Showing posts with label contemporary lit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemporary lit. Show all posts

March 28, 2012

Coming Home by Stacy Hawkins Adams

Dayna is a successful executive with a beautiful home, a loving fiance, and a lot of baggage she believes she's left behind. One day she opens the door to find her ex-husband standing there with a bouquet of roses, wanting to apologize for having cheated on and divorced her years before. He's dying of terminal cancer, and wants her to help him and his wife, the very woman he's cheated with and left her for, establish a foundation to leave a legacy after his death. Can Dayna put aside her anger and allow Brent to find peace in his final days?

This is a novel of forgiveness in the face of ultimate betrayal. Adams bravely constructed a powerful scenario all women can relate to in one way or another. How many of us have been betrayed by a good friend or a love interest at one point and wondered how we could ever truly forgive them?

I enjoyed Adams' writing. She keeps unnecessary description to a minimum while somehow giving the reader a vivid picture of what is happening. The story never lags, there is always something happening. And while I normally care nothing for material trappings, she made me want a designer handbag and better hair and wardrobe with her characters' thoughts on such things. It takes a talented writer to create such desires in a reader.

There are only two negatives I can find in this book. First, Dayna's boyfriend, Warren, struck me as a jerk. I could tell I was supposed to like him, but he just wasn't likeable. Second, there are way too many details about phone calls. I can appreciate that there is realism in this, especially in our age of constant communication, but I found myself gritting my teeth every time Dayna is about to do something but gets a gossipy phone call. Perhaps because I hate it when I'm about to do something and am interrupted by a gossipy phone call. I think Adams was demonstrating Dayna's ties of friendships and the ways in which we are all influenced by and depend upon our friends, but it irritated me anyway.

Overall I enjoyed this book and appreciated its powerful message and the package Adams wrapped it in for us.

I received a copy of this book for the purpose of review.

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April 29, 2011

So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman

I'm really struggling to find the words for how I feel about this book. I'm also struggling to write a review without first going back and reading the book a second time, but I'm going to try to give you an honest review from my first read because I may feel different after I've put the story all together.

A key to this book is that it is contemporary fiction. It's written in a style that I can only relate back to the movie Momento, except the story is being told from the point of view of dozens of people instead of one. The story is told in small pieces that take you forward and backward, up and down, as you try to piece together where each individual piece fits into the bigger puzzle. The book is divided into small "chapters," that skip among numerous characters in the book. Some characters who seemingly don't add a thing, but I'm sure again on my second read, I'd find those characters were actually game-changers. Some of the chapters have years, some of them don't. Some of them are supposed audio recordings where you can only hear one side of the conversation, some are letters, and some are third-person narratives recounting memories. And though at times it doesn't seem like it, all of those pieces somehow add up to one thrilling story.

The only thing I can tell you about the plot without giving anything away is that the story overall is centered around three girls - Wendy, Alice, and Stacy Flynn. The three lived in the same community and were physically just acquaintances but emotionally, somehow connected on a deeper level. And all three in their own way stood for and did what they thought was right, even if society would have chosen a different path.

I will say that this book was one of the most surprising, thrilling, and unique that I've read in a really long time. As many of the reviews on Amazon put it, it was one of the ugliest books I've ever read but incredible at the same time. I wish I could give it five stars and would except for the ugly "F" word that kept coming up throughout the book. For that one reason I can't recommend it to everyone but if you like contemporary lit and that's not something that bothers you, So Much Pretty is definitely a book to read. If for no other reason, to remember the beauty of being truly and utterly surprised and shocked by a book.

This is Cara Hoffman's debut novel, and I will definitely be picking up whatever she decides to write next.

I was provided with a free copy of this book for review purposes. This review is my honest opinion.

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