Book Review: Hide me among the Graves by Tim Powers

Title: Hide me among the Graves
Author: Tim Powers
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0061231544
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Pages: 528
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

This is the first Tim Powers novel I have read and can confidently say that may be I will read another one. I liked this one. I did not love it but I sure did like it a lot. The blend of fantasy fiction and historical fiction intrigued and that’s what prompted me to read this book. I am glad I did. It was a different sort of experience for me.

Hide me among the Graves is a very distant sequel to his book, The Stress of her Regard (you don’t have to read this one first). The book is about pre-Raphaelite painter Gabriel Dante Rossetti and poetess Christina Rossetti as they fight the Nephilic vampires banished by the Romantic poets Byron and Shelley. Interesting, isn’t it? There is more to it than this. Someone re-woke the Nephilim and Christina invited one of the vampires to her house, in the form of her uncle John Polidori, and now everyone is in danger – of not dying but of turning to a vampire. The Rossetti family is accompanied by an ex-prostitute, Adelaide, her lover and a missing daughter.

This is the plot and thus begins the Victorian journey of Goth and Darkness. Hide me among the Graves is a very fast read. One doesn’t have to think so much while reading it and once a while you need a book like this, amongst the literary reads. The characters are unlikely and you will not know what hit you as you read along. Imagine Christina Rossetti fighting a vampire – I love this kind of flights of fancy in books, the unexpected always lurking to take you by surprise.

Tim Powers’ writing is sharp and meant for readers who are into vampires but not of the pop kind. The book has famed poets and artists peeping from the pages and the reader can sense Powers’ love for the Classical. The secondary characters are also well-rounded and not ignored in the book, which is another plus for me when I read a book.

The setting of the book is brilliant – Victorian London – dark and cold, perfect for a book of this nature. Hide me among the Graves is a delightful read – it has the “secret fantasy” element that unravels itself as you go along and at the same time it mingles with the classical without getting too pedantic (though sometimes predictable). I enjoyed the book.

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Book Review: Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

Title: Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years
Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-054894-0
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 568
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

When Gregory Maguire started writing the Oz series, I am sure he must have known how big this would be and it turned out to be just that – one big success, rippling through with excitement and sardonic humour and tragedy in almost every volume. The last volume in the series, “Out of Oz” is as addictive as the rest. Gregory Maguire writes in a lyrical manner and that is what I love the most about his writing, besides his ability to infuse evil in Oz and the ability to scare you as well. The plot in this one is well-paced and very exciting. The war between Oz and Munchkinland is at its height and that is the core of the book.

In this book, we get to know Rain who is Liir’s daughter (this is not a spoiler). She is odd and wistful and I loved her character and how it shaped throughout the book. The other usual characters are present in the book – Glinda, Liir, Cowardly Lion and of course Dorothy, who is not making a cameo this time. Dorothy’s character has been extended and it is beyond belief what shape it takes towards the end and throughout. Some brilliant thinking from Mr. Maguire here.

Over the past three books, there has been a lot of build up to the characters and the setting and that’s why one can see and relate to this book and its track. With “Out of Oz” he brings all the characters (though briefly) to tie the story to its end. Dorothy is back after having killed Elphaba (Wicked) and as I mentioned her role is not limited in this book. The questions of home and loyalty are also well-tackled in this one.

The book is enjoyable even before the adventure begins and that’s the power of Gregory Maguire’s writing. It will but obviously make no sense to you till you read the other Wicked books. Not everyone gets a happy ending and not all are supposed to also. Loose ends are tied as expected (thank god for that) and also ones that the reader can infer on his/her own. For me I loved the conclusion. Gregory Maguire’s writing charmed me with this one even more so and I would recommend that you also read his stand alone works on his own take on fairy tales. A brilliant conclusion to a fantastic series.

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Book Review: Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Title: Reamde
Author: Neal Stephenson
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 9780061977961
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 1056
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5/5

I had not read anything by Neal Stephenson before reading, “Reamde”. Hence this book managed to have that kind of effect on me. Neal Stephenson has done something marvellous in this book. He has managed to capture it all – explosiveness, madcap intensity, different threads, violence, family drama, Russian mob story, to a computer hacker plot, to terrorism – this book has it all and it is the sheer volume and size of it that makes it such a magnificent read.

