Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

This is an interesting coming-of-age story, but there are two young women at the heart; they are half-sisters, having the same father. James Witherspoon is a secret bigamist. The two daughters are just four months apart in age and each lives with a mother who is married to James.  Only one of them live with him full time and in public.  The first part of the book is told from the point of view of Dana Yarboro, a pretty and smart young woman who, with her mother Gwen, "surveil" to check up on James and his other family. The second part of the book is told from the point of view of Bunny Chaurisse Witherspoo, who is not as pretty as Dana, but has the advantage of having her father in her life full time. 


Dana always feels second best and she does get a secondary role in James' life. James tries his best not to have the girls' paths cross. But they do meet and of course, their friendship sets their worlds toward an inevitable collision.  


The fact that the story is told from both perspectives makes for an interesting read. At first, the reader feels that Chaurisse has all of the advantages; when you read from her point of view, a different picture emerges. She doesn't know that she has this "advantage" of a father who lives in the home. She speaks of a "silver girl" as someone who is better than she is - prettier, smarter, more popular. And when she meets Dana, that is what she finds. Dana knows that Chaurisse is her sister, but Chaurisse is in the dark.

Snow Angels by Stewart O'Nan

I read about this on an NPR book review page. Actually, the reviewer was speaking of O'Nan's newest book, Emily Alone, but mentioned that if you have not read Snow Angels, you must. It was easy to find in the library so I checked it out. And glad that I did.
It is an unsettling story about death, murder, infidelity, poverty and more, and above all, a coming of age story about Arthur, a middle school boy in Pittsburgh, PA. The story starts on the day that his father leaves home and life changes dramatically for Arthur that day.
Arthur grapples with his parents' failed marriage and his feelings for Lila, a young girl with whom he rides the bus to school.  He also "deals" with the fact that he was the one to find the dead young child who wandered away from home one afternoon while her mom (his former babysitter and neighbor) slept on her couch. But Arthur really doesn't emote much about any of this; the reader can read between the lines and gather how these events are affecting Arty.
The story is gripping and quite short; I was able to read it in just a couple days. O'Nan is a gifted writer and I am anxious to follow up and read some of his other novels.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

I read this book in just one day; it was so good and so well written. And not long, to be sure, so it was not tough. I spent 6 hours on an airplane during those 24 as well.
Anyway, I did love this book and highly recommend it. It tells the life story of a biracial girl and her struggle to find herself, her identity and make sense of who she is and what has befallen her.
Rachel was born to a Danish white woman and black serviceman overseas. She grew up on army bases in Europe and never had to struggle with the fact that her skin was black but her eyes blue. Once she gets to Portland, Oregon, after the tragic loss of her family, she has to grapple with these questions and the stares and commentary of people around her.
The characters are richly drawn, especially her grandmother, who she comes to live with in Portland, and Brick, a biracial boy who plays a big role in this story.
But I won't given any of it away. Just read it!

Blood Harvest by S. J. Bolton

A great summer read! Got this suggestion from an NPR.org page from LAST summer, so the book was out in paperback and I was able to get it at Barnes and Noble.
It was a great mystery novel. I haven't read one in a while and it was just what I was looking for on my vacation. It was fast, well-written and a gripping tale.  Some supernatural elements and takes place in the "moors" in England.
A new vicar, Harry, comes to a small town and finds himself hearing voices, feeling that someone is with him when there is no one there. The same things are happening for Tom, a young boy who lives in a new house next to the church. There have been three mysterious disappearances in past years of young girls; one of them supposedly died in a fire but her mother never bought that. Gillian, the mother, feels that her daughter did not die in that fire.
Harry meets the psychologist who cares for Gillian; romance develops; complications arise. Tom's young sister disappears and nearly dies.
As you can gather, lots of things go on but the story is easy to follow and has interesting characters and locale.
I read this in just a couple days - but I was on vacation and spending time poolside and beachside....just where I most love to read!

South of Broad by Pat Conroy

This started out so strong, but lost some of its appeal for me about 100 pages in. Not that I didn't enjoy the book; it was a compelling story, albeit a bit of a soap opera, but it drew me in. First off - the writing...so very good. Conroy's prose is exquisite. His descriptions and metaphors so beautifully drawn and rendered, like paintings. It was the over the top nature of some of the characters that let me down a bit; there was the cliche factor. Too predictable at times; I knew how things were going to turn out. Sine "Prince of Tides" is such a favorite of mine, I didn't expect to feel this way about this book.
But, heck....it's summer and you need some good soap opera fiction for the beach. And I did read a lot of this at the beach. On to more page turning for my week in San Diego. Gotta go pick something up so I can enjoy the incredible beach at Carlsbad this week!

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

This is a hard book to blog about. It was pretty intense and thought-provoking, even though on the surface it was an easy read about the "art world" in New York City. It deals with "beautiful objects," including the main character, Lacey Yeager. She is a young woman who takes a job at Sotheby's and learns the business of art.

Lacey is confident and takes risks to get ahead and does succeed and eventually opens her own gallery in Chelsea. Unfortuntately, her gallery opening is slated to occur in Sept 2001; her opening is not the one she expected.

Lacey knows how to make connections, often using her attractiveness and sexual prowess to gain acceptance. And she succeeds, to a point. This is a novel worth reading, especially for those who contemplate art, the art world and its politics.

My New American Life by Francine Prose

This is Francine Prose's newest novel so, of course, I had to put in on hold at the library. The story follows the "adventures" of Lula, a young Albanian working as a nanny for a Wall Street executive. His wife has left him and his son and Mr. Stanley (the employer) needs somone to look after Zeke, who is a high school senior. Stanley is friendly with Mr. Don, a high powered lawyer, who can get Lula her green card.
Lula, bored with life in the suburbs, becomes entranced by Alvo, an Albanian criminal who comes to the house with his two friends. She hides a gun for them and pines for Alvo to come back and take her out, which he eventually does.
Mr. Stanley's wife turns out to be more insane that we are aware of, Zeke is quite disillusioned and morose and Lula editorializes about life in America. This was an interesting read, but not nearly as good as "Goldengrove" or "A Changed Man."

  Prose seeks to show America through the fresh eyes of an outsider with a deeply ingrained, comic pessimism born of life under dictatorship, yet also capable of exuberant optimism, and the results, like Lula, are agreeable enough but not terribly profound. (