Review: The Absolutist by John Boyne

Ask anyone and they can tell you all sorts of facts about World War II. But ask those same people about World War I and you'll get far fewer bits of information. For some reason World War I is not high in our collective consciousness here in the US. Maybe because it was overshadowed so quickly by the Second World War. Maybe because it didn't have anything so perfectly evil like the Holocaust towards which to point. Maybe because the generation that fought in it has been gone for so long now. For whatever reason, it seems to be one of those wars that don't enter into our thoughts despite the gruesomeness and appallingly high casualty count of its combination of modern weapons and trench warfare. Although set after the end of the war, once you've read this affecting novel by John Boyne, World War I and its cost will be forever etched in your consciousness in ways you'd never predict.

Tristan Sadler survived the war. He lied about his age in order to join up and he spent months training and then living the horrors of trench warfare. His first day at training, he met Will Bancroft and the two of them became closest friends. Will did not live. As the novel opens a number of years after the war, Tristan is traveling from his home to deliver a bundle of letters to Marian, Will's sister. But this task, which could easily have been delegated to the postal service, is just an excuse. In truth Tristan is taking the letters to Marian in order to expunge himself of guilt, to detail the truth of Will's final days, and perhaps to seek Marian's absolution.

Tristan's narration takes the reader into his wartime experiences and the agonizing friendship he maintained with Will from their earliest days in training up to the very end. He details his attraction to the outgoing and appealing Will and his jealousy when Will starts to listen to and internalize the reasoned arguments of another man in their unit about his concientious objector status. Tristan doesn't spare Marian, and by extension the reader, the knowledge of his own terrible falling out with his family and its causes which add depth to his growing attachment to Will. He quietly admits to his own worst and basest feelings. He describes the horrors of war graphically and unsentimentally. And he confronts both the moral ambiguities and absolutisms that abound in times of war and the ways in which men justify adherence to either.

With themes of courage and cowardice, honor, friendship, social norms and prejudices, and sexual identity, Boyne has crafted a skillfully written, thought provoking novel. The narrative is non-linear, with Tristan revealing snippets of his training experiences, the war, his several years post-war admissions to Marian, and his current day old age each at precisely the right moment to complicate and add depth to his tale. The tension builds steadily and perceptibly as more comes to light during the telling and while the climax is, by the time it is revealed, not surprising, it remains powerful, tolling the death of so many high minded-values we claim to hold dear. Powerful and affecting, The Absolutist is a novel not to be missed.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book for review.

Review: The Underwater Window by Dan Stephenson

I spent 15 years as a competitive swimmer. I can't even begin to calculate how many hours I logged in the pool, how many miles I swam over that time period. Swimming was a major part of my life. I woke up to it and I went to sleep to it. I spent countless weekends Friday through Sunday at swim meets, cheering for teammates until my throat was raw, and pushing my body to its physical limit in hopes of a personal best time. I even married my husband because of it, meeting him in the pool in college. My coaches and my teammates throughout the years made me who I am today. Make no mistake though, I was not an elite swimmer. The only thing I have in common with Michael Phelps is that my best event was the 200 fly. In terms of the general population, I was a great swimmer. In the swimming world, I was a decent little workhorse of a swimmer but no standout. But the wonderful thing about swimming is that no matter what your achievement level, there are some things that are universal for all swimmers. And it was those wonderful, nostalgic universalities that grabbed me from the beginning in Dan Stephenson's novel about two Olympic caliber swimmers, teammates, best friends, and fierce competitors. The Underwater Window gave me a chance to relive the best of my swimming days in a story I never could have lived.

Doyle Wilson is 24 years old and he's an elite caliber swimmer. He's put in his time in the pool, analysed his stroke, pushed himself to go ever faster. But he's never made the Olympics and this year could be his last chance. His best friend, teammate, and arch rival Archie Hayes is at the height of his career. The two of them push each other in the pool and Doyle, as the elder statesman, watches Archie's back outside of the pool as well. Doyle and Archie have competed against each other for years and know each other in and out but they couldn't be more different as swimmers. Archie competes without thought and Doyle analyses every aspect of his race. As a matter of fact, Doyle is starting to wonder if his swimming career is finished. He's deferred his medical school acceptance for a year and he's wondering just how much longer he can compete at this level. But can he give up before he has one last shot at making his Olympic dream?

