Book Review: Portrait in Sepia

Isabel Allende's "Portrait in Sepia" is one of the most beautiful novels I've ever read. Allende has woven together a stunning tale of love and desire, tragedy and loss, family and betrayal, over three generations of a prominent Chilean family. Her writing is incredibly detailed and she manages to fill in every character's personality so vividly and colorfully, that its as if they're brought to life. Furthermore, she manages to discuss so many important issues in the backdrop of the tale, including Chile's brutal political history, the difficulties immigrants faced in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era, and the many intricacies of being a female during this time.

The story revolves around Aurora del Valle, illegitimate daughter of Matías Rodríguez de Santa Cruz and Lynn Sommers, granddaughter of Eliza Sommers, Tao Chi'en, and Paulina del Valle, and adopted daughter of Sevaro del Valle. Aurora has a missing gap in her memory: that of her first five years of life, and the story revolves around her reconstruction of that gap and the horrific events that transpired that led to the creation of the gap. As the story progresses, each character's background and personality is explored thoroughly and woven intricately and seamlessly into the storylines of the other characters. Beautiful Lynn Sommers, daughter of Eliza Sommers and Tao Chi'en, has the love of two men; the noble, handsome Sevaro del Valle and the wealthy, charismatic but cocky Matías Rodríguez de Santa Cruz (son of Paulina del Valle and Feliciano Rodríguez de Santa Cruz). Lynn Sommers falls irrevocably in love with Matías, and Sevaro is forced to watch quietly as his cousin Matías tricks her into bed, impregnates her, and then claims no connection to her or her unborn child. Lynn dies soon after giving birth, and Sevaro claims the baby girl as his own, in order to give her legitimacy, but he too leaves the infant to join the brutal war in Chile. Aurora is raised by her doting grandfather, Tao Chi'en, and her hardworking grandmother, Eliza Sommers until the age of 5, when she is dropped off on the doorstep of Paulina del Valle by Eliza, with no explanation other than that Tao Chi'en had passed away and Eliza wanted to return her beloved husband's body to his homeland. Between the grandmothers, they agree that Eliza should never meet Aurora again, and it would best if they could erase any memory of her early years with her maternal grandparents to avoid confusion. The rest of the novel traces Aurora's childhood, adolescence and adulthood, under the indulging wings of her grandmother. As she grows older, she grows more and more curious of the blaring gap in her memory and the black demons that plague her dreams, and yet life and the constant political turbulence of the time distract her from fully understanding it. Years later, when she finally unfolds the truth of her past and the meaning behind the black figures that haunt her dreams, it offers her both relief and overwhelming sadness, as well as a sense of closure to the mystery that has always surrounded the memory of her childhood.

“Memory is fiction. We select the brightest and the darkest, ignoring what we are ashamed of, and so embroider the broad tapestry of our lives.” 

"Portrait in Sepia" is truly a spectacular novel and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed every last sentence in this book and hope that everyone that reads it does so as well. The detail is truly exquisite, as is Allende's storytelling and writing.

Book Review: The Husband's Secret

So I added yet another book to this week's list of reads, Liane Moriarty's "The Husband's Secret". I was browsing Amazon for a new book the other day, and for some reason this one happened to capture my eye, and so I took a chance and delved head first into it. Liane Moriarty did a splendid job on this novel, with it's rich and powerful story line, lightened up with properly interspersed humor and wit. When I first picked up the book, I was expecting a light "chick lit" style novel with a floozy background story and entertaining but pointless characters, so it pleased me greatly that Moriarty was able to throw me so off balance and completely re-evaluate my first impressions of her book.

"The Husband's Secret" details the lives of three middle-aged, seemingly ordinary Australian women who grapple with their suburban lives. Cecilia Fitzpatrick is the perfectly perfect wife and mother, effortlessly balancing her three children and all their activities, her handsome husband, and her successful Tupperware business. Tess O'Leary is the overworked small business owner who's husband and cousin-turned-best-friend have fallen in love with each other, completely destroying her perfect world. Rachel Crowley is the guilt-ridden mother of a teenage daughter who was killed over two decades ago, but who's memory she can't seem to let go. All three women end up interacting with one another through the school Cecilia and Tess's children go to and the one at which Rachel works, and secrets quickly start to unfold. A letter that Cecilia's husband wrote one drunken night after the birth of their first child, meant to be read only after his death, is found and read, and completely changes everyone's lives. Moriarty keeps us interested and invested in her tale until the very last page as she explores a myriad of issues, including the vicious cycle of karma, grief over the death of a loved one, the shift in a family's relationships after a tragedy, infidelity, trust, and the questioning of one's morals when your family is at stake,

"Can good people do very, very bad things, and what, exactly, are we responsible for, and for how long?"

