Monthly Archives: January 2014

White Girls

By Hilton Als

(McSweeney’s Publishing, $24, 300 pages)

Who is this author?

Hilton Als has been a staff writer at The New Yorker for 20 years, and a theatre critic for the magazine since 2002. Before that, Als was a staff writer for The Village Voice and an editor-at-large at Vibe. He also has contributed to The Nation, New York Review of Books and other publications and collaborated on screenplays, and he edited the catalog for the Whitney Museum of American Art 1994-95 exhibition, “Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art.” In 1996, “The Women,” about gender, race, and personal identity, was his debut book.  A winner of multiple awards, Als has taught at Yale University, Wesleyan and Smith College.

What is this book about?

Als, who is black, gay and brilliant, returns to the themes he explored in “The Women” in this collection of pieces, many of which ran in the New Yorker. Don’t let the title “White Girls” mislead you: the subjects of his essays may not be white nor female, but they represent for him a cultural elite, not necessarily high-brow but crucial to our understanding of contemporary writing, art and music. Here you will find Als’ probing meditations on figures as diverse as Truman Capote, Eminem, Richard Pryor and Flannery O’Connor.

Why you’ll like it:

Hilton’s writing, as New Yorker readers know, is simply gorgeous, but never simple. While this essay collection certainly is challenging, it is worth your time and appreciation. This is one of those books that can change the way you think about the world and the larger-than-life icons who shape our understanding of our culture. If you have never read his New Yorker pieces, this collection will show you what you have been missing.

What others are saying:

Salon says: When Hilton Als talks about white girls, he doesn’t just mean young Caucasian women. In his new essay collection, “White Girls,” the New Yorker theater critic addresses a variety of cultural figures who register to him as white girls. The collection merges memoir (beginning with a lengthy appraisal of a long-term relationship with a straight man over the years) and cultural criticism. Figures addressed include Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Eminem — all of whom merge cultural capital and success, traditionally defined, with the perpetual underdog’s self-aggrandizement and an outsized sense of personal drama..Als’s turns of phrase are memorable, but it’s his flair and confidence — fictionalizing Richard Pryor’s family and using them as characters, for instance, or, somewhat brutally, representing fashion-world eminence André Leon Talley as a figure who’s effectively turned himself into a sanitized stereotype for white enjoyment — that keep one turning the pages. Like any true critic, Als is able to synthesize information and his own opinion; unlike many, he flits between generic distinctions in order to tell a bigger, broader story about cultural capital, what it means to have it, and how one gets it.”

“Als’s greatest gift as a critic is his generosity. While the assertions that he makes are frequently provocative (“Truman Capote became a woman in 1947.” ), they’re delivered with such panache and prove so accurate that the reader never chafes. He is able to assess whatever he chooses in a clear-eyed, interesting way, making incisive critiques and asserting generalities that never sound grandiose or unfounded like lesser critics (i.e. the rest of us) often do,” says The Boston Globe.

The Los Angeles Times says: “White Girls” is a collection of essays that blurs the line between criticism, memoir, even fiction and nonfiction — 13 takes on, among others, Flannery O’Connor, Michael Jackson, Louise Brooks and Truman Capote, all of whom represent the figure of the “white girl” in actual or invented ways. . . . Most of the pieces in “White Girls” use their subjects as a starting point, but the genius has to do with where Als goes from there.

Thus, Eminem (or Marshall Mathers, as Als refers to him, getting underneath his persona) is not just a white boy appropriating black music, nor is appropriation a particularly clarifying lens. “To say, as many critics have,” Als writes in one of the book’s many provocative passages, “that whites steal from blacks who originate important work in music or fashion is beside the point. … Unlike many of the whites he grew up with, Mathers never claimed whiteness and its privileges as his birthright because he didn’t feel white and privileged. Als is not denying Mathers’ whiteness, just saying that it’s trumped by class, by economics, by his awareness of being on the outside looking in.”

Kirkus Reviews says: “Meditations, appraisals, fictions and personal inquiries about sex, race, art and more from the longtime New Yorker staff writer and cultural critic. . . . Gathering his diverse subjects under the umbrella term “white girls,” which he applies equally to Malcolm X, Truman Capote and Flannery O’Connor, Als assembles something of a greatest hits of his own strengths, which are considerable. His longer essays are the most personal; “Tristes Tropiques,” an elegant recollection of friends and lovers in the age of AIDS, opens the book. Naturally, observations on culture rise to the top as well. “White Noise,” about rap icon Eminem, and “Michael,” about the elusive pop star, offer pointed insights into American culture’s obsession with image. Readers who only know Als’ work from his insightful magazine essays may be startled by his diversions from form here. . . . Leapfrogging from straightforward journalism to fiction written in other personas, the author demonstrates a practiced combination of cultural perception, keen self-awareness and principled self-assurance. Als’ work is so much more than simply writing about being black or gay or smart. It’s about being human”.

Says Publishers Weekly: “New Yorker critic Als . . . delivers his first book in 15 years—a mesmerizing and varied collection of essays, some previously published. . . . Using his subjects as a springboard to analyze literature, photography, films, music, television, performance, race, gender, sexual orientation, and history, Als offers wry insights throughout. For example, he notes how O’Connor’s readers often overlooked “the originality and honesty of her portrayal… of Southern whiteness as it chafed under its biggest cultural influence—Southern blackness. . . .  Highly attuned to popular culture, Als is a writer of many moods—meditative, sardonic, haunting, funny, reflective, and unconventional. Whether agonizing over photos of black lynchings (and realizing that the true meaning of the N-word is a “slow death”), or constructing a critique of Virginia Woolf in the voice of Richard Pryor’s sister, he proves to be a compassionate writer looking for unity—even if it can’t always be found. “

When is it available?

Hilton Als’ fascinating book is waiting for you at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Albany and Mark Twain branches.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life

By Dani Shapiro

(Grove/Atlantic, $24, 256 pages)

Who is this author?

Dani Shapiro has had a wide readership for her memoirs, “Devotion” and ‘Slow Motion,” and her five novels include “Black & White” and “Family History.” She has been a contributor to such choice literary venues as The New Yorker, Granta, Tin House, One Story, Elle, Vogue, The New York Times Book Review and The Los Angeles Times, and her writing has been widely anthologized. She has taught writing as well, at Columbia, NYU, The New School and Wesleyan University, and she co-founded  the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. She also is a contributing editor at Travel + Leisure. Shapiro and her husband, filmmaker Michael Maren, and their son live in Litchfield County.

On Feb. 13 at 7 p.m., Shapiro and Maren will give a free program at the Warner Theatre’s Nancy Marine Studio Theatre, 68 Main St., Torrington. Information: lcwp@uconn.edu or 860-626-6802.

