Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

 Saturday, Apr. 23, 2020--San Antonio

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo confused me at first.  There is no capitalization except for formal terms/names and no punctuation except for commas.  So a line would start with a lower-case letter, then after the last word of the sentence, there would be a big blank space before there would be more words with the first one starting with a lower-case letter.  My first thought was whether the Kindle version I was reading was corrupted with missing portions not downloaded.  But soon, I figured out the pattern--short indentations for starting a new paragraph or what would be quoted text (no quotation marks) by a different character.  Then reading it flowed easily.  The book, which won the Booker Prize in 2019, became a fascinating story which concentrates on telling the lives of many connected characters both in the present and over multiple generations.  Most of the characters are immigrants or children of immigrants of African descent from either Africa or the Caribbean who are now living or have lived in England, some in London and some in the Newcastle area.  Most of the main characters are women, and most of those are involved some how in the women's liberation movement.  Several of the women have married white men or are the children or light-skinned descendants of one or more interracial marriages.  The book is much like reading short stories of the lives of these various women, but the book as a whole eventually ties them all together in various ways.  As the reader, once I understood this aspect of the book, I started trying to figure out the relationship before it was revealed and if I couldn't, I became eager to get far enough for the relationship to be revealed so that the puzzle (of the connection[s] to others already introduced) would become clearer.  Even toward the end when I though I was reading the last chapter of the book where many of the presently living characters come together, there follows a short epilogue that ties several more of them together.  It's a good book, I gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Berlin Girl by Mandy Robotham

Tuesday, Apr. 12, 2022--San Antonio

The Berlin Girl by Mandy Robotham is a novel about news reporting from Berlin during the lead-up to WWII.  It's a gripping tale with suspense as well as a love story from various angles--love for friends, love for colleagues, and romantic love.  It's not the type of novel that I would normally read--more of a mass entertainment novel (as indicated by its glossy cover) than one of higher quality and expected to win awards.  However, it's an easy book to read and is completely entertaining.   I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Crosby

Friday, Apr. 8, 2022--San Antonio

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Crosby is a murder mystery/thriller novel--not the kind of book that I normally read.  But it was one of the top 100 books of 2021 according to both TIME and NPR.  And it was available from the library for my Kindle.  It's the story of two ex-cons who have not met but whose gay sons (married to each other and who had been rejected by both fathers) have been murdered.  The cops either have little interest in solving the crime or have been encouraged to drop trying to solve it.  So the two men, both southerners, one white and the other Black with little tolerance for each other's prejudices, decide to take matters into their own hands so that the killers will be held accountable.  But there are "layers" of people who are responsible--the ones who actually performed the act and those above them who pass as genteel members of society.  It's a complex story with lots of humor, lots of violence, and many tense moments as these men face almost impossible odds.  I found myself reading more and more pages as each day passed.  I could see the movie becoming a series on Netflix or a feature film.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Sunday, April 3, 2022--San Antonio

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr provides a reading experience that is like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.  The further the reader gets into the book, the clearer it becomes that there are multiple stories that are all tied together.  So the reader should not give up if confused at first.  By a quarter of the way, the construction format becomes clear and the different characters obvious.  By half way through, the genius in the connections between the stories becomes exciting and it is difficult to put the book down.  By 3/4 of the way through, it is obviously such a good read that there is no desire for it to ever end.  And by 90% of the way through, there is sadness that it was all going to end soon.  The reader should take notes about the characters and their time periods as they are introduced in the beginning, since it takes time to really get them all separated and straight in one's mind.  The book really soars once it is clear what is happening.  And discovering and seeing the connections between the stories developing is a joy. It's one of the most complex novels I have read and one of the best.  I gave it 5 stars out of 5.