The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan – a Book Review

The world of publishing can be a fickle place. One minute vampires are trending to be replaced by witches or werewolves the next cycle. Things usually cycle back again, but it’s a bit like the tide going in and out. You know what doesn’t go out of style, however? Creepy old houses. Why? Because they are awesome.

Synopsis

When Sana and her father move into an Akbar Manzil, an old mansion that serves as a boarding house in South Africa, Sana finds herself enamored with the house and its history. She ventures into a wing of the house that no one ever enters to find tantalizing clues of the lives lived before within the walls. In a prior timeline, we get the story of Meena, a young woman pulled out of poverty by a wealthy man for the purpose of becoming his second wife. As time moves on and Meena falls more in love with her husband, the cruelty she receives from the first wife and her mother-in-law intensifies. All the while, the Djinn has been watching and waiting.

Review

As I previously mentioned, I love creepy old houses. When done well, the house acts as a character whose sadness and whispers of forgotten pasts fill the space with a heavy foreboding. In this case, the Djinn acts as sort of the personification of the house. It’s tied to it, and it has no choice but to exist within the walls in a prison of memory and grief. This is quite a lovely and unique twist on the genre, and I enjoyed the fusion of the gothic and cultural elements. I see this book labeled as horror, and I wouldn’t call it that. It’s magical realism, for sure, but I never really got the sense I was reading a horror novel.

The two separate timelines are well-balanced and I found myself actually surprised at one detail as to how they came together in the end. There was something I had a suspicion about, and I was half right but wrong on the specifics. I did feel like there were some loose ends at the conclusion that left me feeling a bit dissatisfied, but the experience of reading this one is very pleasant. It has good pacing and, for the most part, I enjoyed the character development. I hated how obtuse Mr. Khan was in the face of Meena’s plight. His mother and first wife were positively awful to Meena, and at any point he could have stepped in and protected her. Instead, he lives his completely oblivious existence. Sadly, I think this is probably a very authentic portrait of family dynamics in traditional Indian households. He makes the money and leaves the management of the house to the matriarchs. And a son never defies his mother.

Overall, I enjoyed this for the lovely non-horror historical novel that it is even though I felt a little dissatisfied by the ending.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Published January 9, 2024 by Viking. ISBN 9780593653456. 320 pages. Hardcover.

The Prospectors by Ariel Djanikian – a Book Review

In 1941, 100 copies of a memoir by Alice Edna Bush Berry were published privately by a small press. The book was called “The Bushes and the Berrys” and recounted the family histories of the Bush and Berry families and their subsequent adventures into the Klondike where they would strike it rich, as well as their later foray into the oil business. Eighty-two years later, Ariel Djanikian, a descendant of the Bush and Berry families, would release this novel that delves much more deeply into the impact the Gold Rush not only had on this one family, but also on the landscape and the groups of Natives displaced by the rush of white Americans hell-bent on claiming the “free” land that would make them rich.

On researching Djanikian, I stumbled upon some interesting facts about her life that inspired her to write such a work. While her great-great-grandmother, Alice Bush (sometimes referred to as Edna or Tot), was on the receiving end of fortune at the expense of others, her Armenian father had escaped Turkey during the Armenian genocide of 1915, an event that claimed his parents and siblings. Djanikian says, “[w]hen writing this book, I wanted to dramatize the way fortunes are made, how individuals position themselves within families to seize wealth, and how racism is used as a cruel instrument for maximizing profit.”^* We tend to celebrate the plethora of “rags to riches” stories that come out of the American frontier while turning a blind eye to those whose lands, resources and ways of life were stripped from them by force.