What is this book about?

This book offers advice about writing that also is advice about living a creative life. Shapiro reaches deep into her personal history and her practices as a successful writer and shows how the discipline necessary for success as an author can also benefit non-writerly pursuits.

Or, as she puts it: “Everything I know about life, I learned from the daily practice of sitting down to write.”

And:  “The writer’s life requires courage, patience, empathy, openness. It requires the ability to be alone with oneself. Gentle with oneself. To be disciplined, and at the same time, take risks.”

Shapiro told Salon: “Writers are outsiders.  Even when we seem like insiders, we’re outsiders. We have to be. Our noses pressed to the glass, we notice everything. We mull and interpret. We store away clues, details that may be useful to us later . . . Now, I grew up in a house full of secrets. My parents kept the urgent and salient details of their histories from me –– and somehow, I knew this. And, knowing this, I became determined to unearth. To excavate. And I do believe that this need to know was the beginning of my becoming a writer — though of course it took many years, and the light of retrospect, to understand this.”

Why you’ll like it:

I had the pleasure of meeting Dani Shapiro a few years ago when I moderated a panel of Connecticut authors at the Mandell Jewish Community Center in West Hartford. She was poised, soft-spoken, stylish and quite lovely, accompanied by her film director husband and happily discussing their home in Litchfield County, her writing classes in Italy, her beloved son. But there is more to Shapiro’s story: an Orthodox Jewish upbringing that she later abandoned, a difficult childhood with warring parents, an illness that nearly took her son.

She was frank and encouraging in her comments that evening, and those qualities help make “Still Writing” a book that will appeal to aspiring writers as well as to general readers.

As she told Psychology Today:  “I knew I didn’t want to write a craft book. I started thinking of this as a love letter to my tribe, to this group of people all over the world who sit in our rooms, alone, struggling with the page. I wanted to pierce the solitude of the writing life, the way that some of my favorite writing books have done for me. Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, and The Paris Review interviews. They’re like my friends I go to for inspiration so that I don’t feel alone. Over the years, these writers helped me by sharing their personal stories, and I wanted to do the same thing for other writers.”

What others are saying:

Kirkus Reviews says: “A best-selling author’s thoughtful examination of her life and the creative process that has defined it. Shapiro  . . . offers an intimate look at why, after the many ups and downs she has experienced in both her life and her career, she is “still writing.” The acts of living and literary inscription are inextricably intertwined for Shapiro. To talk about one, she must necessarily talk about the other. With this in mind, she divides her book into three sections: beginnings, middles and ends. Shapiro credits a “lonely, isolated childhood,” which made reading and writing “as necessary as breathing,” as what set her on the path to authorship. At the same time, she lays out what she sees as the necessary conditions for the work of writing: for example, understanding where and how you create best and giving yourself permission to not know where the act of writing will take you. “Writing, after all, is an act of faith.” The middles are trickier to negotiate. Shapiro was in midlife when she published her first memoir, which dealt with the “mess” of her 20s. Not long after that, her infant developed life-threatening seizures. Finding structure in the midst of chaos, being willing to start again and learning to live with uncertainty were the keys to her personal survival, just as they are key for writers lost in the morass of middledom. Endings are both a reward and a challenge. Shapiro is settled and happy, and she is successful enough to write full time. But she also knows her world is fragile. Despite the difficulties inherent in the writing life, it is still what she would choose not only because it has forced her to transcend herself, but also because it is something she must do. “The only reason to be a writer,” she notes, is because you have to.” Cleareyed, honest and grounded.

Says Booklist: “Novelist and memoirist Shapiro . . . explores the qualities of a creative life while reflecting on the indelible relationship between her own experiences and her writing practice. An accomplished author, Shapiro provides insight into both craft and career, separating the text into three parts: “Beginnings,” “Middles,” and “Ends.” Each looks at certain literary efforts alongside everyday challenges faced at the different stages of the creative process, from such general pitfalls as procrastination to more unwieldy, internal struggles, such as uncertainty, restlessness, and self-doubt. Shapiro blends her personal thoughts with anecdotes from fellow writers, providing varying perspectives and strategies in navigating the demands of writing. Throughout the text, Shapiro weaves in reflections on the more difficult circumstances of her life, including an isolated childhood, her father’s death, and the complicated relationship with her mother. In these moments, the narrative explores how such events shaped and informed Shapiro’s writing then and now. Honest and conversational, Shapiro provides an introspective look into the creative process and the value of persistence, offering inspiration for writers at any level.”

Author  Beth Kephart blogged:  “As one who teaches as well, who writes about words, who sometimes writes her own stories, I felt so aligned with Dani as I read that I’m afraid I sometimes spoke out loud while reading. I loved many passages. Let me share just one. It’s the sort of advice I’ve tried to share with many writers throughout the years. But Dani says it better:

‘There’s nothing wrong with ambition. We all want to win Guggenheims and live and write in the south of France, or some version thereof—don’t we? But this can’t be the goal. If we are thinking of our work as a ticket to a life of literary glamour, we really ought to consider doing something else.’

Says NPR: Is there any job more tedious than being a writer? Dani Shapiro doesn’t think so. In this revelatory book — part memoir, part how-to — she demystifies the writing life once and for all. Here’s her typical day at the desk: “sit again, get up, comb my hair, sit again, stare at the screen, check e-mail, stand up…” Anger with reviews, disappointment with book sales, jealousy of other writers: all are chronicled, interspersed with the more quotidian difficulties of distraction, discipline and self-doubt. She also recounts her extraordinary, at times tumultuous life, including her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, the death of her parents, her collegiate affair with an older, married man and the nearly terminal illness of her son. For a human being, this material is tragic, but for a writer it’s gold. It’s the hot coal that fuels the slow-chugging machine. “I inch forward,” she tells us, “a sentence at a time. I read a few paragraphs back, then move forward only when I’m satisfied.” It’s a generational condition, handed down by Shapiro’s mother, who never was able to realize her own dream of being a writer.”

When is it available?

“Still Writing” is on the shelves at the Mark Twain branch of the Hartford Public Library.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

Stella Bain

By Anita Shreve

(Little, Brown and Co., $28, 272 pages)

Who is this author?

Anita Shreve is known for writing literary fiction with strong female characters. “Stella Bain” is her 17th novel; the others include “Rescue,”  “A Change in Altitude,” “Testimony” and “The Pilot’s Wife,” an Oprah’s Book Club selection,  and “The Weight of Water.” Previously, Shreve was a high school teacher and a journalist in Africa. She also published two nonfiction books: “Remaking Motherhood” and “Women Together, Women Alone,” which reflect her deep interest in women’s lives and issues. She lives in Massachusetts.