What I loved most about this novel is how much it made you think about what you would do if you were in a certain character's place. The moral and ethical issues Moriarty's characters face are fascinating and truly thought-provoking. I couldn't imagine having to make some of the decisions these women make throughout the story, and yet I could imagine myself in any one of their places someday. In the beginning, the story unfolds slowly and rather boringly, as we are given the backgrounds of each of the characters and the slow progression of their lives. It isn't until a third or so into the novel that the story really picks up, so I would encourage any reader to not give up easily and put the novel down after reading just the beginning: it becomes far more captivating and engrossing as you read on. The beginning is just to build a solid background and set the stage for the events that are about to unfold. I won't say much more as I would hate to give something away so I'll leave you with this: anyone looking for a wonderful summer read should definitely get their hands on "The Husband's Secret" as soon as possible!

Book Review: Reconstructing Amelia

I've actually had time to get to my reading list the last few days, and so as soon as I finished Gone Girl, I picked up Kimberly McCreight's "Reconstructing Amelia", a recommendation from one of my coworkers, and got to reading. A rather short read (I finished it in around 4 hours), Reconstructing Amelia can best be described as Gossip Girl meets Gone Girl: it's a thriller-mystery style novel set in a high school environment of texting, Facebook, clubs, emails, etc. and explores high-school related problems including bullying, acceptance, teenage angst, first love, suicide, and parent-child relationship in a very unique way.

Within pages of beginning the novel, we learn that Amelia Baron, an intelligent, athletic sixteen year old with a promising future and a seemingly wonderful life has jumped off the roof of her expensive, prep school, Grace Hall. As this is happening, we meet Kate Baron, Amelia's extremely overworked but very loving and caring mother, who is beyond devastated and confused by the loss of her only child. The apparent suicide of Amelia leaves Kate wracked with guilt over not being able to spend enough time with her child due to a hectic work schedule, and we delve into Kate's struggles as a single mother slash high profile lawyer in NYC. As the story continues, through a collection of Facebook posts, emails, texts, and actual chapters, we alternate between Kate's version of events both before and after Amelia's suicide and Amelia's own version of tumultuous high school problems leading up to the actual day of her death. Before long, McCreight throws us completely off course with a simple text Kate receives from an anonymous sender: "She didn't jump". Throughout the rest of the novel, Kate unfolds the events leading up to her daughter's death, piecing together all the parts of Amelia's secret life, whilst simultaneously re-examining and learning more about her own past. Kimberly McCreight does a wonderful job of putting together this unique story, allowing it to flow flawlessly and revealing clues and new information at the most perfect times. 

I would highly recommend "Reconstructing Amelia" to anyone looking for a great end-of-summer read. While the novel is deeply emotional and heart-breakingly sad at times, it is also full of twists and turns and will keep you on your toes until the very last page. Like everyone else, I would definitely recommend "Reconstructing Amelia" to all "Gone Girl" fans, but I would caution against reading them back to back like I did, in order to avoid being in the perpetual state of paranoia that I'll be in for the next 48 hours. Reading thrillers always makes me extra paranoid and jumpy and super caution-y, so after two back-to-backs, we'll see how the next few days go!

Book Review: Gone Girl

Yes!!!! I finally, finally finished Gillian Flynn's super popular novel, "Gone Girl". I started this book in January, read like twenty pages, and then never got back around to it. Usually, I'm the type to never put a book down once I start it, especially one that came with such high recommendations, so this was a rather unusual exception. But I FINALLY picked it up again on Tuesday, determined to finish it before the movie is released (October 2nd), and I flew through it. Gillian Flynn is an incredibly engaging and innovative writer, and I literally could not put down Gone Girl again. It's all I've been talking about for the last 48 hours because I'm still so invested and obsessed with it. Every time I find someone else that's read it, I get so excited because I get to discuss my opinion of the ending and how I feel about each character's twisted, complicated personality.

Amy and Nick Dunne are seemingly the picture perfect couple: attractive, wealthy (at one point), intelligent, from New York and so in love. Behind close doors however, they are as far from perfect as a couple can be: disenchanted with one another, nearly broke, childless, jobless, and to top it all off, stuck in the middle of Nowhere, Missouri. On the day of their 5-year anniversary, their worlds are completely thrown off balance when Amy disappears into thin air, and Nick becomes the main suspect in her disappearance. As we, the readers, further our journey through the novel, our perceptions of the main characters are solidified and shattered, our allegiances shift back and forth, and by the end, our brains a complete mish-mash of who to trust and who not to trust. Gillian Flynn does a wonderful job of playing with our emotions and most importantly, with our first impressions.

I particularly enjoyed Flynn's style of alternating the storyteller between Amy and Nick, because it's so interesting to see two completely different (and oftentimes, unreliable) versions of the same event, and to see what one character makes of the other in their version of what happened. I would love to say more about Amy and Nick's individual personalities and how utterly fascinating I find their psyche and their motives and their outlook on life and one another, but I don't want to give too much away and risk ruining the thrill of the novel for anyone. Gone Girl is definitely fully deserving of the title "Thriller of the Year" and is truly a fascinating read for any adult.

I'm definitely excited for the movie, and while it seems as though they did a wonderful job of casting, I'm looking forward to seeing how Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike portray their deliciously complex, fictional counterparts.