Life is not as simple as a 1950’s Hollywood western where the brave and ethical cowboy battles the bad guys and saves the damsel in distress. In the true American west, cruelty reigned supreme and was so often motivated by racial prejudice and sheer greed. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that Djanikian presents the Bushes and Berrys as villains. She presents them as humans, driven at first by desperation and then at the prospect of more. Let’s face it, history is full of people who, when presented with a better life, take it. They didn’t hesitate and ruminate on consequences. They saw people stepping off boats with pocketfuls of gold and the promise that if you can get yourself there alive, the land is yours for the taking. They weren’t evil, but the Bush and Berry families were like other prospectors of their time, consumed by a single-minded quest to better their own lives while remaining completely ignorant of the injustice that should have been right before their very eyes.

Djanikian also presents a future generation, a character named Anna who, at her Grandfather’s behest, sets off on a quest to the Klondike to make amends to the descendants of those wronged by her ancestors. While Alice’s initial memoir reads more like a journal laying out the surface facts of their family history, Djanikian’s novel delves so much deeper into the things that we can’t really know but that make sense. No single character is perfect but they are very authentic, and I applaud her for her ability to capture the nuances of the time. Readers won’t necessarily much like this version of Alice, but they won’t be able to deny that she’s a compelling historical figure very representative of the type of woman who persevered during such a time.

There’s a fair amount of excitement peppered throughout this book to make sure the adventure aspect is still present, but it’s still thought provoking and powerful in its historical presentation of identity, both racial and gender, and in family dynamics. It pretty expertly shows how the corrupting influence of money just continues to trickle down through generations and erodes what little dignity there is left of a family, with some important exceptions.

I highly recommend this book for lovers of historical fiction, especially if you’re looking for those lesser-covered subjects and time periods. Additionally, if you’re interested in reading Alice Bush Berry’s original memoir, it’s available pretty much anywhere online as it’s in the public domain, so check them both out.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

• Spencer, George. “Genre-jumping Fulbright Scholar Takes a Novel Path.” October 27, 2023. https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2023/10/27/genre-jumping-fulbright-scholar-takes-a-novel-path/

Published October 3, 2023 by William Morrow. ISBN 9780063289734. 448 pages. Hardcover.

WWW Wednesday – March 27, 2024

Welcome to WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on A World of Words. In this series, bloggers answer three questions about their weekly reading. The three W’s are:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished?
• What will you read next?

What am I currently reading?

I’m still woefully behind on my reviews, but I’ve certainly made reading progress. I’m currently reading two books. In hardback, I’m reading the urban fantasy Masters of Death by Olivie Blake. On audio, I’m listening to a book that’s caught readers’ attention lately because of the Oscar Nominated movie adaptation released last year. It’s Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. I have to say, I’m really enjoying both of them and am looking forward to getting to my reviews.

What have I just finished reading?

I’ve most recently finished the controversial memoir A Million Little Pieces on audio. This was the book club pick for this month. It was a great discussion piece and I’m looking forward to penning my review which I hope to put out this week. I also finished a wonderful gothic novel I borrowed from the library. It’s The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan.

What Will I Read Next?

This is my favorite question and often the most difficult one to answer. My only planned read is The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. I actually started this audiobook a while back and got distracted by something else almost immediately, so I will go back to it and start over again when I finish Poor Things. From there, the possibilities are endless! That’s it for me. What are you reading lately?

Until next time, happy reading!

An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka – a Book Review

This positively delightful cover is the first in a new series by Benedict Jacka, who is otherwise known for his Alex Verus series. I haven’t read it, but it’s quite popular with readers of urban fantasy. As a reader, I’m not particularly dedicated to any one genre, which gives me a lot of variety, but I’m far from a fantasy aficionado. I enjoy a good fantasy title from time to time. This one I mostly chose because of the cover art. Translation: presence of cat on cover. No really, the cover is gorgeous. And … cat. Ok, in all seriousness this one is my reading challenge pick for a book about or including cats in some capacity, so score one for me.