What is this book about?

We know about the psychological issues that post-traumatic stress disorder causes in men serving in wartime. Here is a book that examines what happens to women.  An American, who believes her name is Stella Bain, turns up in a London garden in 1916, before the U.S. enters the First World War. She is suffering from what was then called shell shock, and a prominent British surgeon and budding psychoanalyst  and his wife take her in. It’s soon discovered that “Stella” was a battlefield nurse’s aide who has lost all memory of her earlier life. As she slowly recovers, she draws scenes that help reveal her past and soon a complex tale of love and betrayals emerges that explain why she left her family in America and why her life has taken so many strange turns.

Why you’ll like it:

Shreve’s long list of popular novels demonstrate that she is a writer who has the knack for engaging a female audience with her carefully drawn and deeply imagined characters. She also is well-versed in the Edwardian era, which means fans of “Upstairs, Downstairs” and “Downton Abbey” will be naturally drawn to the period and concerns illuminated in “Stella Bain.” In other hands, this kind of book  would be classed as a historical or romantic novel, or both, but Shreve lifts it higher into the realm of literary fiction.

What others are saying:

Publishers Weekly says: “Shreve’s 17th novel is a tragic yet hopeful story of love, memory, loss, and rebuilding. A young woman wakes up with amnesia in a battlefield hospital tent in Marne, France, in 1916. She thinks her name is Stella Bain, and she thinks she knows how to nurse and drive an ambulance. As she recovers, she returns to duty in this new environment, caring for the wounded and dying. When she arrives in the city exhausted and destitute, she’s discovered in a park by a doctor’s wife, who takes her in. The doctor, Augustus Bridge, is a cranial surgeon with an interest in psychiatry. Stella becomes a “quasi-patient”; he finds a way to get her into the Admiralty, and, when a former friend recognizes her by name, her memories return, including the fact that she has children—and the reason why she left them. The amnesia and its cause are only part of the story; the lack of understanding at the time of the consequences of witnessing the horrors of war, for both men and women, also plays a key role. The novel is both tender and harsh, and the only false note is the use of present tense, which prevents the reader from being pulled in more closely. Shreve’s thoughtful, provocative, historical tale has modern resonance.”

Says Kirkus Reviews: “A wife risks every chance of domestic happiness by heading to the front long before America’s entry into the Great War. A woman awakens in a field hospital in Marne, France, in 1916. Fragments of memory surface: She recalls that she was serving near the front as a nurse’s aide and ambulance driver before suffering a shrapnel wound and shell shock and that her name is Stella Bain. Driven to seek answers about her identity from the Admiralty in London, she travels there and, ill, is taken in by August Bridge, a cranial surgeon, and his wife, Lily. Experimenting with the new field of psychoanalysis, August strives to restore Stella’s memory: She draws a series of scenes that provide clues, not least to the fact that she is an accomplished artist. At the Admiralty, she is recognized by Samuel, an officer there, and her past floods back–she is Etna Van Tassel, not Stella Bain. A flashback reveals that Etna and Samuel were young lovers in New Hampshire and that she begged Samuel, in front of his brother Phillip, not to marry another, to no avail. She married a dour Dutch professor, until a baseless scandal he fomented involving their teenage daughter and Phillip drove Etna–and Phillip–to France as a volunteer. Phillip and Etna’s affinity blossoms into affection as the duo, both ambulance drivers, steal moments together amid the carnage and horror of trench warfare. Although the novel’s structure is somewhat disjointed, and the preliminary amnesiac chapters seem gratuitous in light of the full revelations that follow, the characters are well-drawn and sympathetic. Many surprises are in store. An exemplary addition to Shreve’s already impressive oeuvre.”

“Shreve is back with a period piece that will keep readers thinking. In the midst of World War I, a woman finds herself lost and alone in London with no idea of who she is or how she got there. After being taken in by a kind, wealthy couple, Lily Bridge and her doctor husband, August, slowly a few memories return to her. Her name is Stella Bain, and she needs to go to a military location called The Admiralty to find the person who has the key to unlock the rest of her memories. As the story unfolds, Stella does find her identity and the reasons that made her abandon her American family and head off to Europe to help in the war. She ends up in a nasty court battle and eventually meets back up with Dr. Bridge in an emotional conclusion. VERDICT With period pieces on television such as Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife becoming so popular, Shreve has chosen a timely setting. As usual, her plotlines and domestic drama do not disappoint. The masses of Shreve fans will line up for this one, as will some Downton Abbey enthusiasts,” says Library Journal.

“An intriguing character study that delivers compelling mystery without melodrama. Shreve offers a fresh, feminine twist on a topic that’s much in vogue lately-World War I…. Shreve cleverly and movingly shifts between Stella’s two lives, as we learn who she really is. A custody battle, a horrible case of wartime disfigurement, and even questions of women’s rights emerge in this spare but involving novel….Those who read Shreve’s 2003 novel, All He Ever Wanted, will get an unexpected thrill when they put the pieces together,” says former Courant editor Jocelyn McClurg in USA Today.

“Stella Bain Shreve returns to what she does best-describing the thoughts, actions, and feelings of an unconventional woman….As Shreve peels back the layers of memory and exposes the real woman in Stella, she creates a compulsively readable novel….In Stella Bain, Shreve’s writing is spare and luminous, much like her protagonist. She can evoke an intense feeling in just a few words….The extensive dialogue and courtroom testimony move the story along swiftly, and in sections the book reads like a play. Although the story takes place in, variously, the late 19th Century and the first decades of the 20th Century, Shreve has woven in themes that readers in this century will have no trouble recognizing as worthy and current,” says theToronto Star.

When is it available?

The Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Goodwin and Mark Twain branches have this book now.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?

By Billy Crystal

(Holt, $28, 288 pages)

Who is this author?

Oh, c’mon. Do I really have to tell you? You’ve seen him in many popular films, some of which have become blockbusters with dialogue that will be quoted for what seems like forever: “When Harry Met Sally,” “City Slickers,” “The Princess Bride” and “Analyze This.” He starred on TV in “Soap” and “Saturday Night Live.” He’s won six Emmy awards, wrote a Tony-winning play, “700 Sundays,” and a book for kids titled “I Already Know I Love You.” He won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and has been the host  the Academy Awards telecast nine times. And he’s still married to his original wife. Yeah, that guy.

What is this book about?