Reamde’s size that runs into almost 1100 pages might put off readers, however don’t be intimidated by that. The story is based on the Forthrast Family – Richard Forthrast, an ex-small time drug runner, haunted by the Furious Muses (echoes of his previous girlfriends), now the owner of T’Rain, the world’s most successful online game; his younger brother Jacob “Jake” Forthrast, a born again Christian and Survivalist; his elder brother John Forthrast, Vietnam veteran with two high-tech artificial legs; his sister Patricia, killed by a bolt of lightning, and his adopted niece Zula Forthrast who walked to Sudan from Eritrea to escape a war.

Normal they might not be, but when Zula is kidnapped by the Russian Mafia after her boyfriend failed to deliver on a dodgy deal, they react as any family would and pull together to try and find a way to rescue her.

The Forthrast family isn’t your typical American family. Nowhere close to that and Neal Stephenson ensures that with every page. At the same time the unusual events that happen to them are contrasted with the more ordinary side of American life, including things like shopping at Wal-Mart, RVs, Starbucks, family reunions, Thanksgiving, gunshops etc.

The story is believable to some extent and the characters are beautifully developed. There is fast action, a superb plot, tongue-in-cheek humour and also so many stories that are within stories that I just don’t want to give away right now.

Stephenson is capable of writing great stuff and this I got to know only as I turned each page. Reamde is an excellent techno-thriller that is well worth your investment. It just means that you have to commit to it a lot given its size and twists in the tale.

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Book Review: Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

Title: Falling Together
Author: Marisa de los Santos
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 9780061670879
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 368
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

Falling Together is a story about three college friends – two young women and a man and refreshingly enough, it is not a love triangle. It is about Pen who feels that love triumphs in every situation, Will, in search of the third member of the trio and Cat who has left her husband and disappeared – their lives, quirks, their beliefs, their errors of judgment and the lives they led. Thrown into this is a college reunion which only adds to the further complexities of the plot.

The plot may seem thin and simple – however there is more to the story. Moreover Marisa de los Santos knows how to beautifully craft a sentence and keep the words sometimes to bare minimum. The friends have faced different issues and different skeletons also come out from the closet during the reunion and this is what keeps the story propelling. Marisa de los Santos as in her previous two novels manages to surface her characters’ thoughts and emotions to the hilt.

The book in itself is nothing new, in the sense the plot, what is new though is the style of writing as I have mentioned earlier. Each character had a lot of dimensions to it and that is what brings out the characterization in a better manner. The descriptions are detailed and the atmosphere only adds to the book.

Friendships in college mean a lot. They form you as a person and make the bonds stronger. Falling Together emphasizes on such relationships. Falling Together is a story that everyone can relate to as it is about friends and the lives that are common to all. I would not recommend the book because of the story; I would however recommend it for the way it is written.

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Book Review: I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Title: I’d Know You Anywhere
Author: Laura Lippman
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0062070753
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5/5

Back in the summer of 1985, when she was still a naïve fifteen-year-old, Eliza Benedict was kidnapped by a man she stumbled upon in the woods. Little did she know at the time, that Walter Bowman had just finished disposing of his latest kidnapping victim moments before she came upon him. Walter himself was unsure how much Eliza might have seen but, taking no chances, he grabbed her while he had the chance. He would hold her for almost six weeks.

Flash forward to the present where Eliza is now the happily married mother of two little girls of her own, little girls who have no idea how lucky their mother was to have escaped the hands of a serial killer when she just a few years older than them. As for Walter Bowman, he now owns the record for most years spent on Virginia’ s Death Row, but it appears that his time is finally running out.

Imagine Eliza’s shock when, out of nowhere, she receives a “Dear Elizabeth” letter from the killer, a letter in which he describes his reaction to spotting her in a society party photo in Washingtonian magazine, “Of course, you are older, a woman now. You’ve been a woman for a while, obviously. Still, I’d know you anywhere.” Now what should Eliza do?

I’d Know You Anywhere is first-rate psychological drama. Much of the drama, of course, takes place in the present as Eliza decides how to deal with Walter’s request to communicate with her before he is put to death. But Lippman, using very effective dramatic flashbacks to 1985, also details exactly what happened to young Elizabeth during the six weeks she was Walter’s prisoner, an eMoving seamlessly back and forth in alternating chapters between present day and 1985, when the story’s principal crime took place, we get to see the connection between past and present and watch as it, ever so slowly, begins to simmer.

Lippman takes us deep inside the mind of Eliza and reveals her insecurities, her fears, and her desire to make a kind of peace with the horror of her past. She is not necessarily a strong heroine, but she is a sympathetic one, one that creeps into our hearts and makes us hope fervently for the peace she so desperately seeks.

