Rain, rain, go away! The weeds are winning the battle with the flowers and the garden is too wet to spade. Sigh. (Not that I would be the one digging.) But everything is behind schedule. And that includes adding the the book notes. Not that I have not read them I have Just getting the words on the screen has been the problem. The books for today have nor theme or connection to each other. RED ON RED (Speigel &
Grau, 9789-0-385-51917-5) by Edward Conlon; THE SISTERS BROTHERS (Harper Collins, 978-0-06-204126-5) by Patrick DeWitt; GRAVEMINDERS (William Morrow, 978-0-06-18268-0) by Melissa Marr, and MINDING BEN (Hyperion, 978-1-4013-4151-0) by Victoria Brown.
These books are all about different themes. RED ON RED is a cop story set in New York
city the cops we meet are an odd couple for partners who are chalk and cheese to each other, yet make a good pair. Meehan and Esposito take us through the cases and the minutiae that make up there days and nights. There is a serial rapist, a suicide, a nasty gang war that gets the detectives involved on a one on one basis, and a strange case involving a school girl and her peculiar father. There is also a melding of street life and family life. We are treated to a gritty look at their lives and cases close up. The book is slow going because there are many details to absorb. Sometimes it feels as though this could easily have been made into two or more books. It is dark and often depressing, but a good read.
THE SISTERS BROTHERS is an odd book. It is a picaresque tale of the mid 19th century that takes us with a pair of brothers whose vocation is killing. they are good at it and quite philosophical about their calling. The book and its language reminds me of the recreation of a Victorian melodrama. The brothers, Eli and Charles Sisters, are on a quest to kill Hermann Warm because their employer, the Commodore, has decreed it. But wait, Eli has somewhat of an epiphany on the way to California for the killing. He begins to question what he does for a living. He even begins to have doubts about The Commodore. The frontier of old comes alive with odd and delightful characters who meet the Sisters on their journey. Funny. Amusing. Thoughtful. Violent - the bodies do stack up. Yet the book has a lyrical feel to it as the brothers continue on their quest. The writing is masterful, stark as well as florid. And the plot is well planned and keeps the readers interest. It puts a new spin on the old west.
GRAVEMINDER is another odd read. A fantasy of sorts, it has a dreamlike quality to it.
Actually, make that nightmarish. Claysville is a strange sort of town. Things are different. there. Maylene
Harrow takes care of the newly dead in the town for the safety of the town. She also has a connection to William Montgomery, the local mortician. People never seem to really leave Claysville, or if they do, they come back. Actually, those who were born there, need to be buried there. Such is the case of Rebekkah Harrow, niece of Maylene and Byron Montgomery, son of William. They left but now they are back, but definitely not to be buried. Maylene has died under suspicious circumstances and Rebekkah comes back to settle her estate and finds herself enmeshed in learning the mystery of Claysville and discovering that she must take over the task of graveminding from her aunt. And what exactly is graveminding? Byron also discovers why he is there and what bargain has been made in the past of the town that has created this anomaly. Why are people being attacked? Why have some gone missing? Who is this strange young girl? Dead people walk. Many people are murdered before the mystery of the pact with death is sorted our and family histories and secrets are explained. And of course, their is a love story with Byron and Rebekkah. And that is not withoiut its complications. Creepy and sinister, this book is a haunting read. The mood it sets is fantastic. Gloomy. Gruesome. Apprehensive. Anticipatory. Both horror and fantasy, this is a book that holds one's attention.
And for something entirely different, we have MINDING BEN. This is the delightful story of an intrepid young West Indian girl who leave her home for New York City and relatives in hopes of finding a new life. Her adventures begin when no one meets her at the airport and she has to find her way in a strange city to the place where her relatives live. The apartment is crowded, but she is inventive, Her first job is working for a Jewish family, but that is only temporary. As she searched for work her plans for getting an education are on hold. Grace is a vibrant and warm person and comes to life as the author has her find a job with the wealthy young couple, the Bruckners also Jewish, as a nanny for their young son Ben. They are nice, but they pay little, lie to Grace and give her tons of extra work to do. All the while we learn through Grace the life of the nannys and how they are treated. Their is a subculture of help that reflects how they see the employers. We also get to see the life Grace leads with her friends from the islands and how different it is. We also get a good prevails and gets her education and ends up with a much better position along the way. But not before lots of drama, more embarrassment, ill treatment, and hard work. The book has a decided ring of truth to it. The writing brings the people to life and makes the reader care about their lives.The author was herself a baby sitter years ago when she came to this country also from Trinidad She, like Grace, continued her education and was a college teacher. This is a good read.
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