Synopsis

Stephen Oakwood is a relatively normal young man. He lives alone in a not-so-swanky bachelor pad, struggles to make ends meet with his minimum wage job, and he has the aforementioned cat. Oh… minor detail… he also practices the ancient art of drucraft in his apartment at night, something to which he was introduced by his father who disappeared under fairly mysterious circumstances years ago. You know, the usual. When Stephen’s world collides with that of a wealthy and powerful family of fellow drucrafters, he finds himself in a fight he never wanted but will be forced to finish if he’s to make it out alive.

Review

This is a very compelling concept for an urban fantasy. It’s infused with this always timely theme of class. Even in the world of magic, the wealthy are running the show and taking the best resources for themselves and piggy-backing on the efforts of the working class to build their magical empires. This is definitely a thread I’m looking forward to exploring as the series progresses. Unsurprisingly we see a thread of nepotism and the damage that can be done when someone with immense power but no discernible skill or intelligence jumps at the chance to flex. I mean, really, the lengths the villains will go to in the name of issuing a STAY OFF MY TURF message is infuriating. You don’t mess with the cat, bro!!!

I’m sorry if that seems a bit spoiler-y, but let’s just say that Stephen’s main motivation for ass-kicking is in defense of his bestie, and he’s going to do everything in his power to hone his magical abilities so he can save and protect the one he loves.

Here’s the thing with this book. It’s a great concept, and I really liked getting to know Stephen and Hobbes. However, this book is primarily set-up. It reads more like a drucraft primer, which I guess is necessary considering we’ll need to understand the fundamentals of drucraft in order to follow Stephen and his foes and allies along their subsequent journeys. Unfortunately, that caused this book to drag in some places for me personally. It’s all part of the world-building, and I respect that immensely. There are some readers who absolutely love that part of fantasy, so in this case I believe it’s personal preference. I’m looking for the meat of the story. I like the human elements that tie this fantasy world to the real world. It’s all about the balance.

There’s a lot of potential for Jacka to knock it out of the park in the subsequent books. He’s got a great setup, and he left us with a pretty major teaser in the final words, so time will tell if he can capture that full potential in execution. He’s good at crafting action sequences that are fast-moving and suspenseful, and I anticipate there will be a major uptick in these from this point forward. Also, on Jacka’s blog he JUST announced the cover reveal for the 2nd in the series, and it’s also a beauty. It’s planned for release on October 15, 2024, so that’s something to anticipate.

Overall, I enjoyed this but mostly for it’s purpose of setting up what I hope is to come. I’ll say 3 1/2 stars for this.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Published October 5, 2023 by Ace. ISBN 9780593549841. Paperback. 384 pages.

A Midlife Gamble (The Midlife Trilogy #3) by Cary J. Hansson – a Book Review

I guess you could say I’m reviewing the entire Midlife Trilogy in one review, because I read the first two during my slight unplanned hiatus from blogging and their reviews wound up being really quick goodreads reviews. I didn’t do them justice, and that isn’t fair because this is a really wonderful series. All three books follow three friends: Helen, Caro and Kay. Each woman is unique to her own experiences, but they have a bond forged by almost a lifetime of shared history. The Midlife Trilogy begins with A Midlife Holiday, in which the three friends go together to Cyprus, each one simultaneously escaping the difficulties of their middle-aged existences and searching for some meaning in their monotonous but complicated lives. Some serious stuff happens, and then that brings us to the second book in the series, A Midlife Baby. That title probably perked you up, didn’t it? Things get even more complicated in this book and some serious shocks get thrown our way culminating in quite the cliff-hanger. In A Midlife Gamble, we find the quintessential final book. Suspense, raw emotion, and an explosive conclusion that’s really quite satisfying.

On the surface, these books give off the sweet “chick lit” vibe, but in all honestly they delve very deep into some intense subjects of female identity, friendship, romantic relationships, and mortality. There are resentments and deceptions, but their presence is less soap opera-y and more human and real. In fact, these women feel so real. They are the woman you see at the supermarket who looks a bit frumpy and spent and who doesn’t really smile from her eyes. They are the fashionable, perfectly coiffed woman in heels whose hard-edged business approach hides her true insecurities. And they are the one with the perfect life and the perfect family who is drowning on the inside beneath the things she never says.

