Sunday Salon: Forever Liesl, Wuhu Diary, An Ice Cold Grave

Only 3 books for the Sunday Salon this week.

Wuhu Diary: The Mystery of My Daughter Lulu
Emily Prager

This book is about Emily Prager, a writer from New York and her adopted Chinese daughter Lulu. Prager was one of the first "western" women to adopt from China in the late 90's. This book catches up with Prager 4 years down the track when Lulu is 5 and taking her first trip to China to visit the town of Wuhu, where she was born and left on a bridge, a possible victim of China's "one child" policy. Wuhu Diary is a strange sort of book. Parts of it detail boring events such as Prager's injury on a running machine, Lulu's ongoing problem with diarrhea and her sweet friendships with the hotel staff. Presumably Prager thinks these events are interesting as they took place in Wuhu. Other parts of the book are blindly deluded - Prager's absolute faith that sweet President Clinton would never have bombed a Chinese Embassy on purpose, and she tells the Chinese people who speak English this often. It is misguided patriotism in the extreme and I was staggered at how much she believed her own viewpoint with no evidence other than her own feelings. I was also stunned whereby Lulu started playing with an obviously poor little boy in the park and Prager said she had to fight her instincts not to tell the child's father that she would take the boy to the USA and educate him. This stunning display of middle class white person syndrome was glossed over by Prager who I believe genuinely thought she could offer the child more than his own father and family and country.

There are many critical reviews of this book on Amazon, and I understand why. At 5 years old, Lulu possibly wasn't ready to know she was found on a bridge and to be dragged to the orphanage to confront her past, but every parent gets to make these decisions for their child so Prager's actions might have been well suited to Lulu. I found the emphasis she placed on Lulu's dreams or her games to be striking and sometimes, reaching. Sometimes a dream about a crocodile or a game with pandas is just that, not some deep seated processing of adoption trauma. Despite its faults, this is an interesting book and Prager's interest in and respect of Chinese culture (althought she is not above racial stereotypes such as "everyone is happy in China and smile all the time" and unlikely scenarios such as "every adult has time to play with Lulu") is obvious, as is her love for her daughter.

Forever Liesl: My Sound of Music Story
Charmian Carr

I love The Sound of Music. It was my favourite film as a child and I have seen it many many times. I very much enjoyed Charmian Carr's (Liesl) book which showcases her own love for the film. She is generous with her memories of making the movie and lavish in her praise for her celluloid brothers and sisters, with whom she still shares close friendships, even 40 years on. I enjoyed reading about her friendship with Christopher Plummer and her enjoyment at being included with the adults at their hotel in Austria (Carr was 21 at the time of filming, a mere 15 years younger than Plumber and about 6 or so years younger than Julie Andrews). Charmian (pronounced Shar-MEE-an), or Charmy as her friends call her, also details her friendships with the real Trapp family and highlights the differences between their real lives and the film. Carr is now an interior decorator, but still makes apparences to support The Sound of Music. Her book is a quick and easy read and highly recommended for hardcore The Sound of Music fans!

An Ice Cold Grave
Charlaine Harris

I came to Charlaine Harris via the hugely successful Sookie Stackhouse series, and I remain firm in my belief that those books are her best work. I have read her Aurora Teagarden series and her Lily Bard series, as well as the series from which this book - An Ice Cold Grace - is the third installment, and Sookie is her best work.

Harper Connelly and her "brother" Tolliver Lang travel the US hiring out Harper's services as someone who can find dead bodies. She came by this skill after being struck by lightning as a child. She is hired by griefstricken families or the local law enforcement. She finds bodies (which give off a "hum" depending on age) and knows how they died. I find the concept to be interesting, but the execution is always a little off. Harper and Tolliver have no sparkle, nothing of the sweet comic edge that some characters in the Sookie Stackhouse series have. This makes it hard to warm to them, and even harder to stick with them. The mystery angle of the book is usually well written, but this one was telegraphed from miles away. Harris is a gifted writer, though, and despite my misgivings about the characters and the storyline, it is still a quite readable book.