Crystal has had many fantastic experiences, among them getting to play for one glorious day for his beloved New York Yankees, but he is mortal. And this book, inspired by his facing up to turning 65, is a very funny, very wise riff on aging, written with the huge Baby Boomer population in mind. Besides his hilarious musings on growing older, the book is also an autobiography that recounts Crystal’s remarkably resilient career in showbiz, from its earliest days. There are stories of his relationship with Sophia Loren and his deep friendships with other actors and comedians, as well as such sports idols as Mickey Mantle and Muhammad Ali. Not only a fascinating look at a fascinating career, this book also is a reflection on how the humor industry has changed and how concerns about aging are eternal.

Why you’ll like it:

This is observational humor at its most relatable: anyone approaching their 60s, or who has parents who’ve crossed that milestone, will get it. Crystal has both talent and heart and the ability to write, a terrific combination. His many fans will love this book, and those not so familiar with his long career (there cannot be many, but we will stipulate there must be some out there) can get to know the man by reading it. Crystal may be growing old, but this book proves he still looks….wait for it….mahhhhvelous.

What others are saying:

Publishers Weekly says: “Avoiding the trappings—excess schmaltz, laundry list of famous friends, boozy party log—of so many celebrity memoirs, Crystal delivers a funny and genuinely moving chronicle of his life inside and outside Hollywood. The quips come as fast they do in the best Crystal films and Oscar hostings, making sure the reader knows that there isn’t a ghost writer guiding this one. Now 65, Crystal, the youngest of three brothers, was a comic from the start, soaking up all he could from the TV comedians of the ’50s during his childhood in the New York suburbs. In addition to loving comedy, Crystal grew up loving music (his father owned a popular record store in the city) and, of course, baseball. Both of these passions stayed with him throughout his life and, something most fans could only dream of, Crystal not only met but befriended idols like Mickey Mantle and boxer Muhammad Ali. His successes are balanced with opportunities that didn’t pan out, or movies that fizzled at the box office: a last-minute cancellation of a semi-permanent gig with the then-fledgling Saturday Night Live is outshone by the opportunity to perform on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In addition to providing the inside scoop on some of his most iconic roles, from Harry to Princess, Crystal manages the extremely difficult feat of making his prose as vibrant and funny as his stand-up. He&’ll always be a hard act to follow.”

From Booklist’s starred review: “If you’ve been paying attention for the last few decades, you’re probably familiar with the career of Billy Crystal: his stand-up roots, his controversial role on the sitcom Soap, his run on Saturday Night Live, his Oscar-hosting turn, his movies . . . Why, you might be wondering, do I need to read the book when I already know the guy? Here’s one reason: the book is massively laugh-out-loud funny. . .  Crystal, who turned 65 in March 2013, reflects on his life and career and the joys of aging, and the book has a lot of surprises, ranging from the story of how he created the character of Fernando (the “You look mahvelous” guy) to his brief stint as a player with the New York Yankees. Hollywood memoirs don’t come much more entertaining than this one, and the book reinforces one thing we’ve always known about Crystal: he’s a genuinely funny, genuinely nice guy. “

Says Kirkus Reviews: “A humorous take on mortality by famed comedian and actor Crystal . . .  In his latest book, the always-affable author proves yet again his ability to translate his comedic chops from the screen to the page. On the morning of his 65th birthday, Crystal peered into the mirror to find he was no longer the “hip, cool baby boomer” he thought he was, but now resembled “a Diane Arbus photograph.” Horrified by the transformation, Crystal dedicates the rest of the book to finding his old self in his new saggy skin–a self-deprecating shtick that proves as endearing as it is silly. Melding the personal with the professional, the author recounts his rise from unknown comic to acclaimed entertainer, a journey that has included run-ins with everyone from Mickey Mantle to Muhammad Ali. Yet through it all, Crystal makes clear that his brushes with greatness–and, in fact, his own greatness–were often the result of luck, timing and hard work in equal proportions. Though he revels in his self-portrayal as a key-losing, liver-spotted old man, in truth, Crystal’s wit and writing remain sharp, as do his reflections on the more disappointing moments of his career. . . . By book’s end, it’s evident that Crystal himself has grown old, but rather than make a secret of his age, he turns it into a punch line. . . . A charming, warm, welcome read for Crystal’s legions of fans.”

When is it available?

The laughs await you at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Blue Hills and Goodwin branches.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

The Longings of Wayward Girls

By Karen Brown

(Washington Square Press, $15, 315 pages)

Who is this author?

Karen Brown, who grew up in West Hartford and now lives in Florida, has won impressive prizes for her earlier work. “Little Sinners and Other Stories”  was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012 and her collection, “Pins and Needles: Stories,” won an AWP Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction. Her writing has appeared in The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, and Good Housekeeping.  Brown currently teaches creative writing and literature at the University of South Florida.

What is this book about?

It begins with a prank, pulled by two barely teenage girls on a hot summer day in Connecticut, no real harm is meant but things quickly spiral out of control. The friendless little girl who is the butt of the joke – they send her made-up love letters — goes missing from a neighborhood barbecue and is never found. Sadie, one of the teenagers, stays on in the quiet suburban town, marries and has children of her own. Twenty years go by and then Ray, a boy from her past comes back, and Sadie’s crush on him quickly becomes a dangerous affair and memories of the mysterious disappearance spring back to life. Only this time, answers appear about the missing girl as well as about Sadie’s difficult mother that she is reluctant to accept.

Why you’ll like it:

Brown mixes past and present in an intriguing way to tell this story, and while her main character, Sadie, is not the most likeable you will ever meet between the covers of a book, her complex emotions and once calm but suddenly teetering life will draw you in. This is a skillfully written psychological story that explores how the need for excitement can move beyond the desire for a new experience to something far more dangerous.

What others are saying:

Publishers Weekly says:  “At the age of 13, Sadie Watkins has always been on the lookout for excitement. She and her best friend Betty fill this desire by causing mischief such as stealing their mothers’ cigarettes or sending fake love letters to a neighborhood outcast, a girl who then goes missing. Flash-forward to twenty20 years later, Sadie is married and living a comfortable life as a mother to two young children and wife to an attorney, but her need for adventure still remains. When her childhood crush Ray Filley returns to town, Sadie is swept up into an affair that disrupts the lives of those around her. Details about her mother’s death and the missing girl start to emerge and this is something Sadie is not quite ready to face. In her full-length -novel debut, Brown (Little Sinners and Other Stories) writes from the perspective of Sadie’s past and present in alternating chapters. She seamlessly joins the events to create a story full of tension and suspense with an ending that is unexpected.”

In a starred review, Booklist says: “Brown explores the hazy edges of memory, the gnawing desire to escape circumstance, and the pervasiveness of one neighborhood’s secrets. The result is a nerve-racking, psychologically complex novel sure to haunt readers—especially those with dark secrets of their own.”