Their friendship is sweet and complicated, and each book sort of serves the purpose of helping each woman find her voice, in the world and in their friendship. Boy, do things happen. Lots of things. It’s a fast paced, funny, delightful series and I never found myself getting bored. I could have hung out with these ladies forever. Even when they were selfish and cruel to one another, I still loved and rooted for them. The whole series is bursting with authenticity with just enough Stella getting her groove back fantasy to charm the hopeless romantic in us all. Pleasantly, though, that all takes a back seat and is merely the gateway to the women finding themselves and each other.

Honestly, the ending broke out of the authentic mold and drifted toward completely ludicrous and unlikely. Really, though, I can’t say that I mind. I loved the twists and surprises, no matter how unlikely they wound up being. This series just leaves me with a smile on my face, and sometimes that’s what I’m looking for. And it’s a great reminder as I get older to never give up on myself and never stop choosing my own happiness. Some days it’s really difficult for us women to advocate for ourselves, but it’s completely ok if we do. It really is.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Published May 17, 2023 by Hansson Publishing. ISBN 9798368921105. Runtime 9 hrs, 30 mins. Narrated by Lisa Armytage.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang -a Book Review

I have quite literally been stuck on this review for weeks. I decided today to just dive in and give it a go and maybe I can talk myself through the conflicting feelings. I’m sure many of you have at least heard something about this book. It was voted as the Goodreads Choice awards pick for best fiction, and it won by a lot. While I haven’t read all the other choices, I definitely wouldn’t have voted for this one. It follows the story of June Hayward, a white woman whose closest friend (loose term), Athena, dies in an almost comically freak accident right in front of June. Athena Liu was a star in the publishing world. She was adored and lauded as a literary genius. June? Not so much. June, knowing that Athena has not shared any information regarding her new novel with anyone, steals the manuscript and releases it under the racially ambiguous name Juniper Song, and as the success starts rolling in she grapples with guilt and issues of racial identity and public controversy.

I’m going to be 100% real. I did not like this book. I’m not saying it’s not good, but it was the most uncomfortable read I’ve picked up in quite some time. June Hayward, a/k/a Juniper Song, is unbelievably whiny and obtuse. She makes some excellent points about the state of the publishing industry but they are clouded by her sheer unreliability as a narrator. She’s just plain unlikable. She’s supposed to be, of course. The most uncomfortable feeling, however, is that I found myself sort of rooting for her. I didn’t really want her complete ruin, but I was frustrated with the idea that she could never really connect with her own voice and had to keep piggy-backing off Athena’s work. Had Athena been a little more likable, maybe I would have been more in the OFF WITH HER HEAD camp in regards to June. Probably not, because I generally avoid the social media rage machine. However, as more information is revealed about Athena, we see that she’s not exactly innocent of doing wrong unto other authors. She’s fake, opinionated, and severely judgmental.

The most profound theme in this book is the theme of social media and the firestorm that can be spread from one little spark. There need not be truth behind a claim (proven truth, anyway) but complete and utter character assassination can still result. This is a horrifying reality, and that’s one of the reasons this book was so uncomfortable. Is the fame and notoriety even worth it? It’s devastating to see a talented person who could be off creating who is instead pouring all their energy into nasty reviews and worthless opinions of people who simply don’t matter. Frankly, google R.F. Kuang and you’ll find plenty of opinions hurled her way. Anyone who can put on their armor and still march into the chaos that always welcomes the public figure has my respect.

As far as the racial element to this book, I don’t really feel completely comfortable addressing it. Being a white woman, I’m not exactly in the right place to speak to it and I thoroughly own that. I know there will be some people who will automatically throw my opinion out, and that’s ok. It’s only fair considering people of color and LGBTQ+ creators have always come against pushback and undue criticism simply because of who they are. I fully realize there are aspects to this subject that I could never fully understand, and I have nothing but admiration for authors who successfully navigate a more complex and unwelcoming publishing world than I would as a white writer. This is, of course, assuming I had the talent they do and actually get to the whole publishing part of it all.

