Lemon; Kwon Yeo-sun

 

Lemon; Kwon Yeo-sun

Other Press - 10/26/2021

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros -  hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read soon.

SHORTS, 2002

I IMAGINE what happened inside the police interrogation room so many years ago.  By imagine, I don't mean invent.  But it's not like I was actually there, so I don't know what else to call it.  I picture the scene from that day, based on what he told me and some other clues, my own experience and conclusions.  It's not just this scene I imagine.  For over sixteen years, I've pondered, prodded, and worked every detail embroiled in the case known as "The High School Beauty Murder"--to the point I often fool myself into thinking I personally witnessed the circumstances now stamped on my mind's eye.  The imagination just as painful as reality.  No, it's more painful.  After all, what you imagine has no limit or end.

What do you think of that intro?   This was a short novella, just 147 pages. It was an excellent translation from the Korean by Janet Kong.

Brief Review:  This was a very different kind of story from anything I've read in a while. Each of the eight chapters held me captivated and my mind guessing as I tried to piece together how exactly this 2002 murder of Kim Hae, a high school beauty, would play out.  The story takes us back (17) years earlier to a time when there were two male suspects from different social classes but, since there was no concrete evidence the case eventually went cold.  

The story is told from (3) POVs: the victim's younger sister and (2) former classmates of the deceased.  More than solving the crime itself, this is a story that focuses on how the those impacted by the victim's death have dealt with what has happened.  This was a rather quick read that left me thinking; I was happy I had the chance to read it. The book releases today in the US.

Author Bio: Kwon Yeo-sun was born in Andong, South Korea, and now lives in  Seoul. In 1996 she received the Sangsang Literary Award for her debut novel, Niche of Green. Her subsequent novels and short stories have received numerous literary awards, including the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Yi Sang Literary Prize, and the Oh Yeong-su Literature Award, among others. Lemon is her first novel to be published in English. Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. She received the 2018 TA First Translation Prize and the 16th LTI Korea Translation Award for her translation of Han Yujoo’s The Impossible Fairy Tale, which was also a finalist for both the 2018 PEN Translation Prize and the 2018 National Translation Award. Her recent translations include Ha Seong-nan’s Bluebeard’s First Wife, Ancco’s Nineteen, and Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s Grass.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from Other Press in exchange for my unbiased review.

Spotlight Post - The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris; Marc Petitjean

 

The Heart Frida Kahlo in Paris; Marc Petitjean (translated from the French by: Adriana Hunter)

I long been fascinated with the somewhat tragic life of Frida Kahlo and, I was happy to learn about this new book now available in paperback by Other Press. (released September 7, 2021.)

This intimate account offers a new, unexpected understanding of the artist’s work and of the vibrant 1930s surrealist scene.

(about the book)

In 1938, just as she was leaving Mexico for her first solo exhibition in New York, Frida Kahlo was devastated to learn from her husband, Diego Rivera, that he intended to divorce her. This latest blow followed a long series of betrayals, most painful of all his affair with her beloved younger sister, Cristina, in 1934. In early 1939, anxious and adrift, Kahlo traveled from the United States to France—her only trip to Europe, and the beginning of a unique period of her life when she was enjoying success on her own.

Now, for the first time, this previously overlooked part of her story is brought to light in exquisite detail. Marc Petitjean takes the reader to Paris, where Kahlo spends her days alongside luminaries such as Pablo Picasso, André Breton, Dora Maar, and Marcel Duchamp.

Using Kahlo’s whirlwind romance with the author’s father, Michel Petitjean, as a jumping-off point, The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris provides a striking portrait of the artist and an inside look at the history of one of her most powerful, enigmatic paintings.

Book Review - The Absolutist; John Boyne

TITLE/AUTHOR:  The Absolutist; John Boyne

PUBLISHER:  Other Press

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2011 (reissue - 4/2021)

GENRE: Fiction / Historical / War Fiction / LGBT

FORMAT:  print LENGTH: 309 pp.

SOURCE:  sent to me by Other Press

SETTING(s):  France and London

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  An unforgettable, beautifully written and heart-wrenching story about choices we make and the regrets that sometimes follow.

BRIEF REVIEW:   When this book was first published in 2012, I just didn't think it was a story for me but, was I ever wrong.

What is an "absolutist?"  We are told that when it comes to war, it is worse than being a conscientious objector. Not only does an "absolutist"  refuse to fight in a war they also refuse to perform ANY duties to help in the war effort like helping out on the sidelines or in a hospital for example.