Says The Tampa Bay Times: “Brown has always been adept at writing about adultery, skillfully evoking its interlocking elements of thrill and threat. In Longings the danger level intensifies as secrets old and new are gradually revealed, and Sadie’s comfortable life hangs in the balance. Both the sex and the suspense benefit from how well Brown grounds them in sharply observed reality. The neighborhood, past and present, comes vividly to life with its shifting alliances among girls and grown women, relationships that range from deeply supportive to devastatingly cruel…it may not seem a likely setting for a ghost story, but this novel is haunted.”

“Brown . . . expands her repertoire in her first novel, a psychological suspense that grabs readers from the start but loosens its grip a bit before the conclusion. Back in the ’70s, a quiet middle-class neighborhood is rocked by the disappearance of two young girls who vanish five years apart. Sadie Watkins bears a close resemblance to the first, 9-year-old Laura Loomis, and is grudgingly forced to play with the second, Francie Bingham. Francie, with her awkward appearance, unhappy home life and a desire to be liked, makes an easy target for Sadie and her best friend, Betty. They resent Francie’s intrusion into their games and conversations but soon turn her presence into a source of cruel amusement. More than 20 years later, Sadie’s still living in the same neighborhood and has settled into her own life with a loving husband and two young children. Her past is long buried–or so she thinks–until musician Ray Filley returns to town. As Ray pursues her with single-minded persistence, Sadie’s former actions and feelings haunt her, and she finds herself turning into someone she remembers all too well. Brown effectively ensnares the reader in a tangle of gloom, intrigue and drama where family homes and a peaceful, hidden neighborhood attraction might be mere facades for dark secrets and tortured lives that lie hidden somewhere within. Switching between past and present, Sadie’s life slowly unravels as she’s finally forced to confront past and present actions and determine who she really is and unresolved issues ultimately achieve some semblance of closure. Although the author combines the elements of good suspense writing to achieve an entertaining and nerve-jangling suspense novel, there are a few weaknesses that might bother the reader. The introduction of the pregnant waitress and her husband does little to enhance the suspense and, in fact, detracts from the story. And the ending is a bit too contrived and just doesn’t fulfill the promise of Brown’s earlier narrative. Even with flaws, Brown’s complex and haunting piece is better than average,” says Kirkus Reviews.

Library Journal says: “Opening with a map of the small Connecticut town setting and an old newspaper article about a missing girl, this debut novel . . . immediately draws the reader into an absorbing story that straddles the line between mystery and coming-of-age tale. One summer, 13-year-old Sadie, who slowly loses her innocence as she uncovers the truth about her glamorous mother, plays a prank with her best friend on a neighborhood girl who later disappears. Two decades later, Sadie is married with children, creating the same life as the mother she disdained. Brown skillfully moves between the teenage Sadie, who uses her newfound knowledge and her scheming mind to turn child’s play into something dangerous, and the adult Sadie trying to put her past behind her. VERDICT This haunting and hard-to-put-down novel will stay with readers long after they have finished. Especially disturbing is that Sadie, in both eras, is an unlikable person whose manipulations and need for instant gratification make her more like the mother she tries to forget.”

When is it available?

Copies of Brown’s book are at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Blue Hills, Dwight, Park and Mark Twain branches.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

Nostalgia: A Novel

By Dennis McFarland

(Pantheon, $25.95, 336 pages)

Who is this author?

I first heard of Dennis McFarland in 1990 when he published “The Music Room,” his debut novel, which many of my friends loved and recommended. He has since published many best-selling novels: “Letter From Point Clear,”  “Prince Edward,” “Singing Boy,” “A Face At The Window,” “School For The Blind” and his latest, “Nostalgia.” He also writes short fiction, which has appeared in such distinguished journals and anthologies as The American Scholar, The New Yorker, Prize Stories: The O’Henry Awards, Best American Short Stories. He has taught creative writing at Stanford Univeristy and lives in rural Vermont with his wife, who is the writer and poet Michelle Blake.

What is this book about?

The Washington Post named “Nostalgia” to its list of Best 50 Books of the Year. Set during the Civil War, it is the story of a baseball-loving 19-year-old from New York who decides to enlist in the Union cause, in part to separate himself from his schoolteacher sister, for whom he realizes he has, well, unbrotherly affection. Severely wounded and left behind after the horrific Battle of the Wildnerness, Summefield Hayes, deaf, disoriented and unable to speak or write, somehow makes his way to a military hospital in Washington where he encounters a brusque nurse, a doctor who thinks he is faking his symptoms of “nostalgia,” which we today call post-traumatic stress disorder, and a big, bearded, kindly male nurse that readers of a literary bent know is the quintessential American poet, Walt Whitman. There are echoes of the classic Civil War novel “The Red Badge of Courage,” but this one stands on its own as a deeply moving account of the horrors and follies of war and the toughness of the human spirit.

Why you’ll like it:

McFarland writes beautifully, even if (or perhaps when) his subject matter is grim. And his decision to have his fictional hero, Summerfield, cross paths with the very real Whitman, adds an interesting dimension to this tale. With lots of recent loose talk about secession coming from political dissidents who should know better, having the chance to read about what the actual Civil War was like, and what it did to those who fought, is a valuable things. Here is a sample of McFarland’s style:

“Beneath the bridge, he has fallen asleep despite his resolve, but not for long, never for long. The noise of his dreaming, as usual, awakens him, and as usual, he begins to tear at his clothes in an effort to expose his injuries. Soon he is naked, his trousers crumpled at his ankles, and he twists round and contorts, trying to explore with his hands the two wounds, one high in the middle of his back, the other along the back of his left thigh—each the bad work of shrapnel. He can achieve no position that allows him to see the wounds, though they recurrently burn like the heat of a hundred needles and sometimes soak his clothes with blood. If he could only see them, he might breathe easier, confirming by sight they’re not mortal. He draws back on his trousers and shirt but leaves off with any buttons or buckles, for his hands have started again to shake, violently, the most irksome of his strange physical alterations. . . .”

What others are saying:

The New York Times Book Review says: “…searing, poetic and often masterly…McFarland’s descriptions of 19th-century life, from the intricacies of musket warfare to the formative years of our national pastime, are stunning in their lyricism and detail…Post-traumatic stress disorder is often associated with recent conflicts of dubious necessity, so it is fascinating to read about Civil War soldiers living through the same nightmare. That McFarland can make such difficult subject matter both entertaining and essential is a tribute to his evident literary talents. Nostalgia is a perfect Civil War novel for our time, or any time.”

