly, the ending felt incredibly rushed and - almost - predictable.

But hey, what do I know? I have a thing for circus/carnival books and overall, this book is so fun. The Night Circus did a better job of putting me in the story, but I loved the flavor here. I couldn't put it down and I will definitely be reading more. Bring on the magic.

Menagerie on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: See What I Have Done

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

3 stars. This historical fiction novel focuses on a crime we all know and love: Lizzie Borden took an ax...

In See What I Have Done, we hear directly from a confused and criminal Lizzie, her well-intentioned but misguided sister, the traumatized household maid and a nefarious stranger, flashing back and forth between the morning of the murders, the days prior and the days that followed. 

This is weird in that I can see why those who loved this loved it, and also why those who hated it hated it. Promising premise, but I could smell the tryhard fumes a mile away. Halfway through I texted my sister and said, "This is unusual, but the author is obsessed with vomit and other bodily fluids. I am 50% in and every character has vomited in great detail at least once. It's like a motif with no purpose other than gross shock." She clearly tried to channel Gillian Flynn, who is excellent at peppering in grotesque details without being gross, and WAY overshot. That ball flew off the court, out of the field, and into the great beyond. There's a lot of barf.

Still, there's something so fascinating about this crime and I couldn't look away. We all can't really look away from the mystery of the Borden murders - the violence of the crime, the oddball characters, the twists and turns of the investigation. I enjoyed the different approach here and appreciated the attempt to draw a new picture. The uniquely-written perspectives bring depth to the characters we pull from history and the voices are distinct, if not a little cartoonish (again with the gross details - must EVERYONE have bad breath? Must EVERYONE have something stuck in their teeth?).

I have to say, it's an impressive debut. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting take on this case. There is always more than one side to the story, and we encounter several here. The writing is solid, with a few really stand-out moments, and the structure is unusual in a good way. It’s cool in that there are perhaps no good guys or bad guys, just troubled, troubling humans. It’s very vivid.

Open only if you have a strong stomach. 

See What I Have Done on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree

5 stars. WELL THAT WAS A VERY TALL MOUNTAIN. I climbed The Priory of the Orange Tree and survived! Apologies to all the other books rotting away on my Kindle, had to take a little break from my two-books-a-week pace to tackle this. No regrets.

First things first - I enjoyed but did not love The Bone Season, and REALLY disliked its sequel, so I went into this with low expectations. Samantha Shannon seems like a talented, intelligent, delightful person, but I've reacted negatively to her writing style in the past (more on that later). I'm happy to say that her ability has grown and I give this, with no hesitation, a full five stars.

The book is long and there are a lot of characters, but the premise itself is fairly simple: a group of kingdoms (countries?) must prepare for the destructive awakening of an evil dragon. Rules must be cast aside, myths must be dusted off, and enemies must join together (etc. etc.) to ward off this threat and maintain the state of the world.

It sounds kind of cliche, maybe even a little too casual, but I promise it's very engaging. We have dragons, sorcery, secret societies, alchemy, pirates, monsters, and more. It's a good example of complex but accessible worldbuilding - accessibility being my #1 criteria for fantasy. I could actually remember where we left off with characters from three chapters ago, I didn't encounter impossible vocabulary terms, and I didn't have trouble grasping the intricate cultural details. So many authors try to show off their worlds, and Shannon isn't one of them. Mostly.

In fact, I can see this appealing to a huge audience - even those who aren't drawn to fantasy. The feminism is bright neon, and the central love story is queer as queer can be. It's a satisfying girl power book. The characters are easy to root for and the action sequences are really compelling. It isn't juvenile, in my opinion, as some have implied, although it doesn't get very nasty (I would've loved chapters from the POV of a [true] villain). It's similar to a TV show in which characters experience long arcs and slowly congregate towards each other, spiraling around the central threat.

Okay, now that I write this, maybe it is a little juvenile. There are a lot of blatant “lessons” about acceptance, tolerance and friendship (although these days it’s sadly necessary to hit people over the head with stuff). And at times I felt it was maybe even a little TOO simple. Shannon created an old and complex map here, complete with mythology and lore and traditions and religions and everything in-between, but it felt like the window was small, like everything important operated among a small circle of folks. Like I was reading about a place the size of Ohio, instead of the size of the world.

And it's a slow burn, for sure. It's enormous. The prose teeters on the edge of purple for me - something that was really irritating in The Mime Order (if she "crowned her bread with butter" one more time...) but appeared toned down in this book. Still, the descriptions of the food, plus sentences like "Its paths were honeyed by the sun, and the roses that trimmed its lawns held a soft blush" and "Dawn cracked like a heron's egg over Seiiki. Pale light prowled into the room" were jarring for me, and eye-rolly. The sex scenes were flowery to a fault. That might be a personal preference, though.

ALL THAT being said, I can’t give this anything but five stars. I'm probably just nitpicking because I spent SO MUCH TIME with this thing. It's clear that so. much. thought. and care and deliberation went into this book - it's an incredible accomplishment and deserves all the praise. It's a very long, very detailed collection of fairy tales, woven together in a beautiful tapestry. It's an epic adventure that WILL find it's place on the classics shelf. I can't wait to see the inevitable adaptation.

The Priory of the Orange Tree on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. Absolutely brilliant. The instant this started I didn’t want it to end. It’s so beautiful in its simplicity, in the subtle characterizations and casual unfurling of the plot. It really appealed to the part of my brain that craves a scientific way of thinking. It was also super entertaining, like an episode of The X-Files or Black Mirror or something. I loved the distance you feel from the action, which mirrors the narrator’s. I loved the way things started to feel a little … off. Yes, it’s a little slow, maybe, but I really enjoyed it.

Looking at this through a blatantly subjective lens, I think I also really appreciated Annihilation because of the narrator’s personality. At the risk of getting really personal: like this book’s protagonist, I am incredibly, severely introverted. Not only do I actively avoid interaction with others, I often … do not even see the point. I despise small talk especially - I despise any interaction without a specific purpose or direction. It stresses me out, it’s exhausting to act “in the moment” all the time, and I feel better when I can take a methodical approach to things. Like the biologist, I prefer solitude and I prefer to keep personal details to myself (except on rambling Goodreads reviews, apparently). I’m also baffled by anything overly sentimental; there’s a line in this where the narrator states that she hates the word “love.” Same, same.

Seriously. I’m lucky, I have a partner who understands and accommodates my need for independence and “separate time,” but the struggles exhibited by the main character and her husband were … extremely familiar to me.

So, as I said, from a personal perspective, the writing resonated and I was almost grateful to read about someone so like me, no matter how off-putting or unlikeable she is. Because in the end, she wins.

Yes - she learns, she accepts, she adapts. She is confronted with the impossible and almost appreciates it. It’s admirable and refreshing and her cold-blooded nature felt right. I'm not saying we should all be like her, but she is on top of her shit and maybe we could all learn from her.

This book is so creepy and interesting and different; a truly penetrating form of horror. There's a lot to be said about the other messages - the political, the environmental, the scientific, etc. I'll leave those observations to to others. The movie is sure to be very different and I look forward to the interpretation, but I can tell this book is always going to be something intimately special, to me.

Annihilation (Southern Reach #1) on: Amazon | Goodreads