I was thrilled that Harper and Tolliver finally got it on, although I'm not sure how you transition from telling everyone that he is your brother to telling everyone he is your lover. Confused much? Harper and Tolliver are no blood relation, and their lawyer parents married when they were teenagers and had two more children. Their parents became drug addicts and Harper and Tolliver raised their two younger siblings until Harper's sister Cameron went missing one day, their parents were in jail or dead (can't remember which) and they embark on this travelling lifestyle. The overall question of the books is "Where is Cameron?" and she is mentioned in every book and I imagine there will be one whole book that focuses on finding Cameron.

In any case, if you're looking for a great vampire story with a mystery edge, go with the Sookie Stackhouse books. If you're looking for a great mystery (all of Harris' books are mysteries, some are just more obvious mysteries than others) then read the Lily Bard or Aurora Teagarden series. Harper Connelly is a very distant fourth in regards to Harris' best work.

And I'm done. Happy Sunday!

Sunday Salon: Valiant; Audrey, Wait!; Daemon Hall; Skin Deep; A Handbook to Luck; The Hunger Games

It's been a work-free week for me, so there was plenty of reading going on. It feels good to plow through 5 novels on my to-be-read list. Yay!

Valiant – A Modern Tale of Faerie Holly Black
I love Holly Black. Her writing is honest, unashamed, blatant, dirty and makes no apologies. In this, her second book about Faerie, she takes the reader on a ride through the teeming New York City underbelly where rats and homeless teenagers share the same space as malevolent exiled faeries. Our hero, Val, takes off after discovering her mother and her boyfriend are sleeping together. She goes to New York City where she takes up with three unusual friends who live half in this world, and half in another. This bizarre fringe dwelling existence brings her into contact with an exiled troll who teaches Val how to fight and how to find her own self worth in between two worlds which are both crumbling.

The best thing about Holly Black’s writing is that it isn’t dumbed down for a young adult audience. She doesn’t care that her characters aren’t role models and she doesn’t romanticise the vision of sleeping rough in NYC. Val and her friends live amongst rats and stained blankets, they freeze in the unforgiving New York winter and they live on whatever food they come across. I loved the romance at the heart of this book in all its fragile complexity, and the understated journey Val takes from heartsick and betrayed girl to warrior woman. As I said, I love, love, love Holly Black and I can’t wait to revisit Tithe and pick up its sequel, Ironside.

Audrey, Wait! Robin Benway

This is the BEST book I have read in what seems like forever. I devoured almost all of it in about 3 hours and actually woke up in the middle of the night and seriously contemplated finishing it off (sadly, I fell back asleep). Audrey, Wait! is all about how 16 year old Audrey breaks up with her wannabe rockstar boyfriend and he writes a song about their break up (called Audrey, Wait! nache) which becomes hugely successful and thrusts all-I-wanna-be-is-a-normal-16-year-old Audrey into a life of rock stars and paparazzi. The author, Robin Benway, does incredible things with dialogue which makes the writer in me beyond jealous. I laughed and giggled so many times while reading this book and really, it was the best time I’ve had reading in a really long time. Thank you Robin Benway! Audrey, Wait! is actually a young adult book, but don’t let that stop you from picking it up because it is a seriously fun and enjoyable read. I heart Audrey!

Daemon Hall Andrew Nance

This was another of my read-in-almost-one-sitting books. Daemon Hall is a little short on character development, but echoes the style of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, albeit Coraline being a better book all round. The premise is interesting – 5 writing competition winners (who for some reason are all from the same town and no explanation is offered as to why this is so) have to spend one night in a haunted house with an acclaimed horror writer. The one who makes it through the night gets his or her story published. I enjoyed the way the book jumped from what was happening with the five teenagers and the horror writer in the house to each of their stories, which were entertaining in a short story kind of way, in particular the last one about zombies. On the down side, however, there was little character development and a pretty strange ending. On the whole, I feel like this book was a good idea, but lost something in the execution. It certainly had some creepy moments though.