That being said, I’ve never been in the camp of limiting any writer in what they can and can’t address in their work, and I always hate to see those character assassinations from people who probably didn’t even read a work simply because a writer is creating outside their bubble. Obviously, own voices stories should be given greater deference, but we shouldn’t be prohibiting writers from creating characters who don’t share their own world experiences. Should a writer pretend to be someone they aren’t for the sake of creating content and seeming more credible? Absolutely not. I’m just saying they shouldn’t feel like they have to. Should we not call out stereotypes from ignorant people who didn’t do their research? I’m definitely not saying that either. I’m still going to judge a work based on the quality of care put into it by the author, regardless of their origin and identity. As for me, I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing about experiences which I haven’t deeply immersed myself in prior to creation, deeply enough that I’ve developed a full appreciation and understanding of the subject. Anything less would be disrespectful and irresponsible.

I have to give Kuang credit for pushing me toward consideration of some pretty deep and uncomfortable subjects. That was the point, and she executed it quite well. And I’ve always said I dislike characters that are too perfect. Well, these characters were far from perfect. They had the right amount of complexity and nuance, so much so I’m really glad I don’t actually know any of these people in real life. While I found this book to be a quick read, it wasn’t an easy read. As I read it through audio, I merely felt like I was getting an uncomfortable hours-long lecture from the most annoying and opinionated person in the world. That’s not enjoyable even if there are positives to the book. The action really picked up in the final act, but it really wasn’t enough. Some people relish this experience. I certainly do not and this will not be a book I will reread. I won’t, however, forget it any time soon. Due to its merit and audacity to tackle the tough stuff, I’ll settle on 3 stars, though in enjoyability I would give it a 2.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Published May 15, 2023 by HarperAudio. ISBN 9780063250864. Runtime 8 hrs. 39 mins. Narrated by Helen Laser.

The Outsider by Stephen King – a Book Review

It is Valentine’s Day, my darlings, and what better way to celebrate than with a nice horror novel? That’s right, life sucks and then you die, and some people die in horrible, awful ways. How nice that Stephen King is always here to tell us in graphic detail the myriad of ways in which those poor unfortunate souls are oofed. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Synopsis

When the bloody mutilated body of a young boy is found, it becomes immediately clear who committed the ghastly deed. Multiple people sighted the beloved town little league coach and devoted daddy to two little girls just prior to (with the boy) and just following the murder (with the boy’s blood). Add that to the buckets of forensic evidence also tying him to the murder, it appears to be an open and shut case. After a very public arrest, however, numerous pieces of evidence bubble to the surface seeming to prove the suspect was hours away and in the company of others who can also vouch for his presence. Just how on Earth can a man be two places at once? And what kind of fresh hell will Flint City, Oklahoma, detectives uncover as they try to get to the bottom of this heinous crime?

Review

Obviously, there’s a trigger warning for some seriously disturbing child murder. Then again, if you pick up a Stephen King book you should be prepared for his particular brand of shocking no-holds-barred horror. If not, that rock you’ve been living under is probably getting pretty heavy. Admittedly, I love Stephen King but he also has the capacity to annoy the hell out of me. Let me put it this way. You know how we all have that one relative who can’t really tell a story from beginning to end without going on all manner of tangents? It starts off by them telling you about that one time her Aunt Nancy got pooped on by a bird and it was all in her hair. Nancy has great hair. She took her to get ice cream once and some guy tripped and his cone fell IN NANCY’S HAIR. Oh yeah, there was a car accident that day outside the parlor involving the janitor at the elementary school who had all those corgis. Remember the corgis? Once she saw a poodle at the Quicktrip and it pooped next to the cheetos. She’s never really liked cheetos. Too messy. **deep inhale** At least we circled back to poop, am I right? That’s kind of what it’s like reading a Stephen King novel. His characters tend to wax nostalgic about all manner of things about which you couldn’t give two tablespoons of bird poop and you have to sit there and listen to it to get to the good part. If you are currently annoyed reading this insanely long paragraph, you now have a crash course in reading a King novel. A novel that could have been 350 pages lands on a whopping 650 and you’ve wasted two extra hours of your life reading about bird poop.