The story begins in 1919 on a train with Tristan Sadler traveling to visit Marian, the sister of Will Bancroft, a very close friend of Tristans and fallen soldier.  The purpose of the visit is to return a stack of letters that Marion wrote Will during the war.  The two young men were briefly, intimately involved while serving in France.  While Will preferred to forget the incidents and made light of them, Tristan could not forget the encounters as he cared deeply for Will.

Many issues are covered in this beautiful story: family, courage, cowardice, friendships, pressures to conform, homophobia and more. Never do the issues overwhelm the storyline.  It's actually a simple story, yet masterfully written. Through flashbacks from 1919 to 1916 the reader gets a clear picture of what happened but, it isn't until you get closer to the ending that the real shock and impact of the story hits you.  The story ends with Tristan as an old man in 1979. This is a story I'll never forget.  I'm more determined than ever to read everything that John Boyne has written; his books The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,  and A Ladder to the Sky  were other books of his that have never left me. If you decide to read this book (please do) go into it blind, like I did and don't read too many reviews. The story is written in such a way that it does not give anything away too soon at least, you get just small pieces in just the right doses.  This would make an excellent book club discussion choice.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

NOTE: Thanks go to Other Press for sending this book my way in exchange for my unbiased review.

MEMORABLE QUOTES:  

"Astonishing how everyone is willing to go abroad to fight for the foreigners while having such little concern for those of  their own countrymen at home."

" I think perhaps the adults we become are formed in childhood and there's no way around it."

"I felt that this is what it must be like to be married to someone, a constant back and forth of bickering, watching out for any stray comment in a conversation that might be corrected,  anything to keep gaining the upper hand, the advantage, bringing one closer to taking the game, the set, the whole blasted match without ever conceding a point."

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Absolutist; John Boyne

 

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read. 

The Absolutist; John Boyne - Other Press 

Tombland

Norwich, 15-16 September 1919

SEATED OPPOSITE ME in the railway carriage, the elderly lady in the fox-fur shawl was recalling some of the murders that she committed over the years.

"There was the vicar in Leeds," as she said, smiling a little as she tapped her lower lip with her index finger. "And the spinster from Hartlepool whose tragic secret was to prove her undoing.  The actress from London, of course, who took up with her sister's husband just after his return from Crimea. She was a flighty piece so no one would blame me for that.  But the maid-of-all-work in Connaught Square, I rater regretted killing her.  She was a hard-working girl of good Northerner stock, who perhaps didn't deserve such a brutal ending."

"That was one of my favourites, I replied. "If you ask me, she got what was coming to her. She read letters that were not hers to read."

What do you think, read more or pass?   I've read a few books by this author and just loved them,  This one has been on my TBR list for a bit - I love the intros and can't wait to read on.

Book Review - A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray; Dominique Barberis

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:  A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray; Dominique Barberis

PUBLISHER: Other Press

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Fiction / Literary /Translated

FORMAT:  LENGTH: 132 pp

SOURCE: ARC (sent by publisher)

SETTING(s):  France (translated from the French by John Cullen)

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A brief but enjoyable escape to France in this story about sisters with secrets.

BRIEF REVIEW:   Two sisters who were very close when young, now live a distance away.  Our unnamed narrator sister and her partner Luc live in Paris, while the other sister, Claire Marie, lives in a quiet suburb and is married to a doctor and also has a daughter.  Since Luc does not care for Claire Marie, he stays behind on the Sunday the narrator makes the trip.  Already in a melancholy mood when she travels to her sisters place, oddly, Sunday had always been a day their mother hated when they were young as well.  Over the course of their Sunday visit these middle-aged sisters reveal things they had never shared before.

I sat down with this brief novella and a hot cup of tea on a dreary spring afternoon and found it to be a rewarding escape that made me think.  There was a quiet, intimate, yet suspenseful and atmospheric feel to the writing.  By the end of this brief novel, I felt like I knew what made each sister tick but, did I? Can you always tell the difference between fact and fiction and can we always trust our memories? 

RATING:  4/5 stars

MEMORABLE QUOTES:  "WHO REALLY KNOWS US? We say so few things, and we lie about almost everything.  Who knows the truth?  Had my sister really told me the truth? Who can know it? Who'll remember us? With the passage of time, our hearts will become dark and dusty....."