Surrounding Doyle are a collection of supportive, loving secondary characters who help him ease through his thought process about the sport and life post-swimming. There's Molly, his dearest friend, the girl who is there for him through everything despite there being no romantic relationship in the offing unless Doyle stops swimming. Doyle's old college coach, who took a chance on Doyle and loves him as a son, is a reliable sounding board whenever Doyle needs to talk through his decisions. His current coach, Curtains, pushes him in the pool and like all the best coaches coaxes the best from him, both in the pool and out of it. And then there's Archie, who, despite their rivalry, is steadfast and loyal when needed but also able to help Doyle let go, let off steam, and have some fun.

Although the book is very definitely centered around Doyle's swimming and his driving desire to make the Olympic team, to win gold, it is also a coming of age novel with Doyle reflecting on his life so far, where he ultimately wants to be, and a story about friendship and commitment and the people who stand behind each of us as we reach for our dreams. Swimming, as many sports do, teaches the athlete much about him or herself and offers skills that translate surprisingly well to the non-swimming world. And Doyle is in the midst of his last push at internalizing these skills. Each chapter starts with an italicized portion that explains an aspect of swimming or the swimmer's life. These bits help the non-swimming reader to understand what drives a person back and forth in a pool for so many hours, days, months, and years. They cover swimming history, techniques, the drudgery of practice, the importance of teammates and rivals, and so much more. And they offer a nice segueway into the meat of the story in each chapter.

Doyle is very definitely a thoughtful and philosophical character and you can feel his real angst and sadness at the thought of retiring. But he's also occasionally so single-mindedly focused that he abuses or discounts the care and friendship so long offered him without recompense. As frustrating as his blindness can be, he is an eminently sympathetic character and the reader wants very much for him to succeed. I had to put the book down and let my heart rate recover and my swirling thoughts untangle before I could pick the book up and finish it after reading about his final race. Stephenson has definitely nailed the swimming world aspect of the novel 100% and his explanations geared toward making that world accessible to the non-swimmer are well done. The characters are occasionally a little stiff and their conversations, especially in the beginning of the book, are somewhat stilted but the flow does get more natural as the story takes over. It goes without saying that swimmers and coaches will find much to relate to in these pages but for anyone, swimmer or no, who enjoyed the adreneline-filled swimming events of the recent Olympics, this book will let you hear the cheers again and will give you a little insight into what comes next when the lane-lines are put away, pool is still, and the lights are extinguished.

Cover copyright 2012 Ginny Glass and Untreed Reads Publishing. Thanks to the publisher and Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Review: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi coast, the area, especially those parts sunk in grinding poverty before the storm's advent, is still recovering. Ward's novel Salvage the Bones, which takes place in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi in the days just before the storm hit, tells the story of one rural hardscrabble family of motherless children as the hurricane bears down on them.

Fifteen year old Esch is the only girl to three brothers. She keeps an occasional eye on baby brother Junior, whose difficult birth killed their mother, she watches older brother Randall play basketball knowing that all his hopes ride on his lovingly honed skill, and she helps her brother Skeetah as he loves and cares for his pure white pit bull China and the valuable litter she's borne. But the careless love that Esch finds amongst her brothers and from her alcoholic father isn't enough and she grasps for a deeper love through casual sex with anyone who asks. When she finds herself pregnant by Manny, her brother's friend, she dares to dream that this boy was not just using her and that she will be important and loved.

The novel takes place over the week leading up to Katrina with each chapter encompassing one day. The feel of the novel is atmospheric and the heavy, foreboding heat pushing ahead of the storm pulses through the narrative, smothering any directed action. Each of the characters acts as if in slow motion, blanketed by the muted concern of the rising, oppressive weather. They are all used to living in grim poverty and quiet desperation is a daily reality in their lives. The disappointments visited on the family serve only to grind them down: Randall isn't given a scholarship spot at the expensive basketball camp, Skeetah must watch helplessly as China's pups die slowly, and Esch realizes her worth in Manny's eyes. The writing is raw and resigned. It is graphic, especially during the pit bull fight scenes. And yet, there is an undercurrent of caring and solidarity too that defies the brooding, hopelessness of their lives. The narrative tension is masterfully controlled, rising as Katrina herself builds and hurls towards the coast and to her date with this already disadvantaged family. Not an easy read, sometimes rife with nightmarish quality, Salvage the Bones doesn't herald the end but a new beginning clawed out of the wreckage and smothering red clay coating everything in the wake of the hurricane.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to review.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on.

The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling. The book is being released by Little, Brown and Company on Sept. 27, 2012.