I’d Know You Anywhere is one of the best books I have read this year. From a true crime story which she has changed significantly enough to be unrecognizable, the author creates a stunning work of fiction that looks into crime in a way a true crime story cannot. Laura Lippman excels in characterization and suspenseful plotting, in peering inside her characters and revealing each detail at the perfect pace to keep a reader glued to the pages. What a magnificently surprising ending! Outstanding!

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Book Review: The Body in the Gazebo: A Faith Fairchild Mystery by Katherine Hall Page

Title: The Body in the Gazebo
Author: Katherine Hall Page
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0061474262
Genre: Mystery
PP: 272 pages
Price: $23.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

This series, about the crime-solving wife of a pastor in Aleford, MA and her trusty sidekick, has been going strong for some time. This is a worthy installment in the series. The sidekick Pix has been dispatched to Hilton Head where she is participating in her son’s pre-wedding festivities, so Faith, our protagonist, is left to solve an 80-year-old mystery involving Pix’s mother Ursula.

Katherine Hall Page does a fabulous job of capturing New England’s small towns and resort communities. She is a strong writer and the time-travel device works very well here. I really feel the immediacy of the story involving Ursula which took place in the summer of 1929, just before the crash. Because Ursula does not want her children involved, Faith is solving this one on her own, but we do get satisfying snippets of Pix struggling to enjoy the events arranged by her upper class soon-to-be inlaws.

I have read many of the books in the series, but it’s not a must-read for me. I have a little difficulty with Faith’s backstory. She is a Manhattan girl born and bred, but she gave it all up for small-town parish life when she fell in love with Tom. Consequently we are treated to occasional sighing references to Zabar’s, etc., but the dynamic tension of the big city girl in the small town is not fully developed in my opinion. Is Faith contented with her life? is she discontented? does she dream of returning to New York someday when the kids are grown? It feels like she plays the part of the pastor’s wife but throws herself into solving mysteries in an attempt to replace what is missing in her life. She always seems to be holding something back. By contrast, I feel like I know Pix inside and out. Maybe someday Faith will have an existential crisis and that will be the centerpiece of a future book (or maybe she had one in a book that I missed).

Another thing that bugs me a little bit is continual references to prior cases. This is always a tricky aspect to handle for an author of a series. It can come across as advertising for the previous books in the series, or it can be well integrated into the current storyline. In this case, I find it to be a little jarring.

Nevertheless, I think it’s well worth reading. Katherine Hall Page is a really strong writer and does an excellent job of capturing the atmosphere of time and place. This book started a little slow but I was definitely hooked after the first 100 pages. All the loose ends were tied up very satisfactorily. The recipes and essay on breakfast practices throughout the world were a nice bonus.

Book Review: The Sweetness of Tears by Nafisa Haji

Title: The Sweetness of Tears
Author: Nafisa Haji
Publisher: William Morrow (Harper Collins)
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 978-0061780103
PP: 400 pages
Price: $14.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

This is a fantastic novel by Nafisa Haji. This book literally took me out of my slump and made me woot and cry at the same time. I was overwhelmed. Many readers would be tempted to make comparisons to The Kite Runner, however let me tell you at the very onset that this is nothing like the former-mentioned book. It is very different. While the Kite Runner focuses more on the plot and the events surrounding it, The Sweetness of Tears gives more attention to detail to the characters and the events only become the backdrop, till the reader may be does not even care for what is being transpired, but only limits himself or herself to the characters’ and their lives.

The book revolves around Jo, who comes from a conservative Christian family, but finds herself questioning her faith all the time. During her spiritual struggle, she comes to find out the startling truth about her past, and her history. In order to reconcile with her lost self, she travels to Chicago, Pakistan and Iraq – learning Urdu and Arabic on the way, so that she can find herself amongst it all, bring her family together and find some semblance of peace in her life.

The journey that Jo takes is truly inspiring, and Haji’s writing is, no other way to put it, simply sublime. With her words, the author literally transports you from the mundane to places like Pakistan and Iraq, and describes them so vividly that you cannot help but feel as if you are, experiencing the majlis in the streets of Pakistan, or the sweltering heat of Iraq’s desert.

This book was no ordinary book, it felt like a portal that transported you to another place and time, and did it convincingly. Also, the way that author Nafisa Haji speaks of both Islam and Christianity in a fair and unbiased light, all the while drawing parallels between them and highlighting how very similar the two religions really are, is truly commendable. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone – it is an immensely rewarding read, and a book I’ll cherish forever.

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The Sweetness of Tears: A Novel