Skin Deep E.M. Crane

Andrea describes herself as “plain-ish and boring” and she lives a ghost like existence in her home and school life until she meets Honora and her dog Zena. Honora and Zena open Andrea’s world up to art, creativity and friendship and the cycles of living.

I really enjoyed this book. Andrea’s voice is quiet and sure, never intrusive and never blatant. The subtlety of E.M. Crane’s language and voice is truly remarkable, evoking feelings of stillness, great heaving change and understanding. I’m a sucker for stories with dogs in them (and no, nothing awful happens to Zena the St Barnard, thank goodness) and I love the concept of a dog owning a person, and what a gift it can be to be owned by one.

A Handbook to Luck Cristina Garcia

It took me a while to get through this book. Partly because it is Serious (with a capital S) and partly because I have never been fond of the structure Garcia employs, which is to have 3 separate main characters and dedicate chapters to each of them over a long period of time. Marta, an immigrant from El Salvador; Enrique, a Cuban immigrant who moved to Las Vegas with his magician father and Leila, an Iranian woman trapped in a loveless marriage only interact with one another on a handful of occasions over the course of the 300 + page book. Marta and Enrique fall for one another in their early 20’s, but Leila marries a man her mother picked for her and Enrique marries a wannabe showgirl. Marta appears briefly in Enrique’s chapters as his children’s nanny.

I’m not overly fond of serious literature, and this book was very high on small details (flowers, birds, food) and very low on any sort of actual storyline. Even the title was strange – luck? Where? The ending is very unsatisfying and I finished the book feeling sad and a bit depressed. On a positive note, Garcia is an excellent writer and her turn of phrase and obvious understanding of what it is to be an immigrant and adopt a second country is well portrayed. She also created some wonderful characters (in particular Enrique’s father was very entertaining). I don’t think I’d actually recommend this book, but I’m glad I stuck with it through to the end.

The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins

I really enjoyed this book – fast paced, snappy dialogue, excellent storyline development – and as Book 1 of a promised trilogy (Book 2 is due out in September 09 according to Amazon) there is certainly a great deal of potential. Katniss Everdeen lives in a future where the USA has been divided into military districts of starving citizens, gloated over by a strange “Capitol” which seems a bit like an exaggeration of our modern day society. Every year, 2 teenagers are chosen from each district to fight in the Hunger Games, which is broadcast as a reality show. Only 1 of the 24 entrants will win, and they must kill off their opponents to claim victory, and preserve their own life. Katniss is a character without a lot of depth, which makes a certain kind of sense because as the author recognises well into the book, Katniss’ daily life is consumed with hunting and trying to provide food for her mother and sister. There is little other time to work out the meaning of her life and who she is apart from provider (I am hopeful this will be the core of Book 2). There is a confusing romance going on in the book, and Katniss’ allegiance to Peeta, her fellow District 12 Hunger Games contestant and Gale, her partner in hunting at home. This is never resolved, which is annoying but again, a trilogy requires certain themes to carry over between books and this is a big one.

Stephen King wrote an interesting review of this book on Amazon (initially for Entertainment Weekly I believe) and he makes some good points. Firstly, we all know reality tv is evil and Collins isn’t the first author to go down that track (King points out he did the same with The Running Man) and to be honest, the whole “reality tv sucks” theme is a bit played out these days. Secondly, he accuses Collins of some “lazy storytelling” which refers to never mentioning the actual cameras, although Kattniss is filmed at every moment and knows she is being filmed and also whenever Katniss really needs something food, medicine etc, it is parachuted down to her in the game by a “sponsor”. I know from reading King’s “Writers on Writing” that he is particularly harsh on lazy storytelling (understandably so) whereas while I see his point, it wasn’t something that bothered me at the time of reading.

I’m not a fan of the “nuclear fallout” books (mind you, Collins never actually says what happened to cause the breaking of the USA) but I did enjoy this one. I’ll leave it a while before I pick up book 2, but I do want to know what happens when Katniss gets home and where that darn romance ends up!

And that's me for this week. Happy Sunday!