Runaway Girl

Runaway Girl (2012) by Carissa Phelps with Larkin Warren. Phelps was literally a runaway girl growing up in California, where she fled a negligent mother and a scary stepfather to live on the streets at the age of 12. She soon fell into forced prostitution and drug use, and ended up "in the system." But she found that there were people who saw her potential and singled her out for a helping hand up, and eventually, against all the odds, she ended up earning a law degree and an MBA in California's excellent university system. Phelps doesn't pull many punches in this description of life on the outs, and it's a story of almost unimaginable sadness for a while. But she pulls it together, and ultimately, writes this book. It's not the most sophisticated literature, but it makes for a compelling read. Grade: B

Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace

Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady (2012) by Kate Summerscale. In the middle 1800s, an unhappily married lady named Isabella  Robinson kept a diary of her secret loves and longings. In a quirk of the law of Victorian England, it was ruled that the diary was her husband's property, to do with as he would. When he read it he was outraged to learn that his wife was in love with another man, and he sued for divorce. This book tells, in great detail, of the circumstances surrounding this divorce trial and of the queer practices which the Victorians followed regarding women's rights in the court of law. It is a very interesting book on the one hand, for what it reveals, but it makes for rather dull reading for the manner in which it is written. Thus I can't give it my unbridled approval. I was not sorry I read it, but the actual reading gave me little pleasure. Grade: B

Seating Arrangements

Seating Arrangements (2012) by Maggie Shipstead. This is a delightful novel about a WASP family and their weekend on an island in Connecticut, during which one of their daughters is to be married. The Van Meters, headed up by patriarch Winn, seem at first an ordinary clan, but by the end of the book enough backstory has been filled in to reveal them as the weirdest of the weird. Shipstead has a wonderful capacity for shifting points of view, and she does so repeatedly as the Van Meters meet their in-laws-to-be, the Duffs. The Van Meters have two daughters, and the Duffs have several sons, so there is much mixing and matching as it is decided who will have sex with whom over the short weekend on which the marriage is to take place. Characters are introduced and their details are filled in as the novel progresses, and many of the characters are delightful in their eccentricity. In the end, nobody gets seriously hurt, and the marriage comes off with only a few minor hitches. It's all really funny, and this is not a book to be read with a heavy heart. It's just too enjoyable for that. Grade: A

The Age of Miracles

The Age of Miracles (2012) by Karen Thompson Walker. The title of this book is really deceptive. There are no miracles or even wonders contained in this novel. The premise of the book is a fanciful one: The rotation of the Earth has begun to slow down. No one knows why, and no one ever figures out why. From that beginning, the plot is pretty much a straight path downward. The Earth slows down, days get longer, birds start dying, then vegetation, and it's a steady deterioration from then until the end of the book. It starts out as a fascinating concept, and degenerates into a depressing story of mankind's end, or near end. It is told from the first-person point of view of a sixth-grader, so there's nothing very sophisticated about the explanations for what happens. And in fact, I doubt the author could explain the events that follow as a result of the basic premise. This is not a sci-fi book; there is no attempt to make sense, even if you grant the premise. Things just happen. Could they happen this way, would they happen this way, if the Earth's rotation started to slow down? There's really no way to know. I found the book profoundly disappointing. Some of the human results of the slowing, as it's called, are interesting -- some people insist on staying on clock time, while others (the "real timers") try to live on the new, slowed down cycle of days and nights. Those sort of details are interesting. But basically this is a one-note novel which offers little beyond the opening premise. It makes for a pretty good read, but ultimately is pointless. Grade: B-

The Fish That Ate the Whale

The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King (2012) by Rich Cohen. Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, and rose quickly through the banana-importing world to become America's banana king. Along the way he became an example of the best and worst of America: Land of opportunity, but also meddler in foreign governments for profit's sake. This book sounds like it should be very interesting, but oddly, a lot is lost in the telling. Cohen is a competent writer, but he fails to breath life into his subject the way the really great writers have been able to do. I read the book with little pleasure, and was not displeased when I had finished it. It's a good book, but not a great book. If you happen to have a fascination with bananas, you will love it. Grade: B

The World Without You

The World Without You (2012) by Joshua Henkin. The "you" of the title is Leo, only son of the Frankel family, a journalist who was killed while covering the war in Iraq. Each of the remaining five members of the family grieves in his or her own way, and The World Without You tells the story of their individual and collective reactions to Leo's absence from their lives. Each family member is unique, of course, and it is in describing them in their singularity that this book excels. Reading it is always interesting, and only toward the end does it begin to drag a bit. It's a good, entertaining novel, though I didn't feel it taught me much about the human condition. Grade: B+

Inside

Inside (2012) by Alix Ohlin. In this novel, Ohlin traces the intersecting lives of four people. Each has his or her own story to tell, and their stories only touch briefly. Anne is an aspiring actress, Grace is her therapist, Mitch is Grace's ex-husband, Tug is a man Grace finds on a ski run after he has attempted suicide. More than anyone, this is Grace's book, for it starts and ends with her. As the book opens, Grace is cross-country skiing and comes across a man lying on the ground. Around his neck is a rope, and it is apparent that he has tried to kill himself. Being the type of person she is, Grace tries to help him, and ends up in a relationship with him. His name is Tug. Anne is a patient of Grace, who is a psychotherapist, and the book spends many pages following the story of Anne -- how she takes a homeless girl into her apartment, how she works on her acting skills, how she eventually finds moderate success in Hollywood. I found the book interesting, but I didn't feel that there was enough tying all the characters together to make it a coherent novel. It was more like a series of linked short stories, some more interesting than others. The book provided diversion, but it was hardly a life-altering event. I would not seek out other works by this author. Grade: B

The Holy or the Broken

The Holy or the Broken (2012) by Alan Light. This book is about Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah," which rose from obscurity to ubiquity over the span of a few decades. It was not a big hit when it first appeared on Cohen's 1984 album Various Positions, and it wasn't released as a single when it was sung by Jeff Buckley on his album Grace. But gradually it has percolated up through popular consciousness, being used in such varied places as the movie Shrek and TV shows like The West Wing the The O.C. It has been used in tribute concerts and in memorial services, in weddings and in funerals. If you're not sure you remember it, I strongly suggest you look it up on YouTube and give it a listen. The book explores the reasons why such an initially obscure song has risen through pop consciousness to be perhaps the most covered song in the last couple of decades. The lyrics to the song are included in the book, so you can sing along if you're so minded. I found the book entertaining and moving, yet somewhat repetitive. It is only a little more than a cataloging of all the people and places where "Hallelujah" has made an appearance -- and true, it is an impressive catalog. There are also biographical details about Cohen and Buckley which add to the allure of the book. I'd say it's must reading for pop-music fans. Grade: B