November-December Books

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz continues the saga of investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist who seeks to uncover the truth about Lisbeth Salander’s (the girl with the dragon tattoo) traumatic childhood. They must navigate dangerous challenges including an anti-Muslim gang, her mafia-connected twin and the conductors of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment.  This fifth installment of the Millennium series tries to maintain the framework created by the late Stieg Larsson but is the weakest of the series.

The Best of Me by Nicolas Sparks maintains the author’s franchise with the story of former high school sweethearts (from different sides of the tracks, of course) who return to their hometown for the funeral of a mentor and confront their choices and the hold of family history.  Will they wind up together after this interlude is the primary question and holds our attention despite formulaic characters and amazing coincidences mixed in with a little magic realism. 

*At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon “knits Mitford's small-town characters and multiple story lines into a cozy sweater of a book.” (USA Today). A surprisingly engaging, simple story about the challenges and complexities of a small Southern town centers on the wisdom and good works of Father Tim, a bachelor rector (for how long?) who takes in a huge dog, unloved boy, solves a mystifying jewel theft, and resolves a sixty years old secret. Mitford reminds me of Mayfield or a religious, southern version of “Three Pines” (Louise Penny), and Father Tim is a little like an ordained Andy Griffith.

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Alende uses a minor traffic accident as a catalyst for an unexpected bond among a human rights scholar, his Chilean lecturer tenant and an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, to explore the difficulties of immigrants and refugees in the developed world. The story moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, and sparks the beginning of a love story between the scholar and his tenant.  Who am I to criticize a world class author, but this isn’t Alende’s best work and didn’t spark my admiration.

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump edited by Bandy Lee presents the analysis of 27 psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health professionals who assess US President Donald Trump's mental health who conclude that mental illness crates a “clear and present danger” to the country. The analysis attempts to be objective and scientific, makes a reasonable case for its hypothesis, but suffers from the obvious bias of seeking points of view to support that view.

The Fall Guy by James Lasdun is a ‘psychological thriller” featuring a wealthy banker and gorgeous wife who invite his troubled cousin to spend the summer with them in their idyllic mountaintop house. There are lots of lies and self-deceptions with an almost secret affair and a not so secret murder, but who is the real villain/ victim? I found it tedious and predictable at times but reasonably engaging.

The Misfortune of Marion Palm by Emily Culliton is a "wildly entertaining debut” about a Brooklyn Heights wife and mother who has embezzled $180,000 from her children's private school and makes a run for it, leaving behind her trust fund poet husband, his maybe-secret lover,  two daughters, and a school board who desperately need to find her. I found it mildly entertaining with too many coincidences. 

Our Short History by Lauren Grodstein is the book that Karen, a single mother with advanced cancer, writes as she grapples with mortality, love and the fear that her ex will take Jake away before her final days. It’s a thoughtful meditation on love and grief, with a great concept, but didn’t engage my interest as much as I had hoped.

*Sing, Unburied, Sing is Jesmyn Ward’s "searing and profound journey, told in the varied voices of 13-year old Jo Jo’s dysfunctional family. Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam (dying of Cancer) and Pop (role model), and the occasional visit of their addict mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Coast of Mississippi with occasional input from his dead uncle and distant white grandfather.  Clearly an important book, but not easy reading.

**Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice is Bill Browder’s autobiographical story of how he became the world’s largest and most successful investor in the kleptocratic Russian economy before gaining international respect as a human rights advocate. The transformation came when his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials. Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses. “Red Notice is part John Grisham-like thriller, part business and political memoir."

The Nix by Nathan Hill, is a brilliant but overstuffed satirical debut novel about a failed writer and increasingly apathetic college professor, who gets a second chance at literary fame by writing about the infamous mother who deserted him. Hill has penetrating, often funny and well-written insights about almost everything.  For me, it was just too much of too many good themes, and for the NYT, it was a “supersized and audacious novel of American misadventure.”