The Girl Who Came Home

After reading On The Road, I was eager to step away from the renowned award winners and pick up something I found on my own. I was drawn to The Girl Who Came Home for two reasons: the cover photo of the Titanic and it's strategical placement on the sale rack.
Due to my love of history, I have always been fascinated by the Titanic. When I was a little girl, I took out book after book about the ship from the library. Children's picture books that depicted the inside of the ship, history books filled with archival photos, and of course, every Dear America book I could find. I am fascinated by the mystery and romance of such a horrible tragedy.
My interest in Titanic has not faded since I was that little girl in the library, so when I saw it's picture on the front cover of The Girl Who Came Home, I didn't even need to think about it. It was already in my basket.
As you can assume, The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor is about a seventeen year old Irish girl named Maggie Murphy who boards the Titanic for New York along with 13 others from her village. Devastated and traumatized by her experience, she doesn't speak of it for 70 years. The story then flashes forward to 1982, when an 87 year old Maggie decides to share her story with her journalist great-granddaughter.
I love this book. Loved it. It was full of mystery, and full of emotion. From the very beginning you wonder who survives and why Maggie's story is shrouded in such secrecy. No surprise, but I cried. Hard. I read it in a waiting room and was happy I was alone so no one could see me sobbing into the pages like a lunatic. What makes it so powerfully moving is that it really happened. Wives really were torn from their husbands, children separated from their mothers, sisters from their brothers. I could not for a second imagine having to walk away from my loved ones like that. It is heartwrenching and devastating.
I was also fascinated to learn that The Girl Who Came Home was inspired by a real group of people on the Titanic. The Addergoole Fourteen was a group of Irish emmigrants that traveled from County Mayo in Ireland. Eleven of the fourteen died aboard the ship, amounting to the largest loss of life from one region. Although names have been changed, Maggie Murphy and her companions are based on these fourteen.
I absolutely recommend The Girl Who Came Home. It was a beautiful depiction of a tragic event. The characters are relatable and likable, and for a nearly 400 page book, it was a quick and easy read.
It is often easy to remember the tragedy of the Titanic as an event in time or an epic movie, but The Girl Who Came Home reminds you of all the 1,517 real people that lost their lives. Those real men, women, and children that had families, personalities, and dreams. Hazel Gaynor did a great job in bringing them back to life, and keeping their memory alive.

On The Road

I have been hearing about On The Road by Jack Kerouac for years. It has been  on every list of award winners, recommendations, and Pinterest suggestions that I have found. I was incredibly eager and excited to read it and discover what all the fuss was about.
Don't hate me. I didn't like it.
For those of you that haven't heard of it, On The Road is based on Kerouac's cross country travels and adventures with his friend Neal Cassady in the late 1940's. Therefore, it is realistic and believable, and definitely gives you the travel bug. However, there is no climax. Kerouac's thoughts and stories run together as he rambles on about his friends, their relationships, and adventures.
I understand and appreciate why it is such a classic and well renowned work. Kerouac's writing and attention to detail is brilliant. His real life portrayal of life in the 40s opens your eyes to how much things have changed, and makes you yearn for a simpler time. But I just didn't enjoy it. I couldn't get into it.
Classic books are difficult, because I think people often say they love them just because they know that they are classic. They feel that they have to love them because everyone does. But I think that it is okay to not like a classically celebrated book. We all know how much I disliked Emma Bovary and her selfish dramas. The point isn't to love every illustrious work that is handed to you, but to be able to understand it and form your own opinion.
Which is what I did. And I'm sure many people will disagree with me. I think that Kerouac is a brilliant writer, and his story was passionate and inspiring. I am glad that I read On The Road, and I would recommend it. Not because I liked it, but because I think it is important for everyone to form their own opinions about widely recognized works. But I will tell you one thing, like it or not, it will definitely give you the urge to jump in your car with your best friend and whatever money you have in your pockets, and drive.

The Bell Jar

On February 11th, 1963, Sylvia Plath took her own life in her England home at the age of 30. Rejected by publishers for being "disappointing, juvenile, and overwrought", Plath's first and only novel remained unpublished in the states. It wasn't until 1971 that The Bell Jar was released to an eagerly waiting America.
Based on Plath's own experiences, The Bell Jar chronicles the break down of "Esther Greenwood" in the summer of 1953. A brilliant, honors student with great potential, Esther spends the summer in New York completing an internship with a high fashion magazine. Throughout the summer and into her return home, we start to see her mentally deteriorate. Finally, after an attempted suicide, Esther is committed to an asylum where she receives electric shock treatments and tries to recover.
When I found The Bell Jar on a list of recommended books, I was unaware of it's story or it's history. I obviously knew of Sylvia Plath, but I didn't know her tragic story. I was also unaware that The Bell Jar was her true experiences. I found it fascinating.
Oftentimes when I go to read classic, highly acclaimed books, I expect them to be dry, complex, and filled with big words and out of date language. With The Bell Jar, I found none of that. Plath speaks openly as a young woman, and although it has been over 50 years since her story took place, it is still relatable. Her struggle to discover who she wants to be and the feelings that she has are timeless.
I really loved this book. It was sad to see how a woman that had everything going for her could break apart.
In the foreword by Frances McCullough, The Bell Jar is said to have "quickly established itself as a female rite-of-passage novel, a twin to Catcher in the Rye". I think this truly is one of those life changing books that every woman should read.

