Chemistry by Weike Wang

My book club chose Weike Wang's new book for our next read, so I wanted to revisit Chemistry. I thought I had read it, but now realize that I took it out but never read it. She is a very gifted author!

This book is so clever; her language is punchy, smart and very funny!  Some of her observations are just so spot on.  Here's the review on Amazon:

"Three years into her graduate studies at a demanding Boston university, the unnamed narrator of this nimbly wry, concise debut finds her one-time love for chemistry is more hypothesis than reality. She's tormented by her failed research--and reminded of her delays by her peers, her advisor, and most of all by her Chinese parents, who have always expected nothing short of excellence from her throughout her life. "

Her issue: 

"What do I really want? Over the next two years, this winningly flawed, disarmingly insightful heroine learns the formulas and equations for a different kind of chemistry--one in which the reactions can't be quantified, measured, and analyzed; one that can be studied only in the mysterious language of the heart." 

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

Read this for book club. Really interesting and loved the way she told the story from the points of view of so many people. Did it very successfully. I thought the book dragged a bit here and there, but really glad I read it.

Here is a synopsis from bookrags:

The book is presented as an oral history comprised of interviews with the various characters involved in the story. The novel follows Opal Robinson (stage name Opal Jewel) and Neville “Nev” Charles. Opal is a Black woman from Detroit, and Nev is a white man from England. Opal and Nev, both musicians, became collaborators around the year 1970. The events that followed became significant not only to the history of rock music, but also the history of the United States. The novel explores themes such as racism, white privilege, art, politics, and memory.

🌟 Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

I read Freedom and really liked it. I think I only STARTED The Corrections but didn't finish.

I must say that I really enjoyed Crossroads, even though the religious aspects confused me.  I have to wrap my head around the focus on Christianity.  Is Franzen contemptuous of it, or what?

I do like his style of writing, and he is very good at developing his characters. They are a fascinating lot here! 

This book is introduced as Part 1 of a trilogy and I kind of resent that. How can you say it's a trilogy if you have only written one book?

I do recommend reading it and beware! It is long, but I was taken in by it all the way!  

🌟 The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Nothing can compare to A Gentleman in Moscow and it's not fair to compare!  At first, I was ready to give up on this book, but I am glad I did not. And I am ESPECIALLY glad that I borrowed the audiobook because it is amazing! Sometimes, I know I don't concentrate enough on the language and the nuance of the text when I read/ I get distracted, I go fold laundry, or I find something else to do.  But when I am walking and I have a fantastic audio version of a book (Tess, Hamnet, On Becoming) the reading is so much more rewarding for me.  And this is a great audiobook. I found out that one man narrates the whole thing. I was convinced that there were numerous narrators, of both genders.

Anyway, I really got into the book and wish I had the time to go back and start all over again. Towles takes a while to introduce the cast of characters (and that there is!), so in my early reading days, when I was not as engaged, I think I lost some of the essence of the many characters. And even following the story, and each of the characters' stories would have been better if I had started and stayed with the audiobook. 

But don't take this as a reason NOT to read the printed book. It is great, but you must pay attention to the humor and the pathos involved.

It is a long book and took me a while, and it's one book that I really SHOULD read again.

From the NPR review:

The Lincoln Highway is, among other things, about the act of storytelling and mythmaking. The novel probes questions about how to structure a narrative and where to start; its chapters count down from Ten to One as they build to a knockout climax. Towles' intricately plotted tale is underpinned by young Billy's obsession with a big red alphabetical compendium of 26 heroes and adventurers — both mythical and real — from Achilles to Zorro, though the letter Y is left blank for You (the reader) to record your own intrepid quest.

Count the Ways by Joyce Maynard

I have always liked this author; I think the first book I read by Joyce Maynard was "Baby Love" way back in 1980. There is a bit of "gossip" revolving around Joyce and her affair with JD Salinger, but who the hell cares!  She is a great writer, I think, and critics can say what they want.

This was a pretty long book and perhaps a bit too long, but I truly felt that I got to know these people. And they were people to me - not characters.

From Kirkus:

The novel bites off a lot—a Brett Kavanaugh–inspired storyline, a domestic abuse situation, a trans child, Eleanor's career—and manages to resolve them all, in some cases a bit hastily.

Maynard creates a world rich and real enough to hold the pain she fills it with.

The novel has flaws, but that didn't bother me a bit. 

🌟 Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

 

So glad that my book club selected this book. I am so glad that I read it a second time.  I got so much more out of it and appreciated the beauty of the language so much more. I was able to check out the audio book from the library and found myself enveloped in her beautiful prose.  I got to know the characters much better, too.

I highly recommend this book and recommend reading it twice.  Hell, even thrice!

The Vixen by Francine Prose

Fabulous book. I have always liked this author but have nor read her much lately. I heard about this book and knew I had to read it. The main character, Simon Putnam, is a Harvard graduate, living in Coney Island with his parents, when he gets a job at a major publishing house. Then all hell breaks loose when he is given the assignment of editing a book about the Rosenbergs, who have recently been executed for treason. Simon's mother has a vague connection to Ethel, as they lived in the same apartment builidng. The book, "The Vixen, the Patriot, and the Fanatic depicts Ethel Rosenberg as a communist Mata Hari seducing every man in sight and, by the way, as guilty as hell."

Simon has a moral dilemma, knowing his mother would lambast him for having anything to do with this trashy version of the Rosenberg case. A touching, funny and interesting read!