Says Publishers Weekly: “In McFarland’s emotionally harrowing Civil War novel, Summerfield Hayes is a 19-year-old Brooklynite, living on Hicks Street and pitching for one of the local “base ball” teams. Over the objections of his older sister, Hayes enlists in the Union Army and ends up taking part in the Battle of the Wilderness. Wounded, he winds up in a hospital in Washington City, where his doctors see that the horrors of battle have rendered him mute and incapable of even signing his own name, and diagnose him as suffering from a medical condition then called nostalgia. Hayes is cared for by, among others, a ward matron and a bearded hospital volunteer named Walt whose identity should be immediately apparent to anyone who knows anything about 19th-century American poets. Employing three alternating narrative strands—Hayes’s idyllic life in his native Brooklyn, his horrifying battlefield experiences, and his nightmarish hospital recuperation—McFarland manages to find something new to say about a war that could have had everything said about it already. In the end, this is a moving account of one soldier’s journey to hell and back, and his struggle to make his own individual peace with the world afterward.”

“McFarland, already a best-selling author, is here being positioned for even bigger things. In winter 1864, 19-year-old Brooklynite Summerfield Hayes joins the fighting but soon finds himself abandoned by his comrades during the Wilderness Campaign. At a military hospital, Walt Whitman becomes his advocate,” says Library Journal.

Kirkus Reviews says: “A Civil War novel from Vermont-based author McFarland . . . that, like The Red Badge of Courage, focuses on the horror of battle as well as on the psychology of the soldier. Summerfield Hayes signs up to fight for the Union for several reasons, some of them better than others. He’s from Brooklyn and was recently made an orphan when his parents died in an accident while visiting Ireland. Strangely, but perhaps most importantly, he feels the need to get away from his older sister, Sarah, for whom he has quasi-incestuous feelings. In 1864, he finds himself fighting in the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia. Wounded by shrapnel and bleeding badly, he’s abandoned by his regiment but eventually wends his way to an Army hospital in Washington, D.C. Temporarily unable to escape, he listens closely to the conversations of his wounded comrades and is also subject to the tender ministrations of a nurse–Walt Whitman. It’s a matter of concern and outrage when an officious captain comes into the hospital and berates Hayes for being a deserter. Before the war, Hayes had been an outstanding baseball player, and early in his Army career–before the horrors of the Wilderness–he was instrumental in helping to set up a friendly rivalry between two competing teams. (It’s amusing that since there has to be some kind of rationale behind the teams, it’s decided to have single men on one team and married men on the other.) The captain investigating Hayes believes he’s now malingering simply so he can go back to New York and play baseball once again. Using a complex, effective narrative strategy, McFarland moves us confidently from battlefield to hospital to baseball diamond as well as through dream, reverie and memory. A distinguished addition to fictionalized narratives focused on the Civil War and its aftermath.”

When is it available?

You can find “Nostalgia” at the Downtown Hartford Public Library or its Mark Twain branch.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

Permanent Present Tense: The Unforgettable Life of the Amnesic Patient, H. M.

By Suzanne Corkin

(Basic Books, $28.99, 400 pages)

Who is this author?

Suzanne Corkin, who was born in Hartford, is Professor of Neuroscience, Emerita, in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is head of the Corkin Lab at MIT. She has devoted her lifetime of  scientific study to working with patients who have neurological impairments, to learn which brain structures and circuits control certain thought processes, particularly memory. She is the co-editor of nine books and author of numerous scientific publications and lives in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

What is this book about?

Corkin first met Henry Molaison, known to scientists as H.M., in 1962, and she studied him till he died in 2008. H.M. voluntarily underwent a type of lobotomy in 1953, when he was 27, to relieve debilitating epilepsy. His neurosurgeon was William Beecher Scoville  of Hartford Hospital. The operation “worked” – his seizures stopped – but at great cost. He was no longer able to form new long-term memories and essentially lived in the present moment until he died at age 82. H.M. lived in a care facility in Windsor Locks and was the subject of innumerable studies and some 12,000 medical journal articles during his lifetime, making him unique in medical or psychological history. Once the effects on memory of this particular operation were understood, it was widely publicized so that it would not be performed again. H.M.’s brain was preserved for further study at UC San Diego, dissected into 2,000 slices and digitized as a three-dimensional brain map that could be searched from individual neurons to the whole brain. No one can say if H.M. understood what had happened to him or that he had provided an invaluable window into the workings of memory. He may have been told this, but of course, he could not remember.

Why you’ll like it:

If we cannot remember for more than moments who we are, who others are, why we are in a certain place, what has just happened to us and many other functions of memory, do we really exist? The extraordinary case of H.M. raises all these questions and more. But Corkin is not simply writing a scientific treatise here. She knew H.M. as a person, a patient and a friend. This fascinating story explores both the scientific and the human aspects of H.M.’s post-operative existence and shows that H.M.’s personal loss was profound, but so was the knowledge that his situation revealed.

What others are saying:

Library Journal says:  “Henry G. Molaison, age 27, woke up one August day in 1953 without a memory. A well-meaning Hartford surgeon had attempted to treat his intractable epilepsy by removing structures in his frontal lobes thought to cause seizures. Tragically, it soon became apparent that although Henry could remember much of his early life, he could not form new memories or recognize caregivers he encountered every day. As Corkin (behavioral neuroscience, MIT) puts it, Henry lived in a “permanent present tense.” Corkin worked with Henry, known as H.M. to protect his privacy, from 1962 until his death in 2008. The scientific articles by Corkin and her colleagues significantly advanced knowledge of how the brain consolidates, encodes, stores, and retrieves the perceptions of everyday life. In the years before PET scans and MRIs, their comparisons of H.M.’s mental functions with those of healthy individuals provided invaluable insights into the brain’s mysterious interior. VERDICT This book updates New York Times journalist Philip J. Hilts’s Memory’s Ghost, a highly regarded 1995 account of H.M.’s life. Corkin’s supportive and sympathetic relationship with Molaison humanizes her clearly expressed but rather dry accounts of research on brain functions and anatomy.”

Says Newsweek:  “A surprisingly emotional read. From its historical survey of the 20th-century psychosurgery movement—the most grisly episodes of which involved the now-infamous prefrontal lobotomy—to its somewhat procedural recounting of Molaison’s final days, the book repeatedly challenges the reader to decide how one should judge the checkered history of brain research and, in particular, the unique case of Molaison.”

“A scientific and human monument, touching in its regard for the man (he had a sense of humor, as does she) and breathtaking in its detailed account of the discoveries about the localization and coordination of different aspects of memory made possible by refinements in brain-scanning technology and by Molaison’s untiring cooperation,”  says The Scientist.