The rest, however, is great and exciting. In this book, we see the return of one of King’s most iconic characters, Holly Gibney. It just takes him somewhere around 300 pages to get to her. After the passing of her partner, Bill Hodges, she joins Detective Ralph Anderson for this story. Ralph, always the rational and pragmatic lawman, is annoyingly stubborn in his skepticism. Just how many clues do you need to admit something strange is afoot? If something is clearly impossible, the answer becomes… the impossible! There, that was easy. Now maybe more people don’t have to die before you pull your head out of the dark cavernous void of your ass. No?

For how long it takes King to get to the action, when the action does arrive it’s abrupt. Don’t blink or you’ll miss the death of a major character. In King’s world, there are no red shirts. No one is safe and everyone is expendable. Frankly, that’s a good thing because predictability is a bore. That being said, this book is fairly predictable in many aspects. We spend most of our time waiting for Ralph to wake up and smell the paranormal. Some of the gaps of how we have to fill in, but we’re pretty sure about the nature of the what.

Overall, this book was entertaining. It’s peppered with interesting and quirky characters. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s another satisfying addition to the ever-expanding King canon.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Published May 22, 2018 by Scribner. ISBN 9781501180989. Hardcover. 561 pages.

The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons – a Book Review

This novel is the first work of historical fiction written by author, Annie Lyons. Prior to this dive into history, she had released several titles in the genre of Uplit, and I think this is important to understanding the reason for some of the qualms I had with The Air Raid Book Club, which I will get into later. First of all, what is Uplit? Essentially, as suggested by the title, it’s uplifting literature that’s packed with emotion, life lessons, and has an intense focus on human relationships. There’s often a quirky every-man/woman character who starts off a bit curmudgeonly and softens a bit over the course of the story. Think A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, two of my personal faves. There’s a major element of self discovery no matter the age of the protagonist. So, with this little intro to the genre, let’s keep that in mind as we explore this book a bit further.

Synopsis

Gertie Bingham, owner and proprietor of Bingham Books in London, finds herself at loss of how to move forward just prior to the onset of WWII in 1938. She’s recently lost the love of her life, Harry. As a result, running the bookshop no longer has the same appeal. She and Harry were once the perfect couple, fulfilling their dreams and serving a purpose for their community that just felt right. Without Harry, the bookshop feels like a part of her past rather than an integral piece of her future. Just as she settles on an idea to retire to the seaside with her dog, Hemingway, fate takes hold when the war comes crashing down around her. Gertie opens her home up to a young German girl, Hedy Fischer. Together, the two of them learn to navigate the new landscape of London and the world as a whole, and will learn so much about themselves and each other in the process.

Review

Truly, this is a lovely and uplifting book. It’s very clear that Lyons has her roots in this type of literature, because The Air Raid Book Club fits in quite well with the Uplit category. While not full-on curmudgeonly (though there are a couple of characters one could easily describe this way), Gertie starts off as quite lonely and lost, her grief and sadness having stripped her of her original zest for life. It will take the forging of a new and unlikely relationship to pull her out of her funk and give her a new and unexpected purpose in life. In this way, Lyons makes this one of the most feel-good WWII novels, an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one. Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this. For those people who may be growing weary of the bleak and hard realities of typical historical fiction surrounding this time period, this could be a pretty refreshing link in the chain to make things feel a bit less heavy.

