Coal River - Ellen Marie Wiseman

Kensington Publishing, November 24, 2015.

Three Stars

In Coal River, Pennsylvania in the early 1900s, life was bleak for coal miners and their families. Thrown into this world is nineteen year old Emma Malloy, an orphan from New York City. Owning nothing more than a small suitcase of donated clothing and a train ticket to Coal River, Emma has no choice but to live with her aunt and uncle and cousin Percy. She has history in the small mining town – as a child, her parents dropped off her and her brother Albert there, and the visit ended in tragedy. Provoked by a series of events that were set in motion years before, Albert ran out onto the frozen river and drowned. Now Emma has returned, and she must face her memories alone.

In the anthracite mining region of Pennsylvania, workers at many mines are making attempts to unionize. In some cases, they are aided by a group known as the Molly Maguires – men who use violence against their employers to get what they want. In Coal River, the miners are attempting to organize peacefully, but they are continually pushed down by the Flint family, owners of the mine. They are forced to purchase supplies at inflated prices at the company store, to the point that their expenses are higher than their paychecks. To compensate, the miners’ children are sent to work in the mines as “breaker boys” at increasingly younger ages, some as young as six years old. The job is dangerous, with many losing limbs, if not their lives.

Emma sees this situation, and does what she can to help. Her cousin Percy runs the company store, so she begins to alter the records and steal food to help the local families. While her compassion and determination are commendable, she ends up causing more trouble for the families, drawing the attention of mine owner Hazard Flint and his lackeys. Things quickly slip into melodrama, with masked men holding Emma’s family at gunpoint. Emma’s adventures become increasingly hard to believe, as a teenage girl singlehandedly attempts to end child labour in Coal River.

While the story becomes more unbelievable, especially the “love conquers all” ending, it was the love of the mothers for their “breaker boy” sons that evoked an emotional response for me. Emma’s love story was a little too convenient, with a neatly wrapped up ending, but the love amongst the miners’ families was raw and real. There was a lack of depth to many of the main characters, but the story was worth the read for the gritty, realistic historical setting.

I received this novel from Goodreads First Reads and Kensington Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise - Oscar Hijuelos

Grand Central Publishing, November 3, 2015.

Three Stars

In his final novel, Hijuelos portrays a very different version of Mark Twain than in another book I recently read, Lynn Cullen’s Twain’s End. In Cullen’s novel, he is shown as a rather foolish old man. Here, Twain has strength, power and brilliance. Most of all, he has influence over his friend of thirty-seven years, Sir Henry Morton Stanley.

Hijuelos was fascinated by the friendship between Twain and Stanley, and he spent many years working on this novel – in fact, he was still adding finishing touches at the time of his death in 2013. He started with detailed historical records and developed the story into this fictional account. The novel has a very non-fictional feel to it, lacking in depth of emotion. With a mixture of letters, memoirs and third-person storytelling, it makes the reader feel like we are actually searching through the historical documents ourselves.

Paradise focuses on life in Victorian literary circles at the time, with appearances by other writers such as Henry James. From the American West, Stanley and Twain travel to Cuba, in search of Stanley’s adoptive father. Although they seem like an unlikely pair of friends, it must have worked because their relationship spanned decades. HIjuelos honours both men with his reflection on their life’s work – so much has been written about Twain, but I knew almost nothing about Stanley. It was interesting to see Twain through Stanley’s somewhat naïve eyes.

The documentary style of the novel is often bogged down by details, with big chunks of historical information dropped into the story instead of slowly developing the plot. The atmosphere is very 19^th century, and Stanley’s first person documentation of American life is Twain-like in style. This is my first time reading anything by Oscar Hijuelos, and it may not have been exactly what he intended, since it was published posthumously – but from what I understand, it is very different from his other work. I did find it a bit dry and tedious at times, and because of that I would have had no problem believing that it was a completely non-fiction account. Paradise is a sprawling, life-long story in honour of two talented men, but it was drawn out too long for me.

I received this book for free from Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Moon Over Alcatraz - Patricia Yager Delagrange

Black Hawk/Ravenswood Publishing, November 15, 2015.

Two Stars

First of all, this book had nothing to do with Alcatraz, which was very disappointing because I initially chose it based on the title. It is actually set in nearby Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco. Brandy and Weston are a married couple, pregnant with their first child. However, when the baby dies during the birth, both parents are devastated. This first part of the novel was well-written – the tragedy of losing a child was described in heartbreaking detail. Unfortunately, the story just dissolved into a series of unbelievable events after that.

After they lose their child, Brandy and Weston’s marriage becomes strained. Weston takes a job across the country, and the long-distance relationship leads, predictably, to infidelity. Weston is not at all understanding about Brandy’s depression following the loss of their child, and he takes her pain personally. Lashing out against her, he only drives her further away, which leads to yet more romantic complications. Both Brandy and Weston want to forgive each other, but they keep making bad decisions that only hurt each other.