Amazon says this about the book: When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

Review: The Good Woman by Jane Porter

How much of our personality is innate and how much of it develops because of familial expectations? If a child is always considered the "good child" or the "reliable child" what would it take finally, as an adult, to rebel against this image? How many people will be hurt in the testing of boundaries? And is it ever possible to go back to being the person you were before? Meg Brennan Roberts, the oldest of four sisters, is a very successful publicist for a California vineyard, a reliable, steadfast wife and mother, and a loving daughter. Her life appears to be idyllic and yet she is feeling a nagging sense of unhappiness, making her open to the possibility of an affair, becoming the "bad woman," and altering her life forever in Jane Porter's first novel in the new Brennan Sisters series.

Meg is the family caretaker, the one everyone else relies on in every aspect of life. She makes the parties and publicity at her job run smoothly. She manages her childrens' lives so that there are no bumps in their roads as they go from school to activities and home. She is the unacknowledged and under-appreciated rock who allows her husband to continue his absent-minded, job-obsessed existence. She is the sounding board for two of her three sisters' concerns. And she's tired of it. She's vaguely dissatisfied, wanting more from those she loves. It doesn't help that she feels rebuffed sexually by her husband on those occasions she reaches for him. The only aspect of her life that is feeling completely fulfilling is her work life. So when her gorgeous boss asks her to fly to London with him for a trade show, despite reservations, she ultimately agrees to go. And when boss Chad admits to his attraction to her, she gets a glimpse of herself as a whole different person than the one she feels she's settled into being. Heady stuff.

Once they return, Meg cannot keep from thinking about the possibilities. She's always been the "good girl." The sister with whom she is most antagonistic calls her Sister Mary Margaret. But she's drawn to Chad and to the life he represents. The rest of the Brennan sisters and her parents are all immersed in their own life altering dramas so no one notices that the family Snow White is drifting. And when she makes her decision, feeling unable to do anything but what she's chosen, her choice will reverberate through her life, that of her husband and children, and through her siblings and parents' lives as well.

Meg is an amiable enough character and her feelings of being taken for granted and ignored in her own life will be more than familiar to many women. Her inability to find the acknowledgement and appreciation she craves will definitely strike a cord. But she has some flaws of her own, chief among them her lack of communication with her husband and her family. As the go-to sister, she has no one to turn to herself when she is floundering. This effect is exacerbated by the fact that each of the women in the family is facing her own crisis. And in some ways, this crisis overload is a problem in the narrative. Too many issues intrude on Meg's story: one sister's long term relationship ending, one sister's inability to trust her cheating sports star husband, and her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis. Because this is the book that sets up the rest of the series, the issues need to be raised but they threaten to overwhelm the major storyline here. And although Meg has faced infidelity, understanding that it isn't as black and white as she always thought, as a character in the end she hasn't changed nearly as much as might have been expected given the path she walked.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

The reading suffered some this week and the reviewing suffered a lot as I packed for the scuba trip my husband gave me as an anniversary present. I expected to spend most of the long weekend under water but sadly enough managed to perforate my eardrum on the first dive and have been above the surface ever since. This means I did get some reading in but the drug haze has made it not as likely as you'd have thought. ::sigh:: This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Books I completed this past week are:

Hemingway's Girl by Erika Robuck
Enriched Air Nitrox Manual by Scuba Schools International
The After Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

Let the Great World Spin by Colm McCann
Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
The Mirrored World by Debra Dean

Reviews posted this week:

A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
An Age of Madness by David Maine

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
The Absolutist by John Boyne
The Mercury Fountain by Eliza Factor
The Right-Hand Shore by Christopher Tilghman
Imperfect Bliss by Susan Fales-Hill
Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel
The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns by Margaret Dilloway
The Receptionist by Janet Groth
Keepsake by Kristina Riggle
The Underwater Window by Dan Stephenson
More Baths Less Talking by Nick Hornby
The Good Woman by Jane Porter
Hemingway's Girl by Erika Robuck
Enriched Air Nitrox Manual by Scuba Schools International
The After Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer

Monday Mailbox

Welcome to this month's Monday Mailbox, the meme started by Marcia and currently on tour around the internet. This month is my month to host this wonderful green-eyed monster inspiring meme. Yay! This past week's mailbox arrival:

Not one blamed thing! Isn't that par for the course given that I'm hosting?! Actually, I might very well have gotten stuff that I can post about next week because my hubby and I are currently not at home. Instead we're taking the scuba trip that was given to me as an anniversary present back in May so I have no idea what might be waiting patiently for me at home. I just hope my mom hasn't made off with anything! And knowing how appealing the books generally are, she just might have snuck some into her suitcase as payment for watching my kids. LOL!

What sorts of goodies did you get in your mailbox this week? Click below to add yourself to the linky so we can all share in your good fortune. And I hope you'll leave me a comment as well. Happy reading this week!