I’m not saying there isn’t death and sadness and all that. It’s certainly there, but it’s less in your face. It’s all happening over there, and our characters are hearing about it from their vantage points far removed from the carnage and bloodshed. We mostly experience the residual grief and the unease that comes with being constantly on guard of air raids, as well as the worry and fear for loved-ones in harms way. We feel much more like a casual observer than one who is actually immersed within the drama. Personally, as far as historical fiction goes, this lessens my ability to connect fully with the characters. Learning about the death of a person who has been consistently on the periphery of the story doesn’t elicit the same range of emotion as it would have in a more immersive novel. Even Harry, whose death was the catalyst for Gertie’s current emotional predicament, we don’t really feel anything for because we only know OF him. He was a character of a past we don’t explore. We don’t see the relationships between Gertie and Hedy and the people they have lost in their lives. We hear about them, and that’s a different thing entirely.

What we do see is the progression of Gertie and Hedy’s relationship, and that’s the heart of the story. Essentially, this is not really a war novel. It’s a friendship novel. It’s a novel of love and acceptance and of forging family in the unlikeliest of places with what you are given in the face of adversity. Viewing the book from that angle, it’s very adept and serves its purpose quite well. As a piece of war fiction, the emotional heft you would expect is not present. That’s totally ok, because every reader has their own preferences. Some people don’t like to have nightmares about being forced to make Sophie’s choice, and I get that. My heart still aches when I think about that damn book. Thanks, Mr. Styron.

Overall, this is a long-winded way of saying this is an enjoyable read that is surprisingly light. It’s a lovely story and it’s well-written. You can read it on the beach and not wind up bathing in your own puddle of tears. For that, I settle on 3 stars. Liked it but wasn’t absolutely blown away.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Published July 11, 2023 by HarperAudio. ISBN 9780063296220. Runtime 9 hrs, 29 mins. Narrated by Jilly Bond.

Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips – a Book Review

I had absolutely no expectations when I picked up this novel. The cover was quite intriguing, but I’d never read any books by Phillips despite her having quite a few titles under her belt. This book was, in fact, a National Book Award Nominee for fiction in 2023. The concept of a book set at a late-1800’s asylum led me to believe it would be insanely dark and ridiculously disturbing in a very fascinating way. That was not, actually, what I found upon reading this novel.

Synopsis

In 1874, the United States is still reeling from the horrors of the Civil War. ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, alone on their family property when ConaLee’s father didn’t return from the war, have long been victim to one of the roving veterans who survives merely by taking from those he encounters. This period during and after the war was especially dangerous for women and children left alone on their homesteads where even vigilance wasn’t enough to prevent an attack. When this stranger inserts himself into their lives, insisting they call him Papa, Eliza withdraws into herself and becomes little more than a ghost in her own home, wordless and numb. ConaLee does her best to care for her mother and the children that have come from the forced union between her mother and “Papa.” When the cruel man has finally had enough, he sends the babies away and loads ConaLee and Eliza on a wagon and delivers them to the steps of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. There, using false identities, they make a home for themselves and Eliza slowly begins to return to her former self under the care and protection of the people they meet. Unfortunately, peace and security rarely ever last.

Review

I had a bit of difficulty getting into this book. The writing style is sort of vague and dreamy, requiring quite a bit of concentration to absorb the details. Additionally, I absolutely hate it when writers refuse to use quotation marks to delineate conversations. Frankly, I think it’s quite pretentious to think you can get away with breaking the rules just because you are otherwise a fabulous writer. It serves no purpose but to confuse and make the reader work harder to try to follow conversations. However, once I got used to Phillips’ writing style, I found myself quite engrossed. Mind you, the beginning of this novel has some amazingly disturbing scenes of violence and rape, so trigger warnings abound. She holds nothing back on the horrors experienced by people following the Civil War, a time of lawlessness and desperation for many. I expected the disturbing stuff to be at the asylum, but it was the exact opposite.

