The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

 

This is a long book and it took me a long time to read it.  I started out fast, really involved and engaged but I must say that my interest waned as it went on.

From WSJ:  The Barneses are the native Irish clan beset by catastrophe in Mr. Murray’s family saga. By outward appearances, they’re the envy of their small, unnamed city. Dickie, the paterfamilias, runs the local car dealership inherited from his father and has stayed on in his childhood house, with its huge woodland property in the back yard. His wife, Imelda, is a famous beauty who wields a credit card like a martial-arts black belt. Their children, Cass and PJ, have grown up with every material advantage. It’s the perfect domestic Icarus flight to bring crashing down to earth.

The problem for me was that I just did not care enough about any of these characters as I witnessed their missteps and outright outrageousness.  This is my first Paul Murray book and I had heard it reviewed very favorably.  I will not say that I did not like it, but I have not put in on my list of "Oh, you have to read this book!"

 

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabelle Allende

This was a good and interesting read, but I've liked other books by Allende better.  I have been reading and watching too many Holocaust related things lately.  Not that we should ever forget.....

From Amazon:

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming.