Fiction

REVIEW: The Midnight Library

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”

The average adult makes approximately 35,000 decision a day – some consciously, others not. And each decision results in a specific direction or outcome that would be different, were we to make a different choice.

At 35, Nora Seed is sad. She’s just lost her retail job at String Theory, a guitar shop, that she’s held for 12 years. Her cat, Voltaire, was found dead on the side of the road. She’s estranged from her older brother. She does not want to live and is certain she will not be missed. So she makes a choice to end her life.

But life had different plans.

Nora doesn’t die. She ends up in a sort of limbo, in between life and death, at the Midnight Library. Staffed by her elementary school librarian, Mrs. Elm, Nora is presented first with a doorstop of a book that holds all of her regrets. There are so many, she can only read a couple at a time. Mrs. Elm has her close the book and focus on the choices she can make. Each book in this infinite collection, is a version of her life that goes a different way simply by making a different choice.

But Nora is done making choices and she’s ready to die. She want’s to die.

Mrs. Elm says if that were the case, she would not have ended up at the Midnight Library.

“Want,’ she told her, in a measured tone, ‘is an interesting word. It means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely. Maybe you have a lack problem rather than a want problem. Maybe there is a life that you really want to live.”

And so, an adventure of sorts begins. Whenever Nora steps into a new life, she can stay and settle in, or if she remains disappointed, she can return to the library. There is a catch though, while there are infinite books meaning and endless amount of lives and possibilities, there is not an endless supply of time. The duration of her time to decide is unknown.

What could end up being a book of doom and gloom or pointless repetition ends up being a gem of a story — no, stories — about the possibilities that life can offer. The audiobook version narrated by Carey Mulligan as extra depth. Author Haig delivers so many good nuggets about patience, kindness, creativity, and curiosity. And there are important reminders, like this one:

“There are patterns to life . . . Rhythms. It is so easy, while trapped in just the one life, to imagine that times of sadness or tragedy or failure or fear are a result of that particular existence. That it is a by-product of living a certain way, rather than simply living. I mean, it would have made things a lot easier if we understood there was no way of living that can immunise you against sadness. And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness. You can’t have one without the other. Of course, they come in different degrees and quantities. But there is no life where you can be in a state of sheer happiness for ever. And imagining there is just breeds more unhappiness in the life you’re in.”

The Midnight Library came into my life at an important time. When I, along with so many others, are dealing with major Covid pandemic fatigue. When I, along with so many others, have a loved one that deals with depression. When, I along with so many others, are getting by turning off the news, and turning to books. Especially books that remind us there is so much to experience in this life, even if every day isn’t picture perfect.

REVIEW: Anxious People

The first book of a new year is important. I always want to start strong, with a book I really enjoy. It feels like a way of starting the year off on a good note. Last year, despite all that was bad in 2020, I read some really good books. I kicked off the year with The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane and adored them both. This left me equal parts thrilled and terrified that I had read the best books I would read in 2021 before the end of February. And that was mainly true. You can check out my best and worst reads of 2020 column I co-authored with my Snotty Literati partner, Jennifer Spiegel.

So after the complete shit-show that was 2020, I was excited to turn a new page, pun intended, and was hoping my first pick of the year, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman would deliver.

The premise is a failed bank robber bursts into an open house and takes eight extremely anxious people hostage. Everyone, including the bank robber, is not who they seem. On appearances, they are annoying, irritating, total idiots. But as time passes, and times is invested, we learn there’s so much more than that superficial first layer. And as I read it, I knew this was the best book I could have chosen to kick off a year that is still recovering from the pain of the previous twelve months.

I hope Mr. Backman knows how special this book of his is. I am considering writing him a letter. Do people still do that? In the meantime, I will address him here.

Dear Mr. Backman,

Thank you.

Thank you for writing a book that so fully captures how idiotic, complex, annoying, beautiful, flawed, genuine, short-sighted, short-tempered, and insightful, and caring people can be. Thank you for writing a book that reminds us how far patience and a kind gesture can go. Thank you for writing a book that made me roll my eyes, laugh out load, and catch my breath. Thank you for writing a book that is a great reminder that it’s really hard some times to not be an idiot, that we are all idiots at one time or another, and we would all be a little better off if we offered up a little grace.

Consider me a forever fan.

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina has been on my bucket list of books forever. At almost 900 pages of classic Russian literature, featuring characters with complicated names that come with coordinating nicknames, it’s not a book you mindlessly pick up to take to the beach. First of all, it would take up your whole dang carry on. And second of all, Maggie Gyllenhaal performs—not reads, performs—an audio version of it. So, set some time aside, 36 hours if you are going to hang with Maggie, and get ready for the long haul. And when you’re ready, check out the longest book review I have ever written about the longest book I have ever read.

Warning: There are spoilers ahead, but I give you ample warning. I can’t read almost a thousand pages (or listen for almost the length of a work week) without getting really into the specifics. But first, let’s cover some basics.

Who’s Who?

Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky (aka Stiva) (aka Oblonsky). He’s married to Princess Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya (aka Dolly). Wealthy. Five kids. He’s a cheater cheater pumpkin eater.

Then there’s Stiva’s pal Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin (aka Kostya) (aka Levin) a poor farmer who lives out in the country and is in love with Kitty.

Kitty (aka Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shchebatskaya) is Dolly’s sister. She’s not in love with Levin, and in fact, she refuses Levin’s marriage proposal because she’s in love with Vronsky. #Drama!

Vronsky is a Count. Of course he is. And he’s hot, single, has money and is also known as Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky. Oh and he’s hopping in the sack with our leading lady, Anna Karenina.

Anna (aka Anna Arkadyevna Karenina) is gorgeous young wife of old and boring Karenin. She’s also the mother to Sergei Alexeyitch Karenin, or, Seryozha.

Karenin (aka Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin) is a Senior Statemen that is super concerned with his reputation and not at all happy with Anna.

There’s other characters of course, but these are the main ones and just referencing their names and nicknames probably accounts for 100 of Tolstoy’s 900 pages.

Digging In

Tolstoy has written a fascinating and epic novel of people falling in and out of love, making good and bad choices, and suffering the consequences and benefits that come from love—despite the fact that I am not sure I would call Anna Karenina a love story.

It’s more a social commentary on a young woman’s short-sighted choice to go out on her marriage—her unhappy and loveless marriage to a man twenty years her senior—that results in Karenin issuing Anna an ultimatum. She can either leave him—and their young son forever—in favor of divorce and Count Vronsky or she can keep her son and stay married, but cut off the Count. In a decision many would disagree with, Anna chooses the Count.

If you’re still with me, that means she chose to leave her son. It’s a rather shocking choice. Rarely do we look favorably upon women that choose men over their child. And, you have to remember, this was written in 1877. It was a time when women were often forced to marry young, religion prevented divorce, and the laws were not in favor of women.

And of course her relationship with Vronsky develops it’s own challenges. They have a child. A child he can’t claim as his own, because, as it turns out, Karenin won’t divorce her. Anna grows jealous of Vronsky as cheaters often do—worrying that their partners are doing to them what they initially did to their spouses. Funny how cheaters become an untrusting lot.

Spoiler Ahead!

Is it really a spoiler if the book was written over one hundred years ago? Well, I can’t share my thoughts without spilling my guts.

Anna kind of loses her mind. She spirals and and sees no way out of her situation. Karenin won’t divorce her. Vronsky can’t assure her enough that his intentions are true. She misses her son with Karenin and dislikes her daughter with Vronsky. She’s miserable and she wants others to suffer the way she perceives she has. In her misery, she recalls being at a train station years earlier, with Vronsky, when a man falls under the tracks. It’s this shocking memory that gives birth to an idea.

Yep! She throws herself under a train! A FREAKING TRAIN! And, yet, if ever there were a person’s demise so breathtaking, I think this was it. It was stunning, in a freak-show-can’t-look-away kind of way and I backed up the audio recording multiple times to hear sweet Maggie’s voice articulate it again and again.

Let’s pause for a moment.

A FREAKING TRAIN!

The Swoonworthy Part of Anna Karenina

And then, the love story that did work out—Kitty and Levin! If you recall, Kitty initially spurned Levin in favor of Vronsky. Unfortunately, Vronsky only had eyes for Anna and this left Kitty humiliated and deathly ill. Levin, still heartbroken and pining, was secretly glad to learn Kitty was single and perhaps a little deserving of the illness. Knowing Levin and Kitty should be together, the Oblonskys orchestrate a social gathering that will facilitate a meet up. Who new such a meet up would turn into a total meetcute? I will spare this spoiler; but know it involves a cryptic love note the two write each other during the party that sets the record straight and results Levin asking for her hand marriage. This scene I could also play again and again. I can’t even with the cuteness. That Tolstoy knows how to court!

The wedding day is hilarious, their relationship is full of professional bickering and a child is born. The overly contemplative and super philosophical Levin questions if he’s truly happy and learns the answer during an afternoon storm that puts his young bride and son in harm’s way. Levin and Kitty are total #CoupleGoals.

So super dramatical, right? Right. And I loved it. I loved almost every minute of it. There were some agricultural politics and Russian business mumbo jumbo that was a little snoozeworthy. But the voyeuristic view into these characters lives and choices was wholly satisfying. So much so, I am pretty sure I want to read it again. And I don’t read anything again. Certainly not 900 pages of something, Maggie or not.

The Girls by Emma Cline

The GirlsHere’s some free advice: When you meet an author that wrote a book you love, love, loved and you ask him what book he recommends you should read next… read it… next. I am talking about Bill Clegg, author of last year’s NBA Finalist Did You Ever Have a Family, and the book he recommended I read, Emma Cline’s debut, The Girls.

It would also be good to make sure you have six uninterrupted hours, because The Girls will pull you in about as quickly as the book’s charismatic cult leader Russell Hadrick seduces our lost and impressionable protagonist, Evie Boyd. But, I am getting a bit ahead of myself here.

It’s 1969 in northern California and 14-year old Evie Boyd is bored, directionless, and seeking attention anywhere she can find it. Lazy summer days lead Evie to the park where one day she sees them. The Girls. Evie cannot take her eyes off of them, their dresses, their hair, and their utter insouciance–especially, the dark-haired girl Suzanne. Evie continues to see these strange and alluring older girls and quickly and naively assimilates with the group.

Evie finds herself on a black school bus riding out to “the ranch”, the next devotee of child molester, pimp, and cult leader Russell Hadrick (picture Charles Manson). Despite the rancid property and feral inhabitants, Evie can’t get enough. For the first time in her short life, she feels like she belongs. Cline does an exceptional job showcasing the vulnerability of young girls and the desperation that can lead to short-sighted choices with unimaginable consequences. The writing is exquisite, although a little heavy handed in the beginning chapters. Cline quickly finds her groove and keeps you invested in this literary page turner that is likely to be the hit of the summer.

This book will be published on June 14, 2016. Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley.com for making this book available to read and review prior to publication. 

Fate and Furies

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff is one of the most talked about books from 2015. After Snotty Literati read it, we couldn’t stop talking about it.

Check out our conversation about Fates and Furies and chime in with your own thoughts in the comments!

Fates and Furies Cover Image

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

Signs Preceding the End of the WorldEvery year, I try to read a handful of books I might not normally read. These aren’t books that are “out of my comfort zone” like zombie apocalypse, vampire YA stuff… but books that can expand my reach and reading experience. Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera is the perfect kind of book to do this.

Signs, written in Herrera’s native Spanish and translated by Lisa Dillman, tells the story of Makina, a young Mexican woman making the dangerous trek across the U.S./Mexican Border to deliver an unmarked package and find her brother. Marina’s brother crossed over a year ago, with the sketchy promise of land acquisition.

In just 107 pages, Herrara give us a glimpse into a world many of us don’t know, but may talk–or even argue–a lot about. It’s a world of many unknowns and uncertainties; and one that delivers a solemn punch about the realities of how humans choose to treat one another.

4 Stars

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah

My Snotty Literati cohort and I finally got to one of the best books of 2013, Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Read our review of Americanah and see what we thought. SPOILER ALERT: We loved it!

The Last Night at the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage

w538892This slim novel was Kindle-gifted to me by my stepmom at the end of our fall break in Boston and New York City this year. The book is narrated by an unnamed woman, who is celebrating her birthday with her best friend Gay, Gay’s husband Len, and the narrator’s former lover, Wes. Gay and the narrator met in college in the 1930s and have maintained a 3o-year friendship despite their dramatic differences.

Now, it’s 1960s Boston, and there’s lots of talk of martini lunches, affairs of the heart, betrayals of friendship, books and feminism. Gay is straight and narrow, the narrator is not. They are the yin to each other’s yang, and despite the narrator’s unreliability, I really liked her. She’s full zingers and quotes that could appear on the next Anne Taintor notepad. She struck me as the person you would sit next to at a party if you didn’t have anything nice to say about anyone—she would love to talk with you.

Here are some of my favorite passages:

Describing a college acquaintance:

“But having missed being pretty she settled for being kind and merry, which is not the worst settlement a girl can make.”

About her college major:

“Like many old English majors, we don’t hold staunch opinions about anything much but books.”

On her ability to be trusted:

“Nobody–except for Gay– has ever trusted me. And for good reason.”

Speaking about girls who got pregnant in college:

“Everyone I knew who got caught got married, but only after a lot of tears and a lot of snotty remarks from the dean.”

On sex:

“In those days we were pretty sure sex stopped at about thirty-five.”

On Gay’s grandmother:

“Gay’s grandmother was a formidable woman, but you didn’t see it right away because she was pretty.”

“As it turned out, the grandmother was a rampant feminist who rejoiced in any female victory. It wasn’t really that Grandmother didn’t like the uncles; but she saw all men as dolts. In spite of all her sons–perhaps because of them–she was not much in favor of sexual congress. It was untidy and had dire results and took a lady’s mind off more important things. Like sonnets.”

“In spite of the grandmother’s stern admonition, the bathroom was obviously a library. Everyone in that house liked to read; not that they were all scholars; the just liked to read, and there was no corner of that big house that was not littered with literature, as though they were all afraid that they might be caught at any moment without print.”

On her love of books and reading… and drinking:

“But you can’t very well lug an encyclopedia around hotels. Fortunately, I did have my flask.”

On loss and lust:

“So after that, if the fellow and the time were right, I started having an occasional affair, which is less debilitating than grief and a lot more fun.”

I could go on… but what kind of review just reprints the whole book? The book is not perfect, by any means. But it’s a gem. Our lushy narrator can ramble at times; however, the she propels the story forward nicely, throwing in her share of secrets and some of Gay’s as well. The Last Night at the Ritz does a swell job unfolding a story of a complicated life-long friendship in one night’s time, across a number colorful stories and cocktails.

Rating: 3 stars
Pages: 196
Genre: Fiction

By |November 30th, 2014|2014, 3 stars|1 Comment