These characters have somewhat of a Dickensian quality, especially the Night Watch. This stoic and enigmatic man who greeted them at the gates of the asylum is a positive but mystifying presence, not unkind but keeping to himself. His face terribly scarred from his experiences in the war and being in possession of no family, he wants little more than to have his little corner of comfort within the secure walls of the asylum. There’s also the kindly doctor who takes a liking to Eliza, proving to her there are still good men in the world who don’t view her as a commodity to be used and discarded.

This novel is peppered with fascinating and original characters, including Dearbhla, a kindly old woman who was a mother figure to ConaLee’s father. In a touch of magical realism, Dearbhla has the ability to sense her loved ones, and for this reason she doesn’t believe him to be dead and sets off to find him to return him to his family. The story bounces back and forth between different perspectives, those already mentioned and a young orphan living at the asylum who is somewhat of a companion to the night watch. Even the characters on the periphery of this story play an important role, even if it’s just to illustrate the effects of the war on the psyche. Of particular note was a woman who befriends Eliza and seems to believe herself to be Mary Todd Lincoln, constantly recounting her expressions of grief over the loss of her husband and children, a clear projection of her own trauma surrounding the war.

As far as the asylum, itself, this is a very unique dive into history that most people don’t realize existed. We think of early asylums as a kind of Cuckoo’s Nest-esque horror, more akin to torture chambers than hospitals. But Phillips presents to us a very important historical figure, Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride. Dr. Kirkbride was a physician who advocated for compassion in treatment of the mentally ill. His asylum in West Virginia was in operation from 1864 all the way until 1994, after which it became a tourist attraction and historical landmark. Sadly, after the turn of the century it did fall into disarray and became more of the horror factory we know of today, shackling patients in overcrowded wards and passing out lobotomies left and right, but it’s good to know part of its history was positive. It’s a beautiful building, a mix of Gothic revival and Tudor revival styles, still standing in the town of Weston, West Virginia. I do love how historical fiction can often introduce me to something new. I mean old… but new to me.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum as it still stands in Weston, WV. Image from:WVtourism.com

I did find myself a bit disappointed by the end of the novel. The conclusion felt a bit rushed, which lessened the impact I feel it should have had. The tone of the novel sort of shifted from a lyrically profound exploration of the effects of human suffering to an explosion of action all within a matter of pages. Overall, however, Phillips is a master story-teller who deftly uses language to illustrate the most important effects of historical events in a way few other authors are capable. The story and the characters will stick with me, which is a plus.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Published September 19, 2023 by Knopf. ISBN 9780451493330. Hardcover. 304 pages.

WWW Wednesday – February 7, 2024

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking On a World of Words. In it, each blogger answers three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished?
• What will you read next?

What am I currently reading?

Having literally just finished both my other reads, I haven’t actually started either of my “current” reads, which puts me in a bit of a gray area. I will be starting the audiobook, A Midlife Gamble, the conclusion to Cary J. Hansson’s Midlife series I have so far enjoyed very much. For some reason, upon finishing A Midlife Baby, I didn’t think the conclusion had been released yet! Little did I know it came out last May!!! And I’m starting An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka. Both look like pretty quick reads. And I’m absolutely loving the cover of the Jacka book.

What have I just finished reading?

This has been a pretty exciting week for me in regards to productivity in reading. Of course, that means I now find myself about four book reviews behind but I’m going to do my best to remedy that in the next few days. I was able to finish two reads in the past 24 hours. The first is The Outsider by Stephen King. This was a monster book, more than 500 pages, but it was a pretty quick read. The second one was Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. I would like to ruminate on this one for a few days. It’s definitely a profound and timely read and I find myself quite conflicted about how I feel at this moment. I literally finished it about a half hour ago.

What will I read next?

I still have two books out from my latest library run. The first is Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout. The second one is The Prospectors by Ariel Djanikian. Both of these are historical fiction titles. I’m most looking forward to the Eekhout book, though I’m a bit nervous to tackle it, because Shelley is very near and dear to my heart and I hope the book does her story justice! That’s it for me for this week. Until we meet again, happy reading!