Book Review - This Little Family; Ines Bayard

TITLE:  This Little Family

AUTHOR:  Ines Bayard

PUBLISHER:  Other Press

PUB. YEAR: 2020

Setting: Paris

Format: ARC

Rating - 4.5/5

Did you ever read a book that gets darker and horrific with each new page yet, for some reason you just can't stop yourself from turning reading more? This is that kind of book.

The reader knows from that very first paragraph that this is not going to be a pleasant read:

"Little Thomas didn't have time to finish his stewed apple. His mother hadn't given him the slightest chance.  The speed at which the poison circulated through his blood simply meant he didn't suffer when he died.  Only Marie's body was still upright, securely wedged against the back of her chair, her head tipped back.  She must have struggled to ensure this was noticed.  Laurent had been served first.  Few people stumbling across these three ashen bodies could have imagined the warm laughter filling the room just moments before the tragedy occurred."

Yet, what drives a woman to this level of despair that she felt she had no choice but to poison herself, her husband and her young son?   Will any survive?

As the story unfolds, you learn what has happened to Marie. I can't say much more without giving spoilers, but, Marie has suffered in silence pretending all was well until she just couldn't go on another day.

I read this book, fewer than 275 pages, in just one sitting, I couldn't look away. The translation from the French was excellent.  The story drew me in and was such a compulsive read, however, it was so graphic that even someone like me who is not easily shocked found myself cringing at times. This is definitely not a book for everyone.

BEWARE: Dark, graphic, shocking and potential triggers for some readers.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - This Little Family; Ines Bayard

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. . Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read soon.

This Little Family; Ines Bayard

Other Press - 2020

(review copy provided by the publisher)

"Little Thomas didn't have time to finish his stewed apple. His mother hadn't given him the slightest chance.  The speed at which the poison circulated through his blood simply meant he didn't suffer when he died.  Only Marie's body was still upright, securely wedged against the back of her chair, her head tipped back.  She must have struggled to ensure this was noticed.  Laurent had been served first.  Few people stumbling across these three ashen bodies could have imagined the warm laughter filling the room just moments before the tragedy occurred."

What do you think, pass or read more? 

 

Month in Review _ Goodbye June

June was a busy month in general and yet, still a good month for reading. I finished (9) books in June, making this (49) books for the first half of 2018. 

Books Read in June (reviews coming soon - I hope)

1. The Great Alone; Kristin Hannah (audio) 4.5/5 - June/June 2018
2. The Little Clan; Iris Martin Cohen (ARC) 3.5/5 - June/2018
3. Saving Cee Cee Honeycut; Beth Hoffman - 4/5 - June 2018 (reread-book group)
4. The Banker's Wife; Christina Alger - (eGalley) 3.5/5 June 2018
5. Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI; David Grann - 4/5 (audio) June/2018
6. Right Behind You; Lisa Gardner - 4.5/5 (audio) - June/2018
7. The Outsider; Stephen King (print/library) - 4/5 June 2018
8. The Chalk Man; C.J. Tudor (audio) 4/5 June/2018
9. The Waiting Room; Emily Bleeker (eGalley) 3.5/5

New Book Arrivals

1. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock; Imogen Hermes Gowar (sent by Penguin UK)
2. The Great Believers; Rebecca Makkai (sent by Viking)
3. Sweet Little Lies; Caz Frear (Zaffre Publishing)
4. Putney; Zafka Zinoieff (sent by Harper)
5. Go Ask Fannie; Elisabeth Hyde (sent by Amazon Vine - GP Putnam)
6. Safe Houses;Dan Fesperman (sent by Knopf)
7. The Myth of Perpetual Summer; Susan Crandall (sent by Gallery Books)
8. The Long Path to Wisdom; Jan Philipp Sender (sent by Other Press)

In case you missed my post with my summer reading plans, here are the books I hope to complete.