Beautiful Ruins

While I was on my semi-annual, Tennessee book store shopping spree, I bought a new book mark and the quote on it is "Life is like a good book, the further you get into it the more it begins to make sense". Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter is epitomizes that quote. It is that good book.
Back in 1962, during the filming of Cleopatra, a young actress is told that she is dying of stomach cancer and is sent to stay at a tiny hotel in an isolated Italian town. The hotels owner, Pasquale Tursi, is instantly smitten with this beautiful blonde American, Dee Moray.
Flash forward to Hollywood in 2007, and an old Italian man wanders around the lot of a movie studio searching for a woman that he has not seen or heard from in nearly 50 years. The story follows Pasquelle and the group of people randomly joined together in the search for Dee Morray, who seemingly disappeared in 1962.
I thought that this book was fantastic. The writing was beautiful, the story captivating. The very first chapter fills you with questions, and the further you get into the book "the more it begins to make sense". Each chapter takes you through a different story, and you are slowly able to piece together the past.
Centered around Cleopatra, Walter takes a real event and real people and creates a fictional story that comes alive. There were times that I jumped on IMDB because I started to wonder if the story was true.
This is definitely a book I recommend, and have in fact already passed it along. It is unpredictable, yet believable. Easily one of the best books I have read in a while.

The Reading Group

Right before I read The Sisters, I read Elizabeth Noble's The Reading Group. This was the story of 5 women who come together monthly to discuss their books and, consequently, their lives. Through the course of a year, we see the lives and relationships of these very different women change. Together, they experience births, deaths, affairs, divorce, and raising children.
I am torn on this one. I loved the characters. I loved the emphasis on strong female relationships, be it between mother and daughter or between best friends. I related to certain characters and their issues with their relationships. These women were enduring and empowering.
I loved the references to great books and movies (like my favorite, Gone With the Wind :]). And I cried. Granted I had had a glass of wine at the time, but I laid in the tub, book in one hand- white zin in the other, while tears ran unchecked down my face. And we know I love a book that can make me feel that much.
However, I hated that it gave away the endings to the books the women read. Nerd that I am, that would be the one thing I didn't like. I have this never ending, always expanding list of books to read and I was excited to have a book filled with 12 recommendations. But in discussing the books, the characters gave away the best and most important parts and ultimately ruined them for me.
So I guess the bottom line is that I did like The Reading Group, but if I could do it over, I would read their reading list first. But like I said, that could just be me being a nerd.

The Sisters

Well, as of this past Saturday, I am officially a college graduate! What that means for you all is that I finally have time to write about the books that I have been reading for the past few months. Not to mention, I am back in Tennessee and got a little carried about at the bookstore again, so there will be no shortage of books to come either.
Although I have a bunch of books that I am now ready to write about, I'm going to start with the most recent because it was probably my favorite. I found The Sisters, by Nancy Jensen, on a bargain table at the bookstore down here that sucks up all my money. And for the record, I've found that some of the best books are found hidden on the sale tables.
Anyway, it took me a few months to getting around to reading it with that endless list of mine, but once I did I couldn't put it down. It is the story of Bertie and Mabel, two orphaned sisters living with their drunk of at step dad in the 1920s. The girls are all each other has in the world, and Mabel would do anything to protect Bertie. However, on the day of Bertie's 8th grade graduation, she discovers that her step dad has hung himself and her boyfriend and her sister have run away together. Heartbroken, Bertie is left alone with questions and no way to get answers.
The story then follows the sisters and their descendants through the next 90 years and three generations, through the Great Depression, World War II, and Vietnam and into the new millennium. We see how misunderstandings, stubbornness, and silence can change your entire life.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved figuring out the ages of each character every chapter and trying to picture them in that era, from their hair and clothes to the type of music they'd be listening to. I loved the historical references.  And of course, I loved the strong female characters. It was frustrating to know as an outsider that everything would be fixed if Bertie and Mabel just talked to each other instead of remaining alone out of stubbornness and fear. I thought that The Sisters was a great story and taught a great lesson.

Sharp Objects

I have developed an obsession with Gillian Flynn. This woman has easily, and quickly, become one of my favorite authors. Not an easy place to earn.
This is actually not the book that I planned on writing about this week, but after rapidly finishing Sharp Objects, I couldn't wait to write about it. For those of you who read my post on Gone Girl, you know how much I loved it. I was anxious to read other books by Flynn, and Sharp Objects was definitely a worthy follow up.
When Camille Preaker, a journalist from Chicago, is sent back to her hometown of Wind Gap, MO, to cover what appears to be a serial murder of two little girls, she is reluctant to face the dysfunctional family that she has avoided for years: an overbearing, neurotic mother, a half-sister who is practically a stranger, and the ghost of a sister nearly 30 years dead. Flynn intersects the mystery at hand with mysteries of Camille's past, and you are desperate to solve them both.
This book was fantastic. It was dark and disturbing, but mysterious, and at times, oddly hopeful. Flynn is witty and makes things that should disturb you to your core almost relatable. She paints a descriptive picture of the emotions and struggles, and brings to life each dysfunctional character.
I absolutely recommend Sharp Objects. Like Gone Girl, you spend the whole time trying to predict the ending, trying to solve the murder, and every prediction you make is wrong. Even when you think that everything is solved, you are again surprised by the ending.