Says Science: “A touching yet unsentimental glimpse of [Corkin's] 46-year connection to this ‘pleasant, engaging, docile man’ and his tragedy, interests, and experience of everyday life. At the same time, Corkin skillfully uses stories about his experiences and capabilities to illustrate some of the scientific principles underlying memory. She also offers a comprehensible historical sketch of the study of memory and the burgeoning field of neuroscience—from the dubious and gruesome practice of prefrontal lobotomy to the development of powerful brainimaging techniques…Sadly, Molaison’s condition prevented him from ever fully grasping the importance of his contributions to science and humanity. Corkin’s compelling account in Permanent Present Tense should help ensure that he will remain an unforgettable figure in the continuing saga of our quest to understand the workings of the mind.

Kirkus Reviews says: “Neuroscientist Corkin writes of her unique relationship with amnesiac Henry Gustav Molaison, or H.M., as he was referred to in a mountain of scientific papers, and of his invaluable contribution to the scientific understanding of memory. For nearly five decades, Corkin  . . . talked with and tested Molaison, who, at age 27 in 1953, had undergone experimental surgery to cure his epilepsy and as a result of removal of parts of his brain had lost the ability to store long-term memories. For the rest of his life, Molaison lived in the present tense. His severe impairment brought him to the attention of the scientific community, eager to understand how memory works. Corkin shows Molaison, whose identity was kept secret during his lifetime, to have been an amiable, intelligent man who cooperated willingly with the neuroscientists, performing countless tests for them and undergoing numerous CT and MRI scans of his brain. For him, every experience was a first-time one; he could not remember an event or person for more than a few seconds. Though he could never recall who she or her co-workers were, the author came to know him well and admire him. Corkin gives the specifics of the many behavioral tasks she asked him to perform, and she relates in clear language the significance of what they revealed about the mechanisms of memory. Molaison’s story does not end with his death in 2008, for his brain has been preserved and will continue to be analyzed. Both a compassionate biography and a lucid account of the advances in neuroscience made possible through one man’s personal tragedy.”

When is it available?

This engrossing book is at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Mark Twain branch.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

A History of the World in 12 Maps

By Jerry Brotton

(Viking, $40, 544 pages)

Who is this author?

A scholar with a specialty in the history of maps and Renaissance cartography. Jerry Brotton is Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London. His “The Sale of the Late King’s Goods: Charles I and His Art Collection” (2006), was short-listed for several major literary prizes in England, where he lives.

What is this book about?

Brotton explores a dozen maps, dating from ancient Greece to the present day, and makes the case that each of them changed the world.

Whether incised on primitive stone tablets or flashing from your computer screen via Google Earth, each of this maps reflects the culture that created it and offers the reader a doorway into these worlds, which include classical Greece, Europe during the Renaissance and Islamic and Buddhist views of the planet. From maps attributed to Ptolemy in the ancient world to the ever-growing influence of today’s satellite maps, Brotton shows how various religious, economic and political agendas shaped maps, often ignoring or repudiating the scientific knowledge of the time. He enlivens this information with stories of the mapmakers and those who manipulated and used (or misused) them to advance their own interests.

Why you’ll like it:

Kids can learn about geography from the popular “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” computer and board games and the TV show based on them. Adults can do the same, on a far deeper and more intellectual level, by reading this book. Through its study of 12 iconic maps, it shows that knowing where we are – or wish to go, and why – deeply influences who we are and how we see the world. Granted, this is not a book for casual readers, but its insights and conclusions make it well worth the effort for those who undertake the journey.

What others are saying:

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says: “In an era when Google Maps is regarded as a standard convenience, this history of 12 epoch-defining maps—including Google’s—is a revelation. Renaissance scholar Brotton examines a cross-cultural sampling of historic world maps, exploring them as representations of both the Earth, and of the philosophical mores of the cultures that produced them. The maps range in function from the “practical maintenance of empire” to the spiritual concerns of uniting “the earth and the heavens in a harmonious, universal whole.” Each simultaneously represents a geographical survey, an aesthetic achievement, technological progress, theological instruction, and political demarcation. These multiple functions are mirrored in the structure of the book, which reflects political, philosophical, and cultural development. The maps are about humanity’s changing relationship with itself, others, the Earth, and the heavens, and this broad scope makes for rich reading. Ultimately, the unifying function of each map is to “rise above the earth” and see with a “divine perspective,” and Brotton offers an excellent guide to understanding these influential attempts at psychogeographical transcendence. Of course, each historic map, despite the cartographer’s efforts, contained inaccuracies, necessitating revisions—a humbling lesson for our current information-dense age.

Says Library Journal:  “Brotton. . .  has produced an exhaustively researched historical study of world maps as a direct reflection of the geopolitical, cultural, and religious consciousness of their particular time and context. The 12 examples chosen span centuries and cultures, from Ptolemy’s second-century study to 2012′s Google Earth. One particularly noteworthy chapter, “Exchange,” provides an account of al-Idrisi’s world map (1154). This cartographer, a Muslim commissioned by Christian King Roger II of Sicily, brought to his work both Latin and Arabic geographical knowledge. Brotton demonstrates how choice of perspective and projection can deliberately enhance or diminish terrestrial regions. North is at the top of our own maps, but early Christian maps used East, while early Islamic maps favored South. At the center could be Jerusalem, Mecca, Europe, or your home address via Google Earth. Richly illustrated with 52 period maps reproduced in full color from collections around the world. VERDICT This fascinating study will raise map consciousness and offer new cartographic insights. Although scholarly in tone, it is highly recommended for all map enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in historiography.

Kirkus Reviews says:  “A deeply erudite work of epistemology tracking how the making of maps throughout the ages reveals mankind’s mastery of the universe. In this wide-ranging work, English scholar Brotton . . . moves from Ptolemy’s Geography (A.D. second century) to Google Earth for an eclectic representation of the power of maps to confer man’s authority and dominion. Maps tell us what we know about ourselves in relation to the world but also what we want the viewer to know, drawing on shifting perception, orientation and direction throughout the ages as science, faith and egocentrism deepened. For example, most of these 12 maps spotlight the culture from which the mapmaker drew, and until the later Christian era, maps were “oriented” by the south rather than north. Brotton divides his work into discrete themes such as science, faith, money and equality, selecting the map that best represents that particular idea at some moment in history. For example, Geography encapsulated more than 1,000 years of Greek thinking on the world “as a single and continuous entity” and was used as a model for the next two millennia. Muhammad al-Idrisi’s Entertainment (A.D. 1154) reveals the enormously rich exchange of ideas between the Muslim East and Christian West. The bishop of Hereford’s Mappamundi (1300) depicts fanciful theological events both classical and biblical, with Jerusalem at its center. Gerard Mercator’s World Map (1569) shows how the extraordinary mapmaker circumscribed the persecution of his Protestant faith by rendering a vast map for navigation using a combination of cosmographical tradition and new scientific understanding. Brotton explores the ideology behind each mapmaker and the compelling “emotional forces” that he reveals about our civilization. A dense and scholarly but rewarding journey for the intellectually intrepid.