1. Baby Teeth; Zoje Stage - “We Need to Talk About Kevin meets Gone Girl meets The Omen...a twisty, delirious read that will constantly question your sympathies for the two characters as their bond continues to crumble.”―Entertainment Weekly
2. 84, Charing Cross Road; Helene Haniff - "84, Charing Cross Road will beguile and put you in tune with mankind... It will provide an emollient for the spirit and sheath for the exposed nerve." -- The New York Times
3. Clock Dance; Anne Tyler - "A bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another . . . The cast of sharply drawn characters dominates in ways both reflective and raucous across a series of emotional events.”
   —Publishers Weekly
4. The Dry; Jane Harper - A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.
5. The Outsider; Stephen King - An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. (completed 4/5)
6. The Other Mother; Carol Goodman -“An atmospheric and harrowing tale, richly literary in complexity but ripe with all the crazed undertones, confusions, and forebodings inherent in the gothic genre. Recommend this riveting, du Maurier–like novel to fans of Jennifer McMahon.” — Booklist (starred review)
7. Made for Love; Alissa Nutting - From the exciting and provocative writer of Tampa, a poignant, riotously funny story of how far some will go for love—and how far some will go to escape it. 
8. The House Swap; Rebecca Fleet -" She may not know exactly who is in her house. But she knows why they are there.  A house swap becomes the eerie backdrop to a chilling look inside a broken marriage filled with tantalizing secrets."
9. Something in the Water; Catherine Steadman - “With unreliable characters, wry voices, exquisite pacing, and a twisting plot, Steadman potently draws upon her acting chops. . . . A darkly glittering gem of a thriller from a new writer to watch.”—Kirk's Reviews (starred review)
10. Moonglow; Michael Chabon - “A wondrous book that celebrates the power of family bonds and the slipperiness of memory….A thoroughly enchanting story about the circuitous path that a life follows, about the accidents that redirect it, and about the secrets that can be felt but never seen, like the dark matter at the center of every family’s cosmos.” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)

Somebody had a birthday ---

Our youngest granddaughter is now 4

(Where did the time go?)

A Few New Books

Thank you Candlewick Press

• Pick a Pine Tree; Patricia Toht
• A Christmas for Bear; Bonny Becker
• Red and Lulu; Matt Tavares

• Picnic at Hanging Rock; Joan Lindsay (Penguin)
• Three Floors Up; Eshoo Nevo (Other Press)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday intros - Agnes; Peter Stamm

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph, maybe two, of a book that I'm reading or plan to read soon. This pick is just 147 pages, but it's a translated work (German to English) so I'm just not sure how this will flow.)

Agnes; Peter Stamm

Other Press - 2016

1

"Agnes is dead.  Killed by a story.  All that's left of her now is this story.  It begins on that day, nine months ago, when we first met in the Chicago Public Library.  It was cold when we first met.  It is generally cold in this city.  But it's colder now, and it's snowing. The snow is blowing across Lake Michigan, on the gale-force wind I can hear even through the soundproof glass in my picture windows.  It's snowing, but the snow won't settle, it gets picked up and whirled on its way, and only settles where the wind can't get at it.  I've switched off the light, and look out at the illuminated tips of the skyscrapers, at the American flag that gets tugged this way and that by the wind, in the beam of a searchlight, and at the empty streets far below, where, even now, in the middle of the night, the lights change from green to red and red to green, as though nothing had happened, or was happening."

Based on this intro, would you read more or pass on this book?

Feel free to join in by posting your own First Chapter First Paragraph Intro and linking below.

Where Women are Kings; Christie Watson

Where Women are Kings; Christie Watson

Other Press - 2015

Where Women Are Kings, is a powerful story but a tough one to read as well. It deals with an emotionally and physically abused child.

Seven year old Elijah believes two things: that his mother loved him very much, even though he was taken from her, and that he is a wizard - a wizard that is sometimes made to do bad things.

Elijah is the son of Deborah and Akpan, Nigerian immigrants living outside of London. His mother tells him that he was born of love, when the couple moved to the UK from Nigeria. However, when Akpan dies unexpectedly when Elijah is just an infant, Deborah is unable to cope with the loss of her husband. She quickly spirals out of control into madness. Convinced by a wacko Bishop that her son needs an exorcism, poor Elijah is sadly the victim here.

In and out of foster homes Elijah is adopted by a kind, patient, mixed race couple. Obi is an immigration lawyer and Nikki works with rescue dogs. Although Elijah seems to adjust well at times, his inner "wizard" demon is never far away.

The author has done a very good job creating a powerful, believable story. The characters are well developed and through alternating chapters the reader gets to understand the roots of Elijah's troubled past and difficult present. At just 250 pages, the book is a quick read, yet one that has stayed with me as well.

4.5/5 stars
(review copy)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Where Women Are Kings; Christie Watson

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon.

Where Women Are Kings; Christie Watson

Other Press - April 2015

PROLOGUE

"Being dead is like living inside a dream: only some things are real, but you don't know which ones.  It is so dark when I wake up that i feel dead again.  I have to move my fingers and toes to know I am still alive.  I died once, the first night I'd been away from Mama.  I was so dead then that I couldn't move anything.  Not even one toe."

Would you keep reading?