The language used by most of the characters was stilted and abrupt – not realistic at all. I also wished for more background story as I was unable to see the characters are real people, beyond their present lives and awful decisions. There was a lot of conflict for no real reason, and a ridiculous amount of tragic hospital visits – it got to the point where I just couldn’t care about these people any more. At least the romance storyline wasn’t completely cheesy, but I wish there was more build up to the relationships. If you are looking for a simple romance, and aren’t looking for a lot of meaning beneath the surface, you might enjoy this. For me, it was too simple and unlikely.

I received this book for free from Blue Moon Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Life and Other Near-Death Experiences - Camille Pagan

Lake Union Publishing, November 1, 2015.

Three Stars

Libby Miller’s extreme optimism is a little over the top in this novel – but that’s what makes it so much fun. I don’t usually like reading the kind of light humour that Pagan uses in this book, but it’s actually pretty clever for the most part, and only occasionally crosses over into slapstick territory. Libby’s adventures actually made me laugh out loud, even though I tried to resist – especially her ridiculous euphemisms for swear words.

When Libby is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, she refuses to acknowledge her doctor’s explanations of treatment and leaves his office in denial. She rushes home to the comfort of her husband, who chooses the same day to admit that he is gay. This paragraph may sound spoilery, but these events happen in the first few pages – the remainder of the novel deals with the aftermath, as Libby tries and fails and tries again to live with these two major blows to the life she knew. There were some borderline offensive parts (such as Libby being complimented on her thigh gap, because she is so skinny from being too sick to eat) but ultimately it is not meant to be a serious story of a woman overcoming cancer. It is light and fluffy, and in the end it is optimistic about Libby’s circumstances. The rest is taken with a grain of salt.

Libby is happy, cheerful, and sees the good in everyone and everything – but we eventually learn that her perpetual optimism is a mask. It is a coping mechanism that she slipped into after her mother died of cancer when Libby was a child. Now, with circumstances repeating in her own life, she tries once again to ignore reality and live in ignorant bliss. When reality forces her to pay attention, she must learn to cope with the negative aspects of life. As she finally figures out, “life is a near death experience” (Loc. 1475) and we all have to accept that eventually.

By giving up on the superficial things that she thought were important, Libby does find happiness. The love story was predictable, but still fun. I felt that the ending wrapped up much too quickly and easily – although I did think it might go in a darker direction. The minor characters were entertaining, and they were a big part of Libby realizing that no one lives in isolation. Even in death, she must consider the wishes of her friends and family. While the “moral of the story” was a bit heavy-handed, this was still a fun, light, enjoyable read.

I received this book for free from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Esther - Rebecca Kanner

Howard Books, November 3, 2015.

 

Three Stars

This is another retelling of a biblical story, although I found it grittier and more realistic than others I have read. I actually did not know the story of Esther before reading this, and had only learned about the reign of Xerxes in the context of military history, so I found the subject matter very intriguing.

 

King Xerxes of Persia has anything he desires, including concubines from all over his kingdom. His men make raids to gather these women from small surrounding villages, and Esther is one who joins his harem. She also happens to be Jewish, a fact that she hides from her captors – the King’s advisors are encouraging Xerxes to expel the Jewish people from his lands. This was one part of the story that I wish had been explained further, with more historical background. Evoking the name of the Amelekites might be enough for a bible story, but I ended up having to do my own research to understand the context, and I’m still not sure I fully understand the reference. In any case, people throughout history have never felt the need to have a legitimate reason to attempt the extermination of the Jews, and Xerxes’ advisors are no exception.

 

Despite being held captive, Esther is strong and clever, and she does her best to impress the King. With help from the head eunuch Hegai and her servant/confidante Ruti, Esther has King Xerxes in her thrall, and he is convinced to remove her from the harem and make her his queen. Of the thousands of beautiful women in his possession, I found it hard to believe that Esther was so much more special to him, especially after only one night with her. It made the story seem more like legend than fact, which I suppose it is.

 

Esther works so hard to become queen, with the goal of protecting her people from genocide – but once she is in a position to rule, she seems to think only about herself and the people close to her. With over half of the novel devoted just to preparing her for her night with Xerxes, there was a lot of build-up to her role as Queen Esther. However, she becomes complacent as a ruler, worrying mainly about her relationship with Erez, the man who originally captured her and helped her to hide her Jewish background. Their love story seemed fairly trivial compared to the impending genocide of Esther’s people, and I found myself hoping for much more historical information. There was so much rich detail regarding food, clothes, etc. – the story was obviously well researched, yet lacking in information on the political situation.

 

However, Esther’s cunning and quick thinking show that she was not just a docile wife – her choices raise the question of free will versus faith in God. Additionally, the details of her life go beyond the basic bible story, with realistic dialogue and modern sex scenes. Esther is not just a fable, she is a real woman, demonstrated by her romantic love for Erez, friendship with Ruti, and her grief over the loss of her child. While this novel is based on a bible story, I found that Esther relied on herself and her friends to make decisions, as opposed to her faith – in fact, issues of God and religion are rarely mentioned. Because of this, I felt it would be more accurately classified as historical fiction, although lacking in details of history. The intrigue and excitement of the first half of the novel fell flat in the last half, which is why it is only a three star read for me.

 

I received this book for free from Howard Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.