When is it available?

You won’t need a map to find this book at the Downtown Hartford Public Library.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!

Night Film

By Marisha Pessl

(Random House, $28, 624 pages)

Who is this author?

In 2006, Marisha Pessl published her debut novel, “Special Topics in Calamity Physics,” which became a best seller, won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize (now the Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize), and was named to the coveted 10 Best Books of the Year list by The New York Times Book Review. Not bad for a first-time author who was working as a financial consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers while she wrote it. Pessl, 36, grew up in Asheville, N.C, attended Northwestern University but graduated from Barnard College and now lives in New York City.

Here’s what Pessl says on her website about having such success with her first book: “It was a dream come true to say the least. Yet my favorite part of this job is the creation of a book—building a universe from scratch, populating this planet with characters and landmarks and hidden tunnels and shops and corners, dark histories and hopeful futures.  . . . I’m often asked to explain what my novels are about, but I find it difficult to really answer. That’s like asking  the moth to analyze its flight pattern as it blindly careens from porch light to porch light in the pitch dark. Writing is a meditation, a brutal trek through the wilderness, and a magic trick all at once.”

What is this book about?

“Night Film” is garnering favorable comparisons to last year’s twisty-turn-y smash hit, “Gone Girl,” which is a pretty impressive recommendation. In it, Scott McGrath, a troubled New York journalist, suspects that the death of the daughter of a famously reclusive filmmaker may not have been a suicide, as the police believe. His suspicions lead him to research the life of Ashley Cordova and her mysterious father: Stanislas Cordova, who directs darkly disturbing horror films that have a cult-like underground following and has not been seen for more than three decades. It will come as no shock to learn that McGrath, who has long been obsessed with finding the truth about Stanislas, gets far more than he bargained for.

Why you’ll like it:

Diving deep into a scary story is always fun for a reader, and having that story be a skillfully imagined and well-told tale makes it all the better. Kirkus Reviews explains its thrills and chills well: “Think Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King meet Guillermo del Toro as channeled by Klaus Kinski.” Pessl ups the fun by adding such visual bells and whistles as website screen shots, newspaper clippings, police reports and other trappings of an investigation.  It’s a psychological literary thriller, which means its plot will scare and snare you and its writing quality will impress you.

What others are saying:

Kirkus Reviews also says:  “An inventive–if brooding, strange and creepy–adventure in literary terror. In her sophomore effort, Pessl . . . hits the scary ground running. Filmmaker Stanislas Cordova has made a specialty of goose bumps for years; as Pessl writes, he’s churned out things that keep people from entering dark rooms alone . . . Cordova himself hasn’t granted an interview since 1977, when Rolling Stone published his description of his favorite frame as “sovereign, deadly, perfect.” Cordova is thrust back into the limelight when his daughter is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in Chinatown. Scott McGrath, reporter on the way to being washed-up, finds cause for salvation of a kind in the poor young woman’s demise. McGrath’s history with Cordova stretches back years, and now, it’s up to him to find out just how bad this extra-bad version of Hitchcock really is. He finds out, too; as one of the shadowy figures who wanders in and out of these pages remarks, ominously, “Some knowledge, it eats you alive.” Oh, yes, it does. Readers will learn a thing or two about psychotropic drugs, to say nothing of the dark side of Manhattan and the still darker side of filmmaking. . . .”

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, August 2013, review says: “. . . What’s surprising about her elaborately plotted and addictive new novel is how it gets better as it grows more convoluted. I can envision a massive white board busy with diagrams and arrows to track the spider-webbed storyline. Once Pessl works past a few slow spots and finds her momentum, the story churns into a dark, propulsive, and insatiable mystery. The daughter of a reclusive horror film director is found dead, and a disgraced journalist and two sidekicks become obsessed with uncovering the truth of her death and the true identity of her infamous father, whose terrifying films (banned from theaters and found only via underground methods) depict what is “graphic and dark and gorgeous about life, thereby conquering the monsters of your mind.” Complex, shadowy, and a bit sad, Pessl’s riveting tale keeps us guessing until the final pages, along the way raising questions about reality, magic, art, fear, and celebrity.”

Says Publishers Weekly:  “Seven years after Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Pessl returns with a novel as twisted and intelligent as that lauded debut. Again, the story centers on a father-daughter relationship, but this time the sinister element is front and center, beginning with the daughter’s death. The “night films” of Stanislas Cordova have a cult following: fans hold underground screenings and claim that to see his work is to “leave your old self behind, walk through hell, and be reborn.” Ashley Cordova is his enigmatic daughter; she appears in his final film at the age of eight, debuts as a pianist at Carnegie Hall at 12, and apparently commits suicide at 24. Scott McGrath is a reporter who lost his job investigating Stanislas and can’t resist his need to uncover the real story of Ashley’s death. Though the structure is classic noir, Pessl delivers lifelike horror with glimpses, in the form of faux Web sites, of the secretive Stanislas, his films, and his fans. Things slow down when Scott breaks into Stanislas’s estate; sustained terror depends on what is withheld, not what is shown. But Pessl does wonderful work giving the hard-headed Scott reason to question the cause of Ashley’s death, and readers will be torn between logic and magic.”

Booklist says in its starred review: “ When the daughter of a notorious film director is found dead in New York, an apparent suicide, investigative reporter Scott McGrath throws himself back into a story that almost ended his career . . . Like Pessl’s first novel . . . this one expands from a seemingly straightforward mystery into a multifaceted, densely byzantine exploration of much larger issues, in this case, the nature of truth and illusion as reflected by the elusive Cordova, whose transcend-the-genre horror films are cult favorites and about whom rumors of black magic and child abuse continue to swirl. His daughter, piano prodigy Ashley (her notes “weren’t played; they were poured from a Grecian urn”), is almost as mysterious as her father, her life and death equally clouded in secrecy and colored with possibly supernatural shadings. Into this mazelike world of dead ends and false leads, McGrath ventures with his two, much younger helpers, Nora and Hopper, brilliantly portrayed Holmesian “irregulars” who may finally understand more about Ashley than their mentor, whose linear approach to fact finding might miss the point entirely. . . . the book is every bit as complex as Calamity Physics, but the writing is always under control, and the characters never fail to draw us further into the maelstrom of the story.

When is it available?

Pessl’s novel is at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Dwight branch.

Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!