Joyce's Choices

Joyce's Choices

by Joyce B. Wilcox

APPARENTLY, it’s now officially springtime no matter if you’re one of the snowbirds on the fly heading north or like me, if you’re one of the many winter wrens who resisted flying the coop and are basking in a Michigan heatwave of 40 degrees. Either way you can enjoy nature and have an appreciation for spring’s warm embrace of rebirth, hope, and optimistic joy. They say that hope springs eternal and for this reason hope is the theme uniting this issue’s spring book selection. You can look for hope in many ways: whether it’s hope for starting over in life; discovering the truth; righting a wrong; understanding the past; or overcoming obstacles. So, as you slip on your spring jacket, why not try on one of these book jackets for size?

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

All of the action in this novel takes place within fifty-three days throughout the months of April and May, but this story will stay with you for a lifetime. At its core, American Dirt is a novel which any parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or sibling can relate to; it’s about a mother’s love for her eight-year-old son and the lengths she will go to in order to protect him.

Now place this mother and son in present day Acapulco surrounded by some of the best and worst that society has to offer. Suddenly horrendous events unfold forcing mother and son to attempt to flee their country any way that they can in order to escape the wrath of a vengeful and murdering drug cartel. Add to this storyline with a fluctuating group of refugees attempting and competing to make the same escape for a variety of reasons and the reader is as trapped in the story as the characters. This author is also savvy enough to give the characters a glimmer of hope to help sustain them on their arduous cross-country journey. This same hope helps the reader weather the events regardless of the outcome.

Cummins is a best-selling New York Times’ author for some very good reasons. She has managed to shine the spotlight on a volatile international situation that is making headlines in today’s news while simultaneously remaining non-political. Facts and people are humanized on both sides of the issue. This novel also reaches deeply into the reader’s heart while conjuring up events which are brutal as well as compassionate; realistic as well as unimaginable; and terrorizing as well as ever hopeful. Cummins permits the readers just enough distance from the sometimes-gruesome action by her well-played literary card: writing this novel in the third person narrative. I’ll be honest here; written in the first-person narrative, the story would have felt too close to home, and I may not have had the courage to finish this novel. A good writer knows when to take a step back in order to achieve a closer look.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Not only has Frederick Backman authored a one-of-a-kind-novel, but he’s also mastered this very creative technique of permitting the reader a glimpse inside of his head as he simultaneously manages to get inside of the head of his readers. This novel takes the reader along for an exciting ride as clues about a failed armed bank robbery are slowly unraveled. The story unexpectedly escalates into a hostage situation when the robber flees into an adjacent apartment building to hide out. But unbeknownst to the robber, there’s an apartment open house in progress so the group winds up being held hostage.

Known for his talent for creating bizarre and troubled characters, Backman doesn’t disappoint with this unlikely band of eccentric hostages. This group of extremely strange strangers reveals their life stories during their time as hostages and once again as they’re interrogated by the police. Chaos rules the day. And don’t forget to add two bumbling officers who manage to allow the bank robber to escape hours later while the hostages are released. As noted by the author quite early in the book, “This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots.”

Spanning the emotional highs and lows of each character’s life, you will ride their responsive roller coaster journey along with them as you alternate between laughing out loud with shedding a few tears along the way. Fredrik Backman knows how to speak directly to you from his gut while grabbing your heart and simultaneously piquing and maintaining your interest.

While entrenched in this book there were times that I actually felt the author’s presence in the adjacent chair in my living room and I had the urge to speak out loud to him. With Backman’s well placed occasional asides to the reader, I felt that he was speaking directly to me. And judging from my husband’s reaction to

some of my inadvertent verbal outbursts and giggles while reading Anxious People, I suspect that I did attempt a conversation or two with the writer. It’s a little outside of the box, but I absolutely loved this book!

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Not every debut novel contains characters you want to read about. Not every mystery that’s written keeps you guessing. Not every suspense thriller compels readers to keep turning the pages. But then again, not every author is Allen Eskens, a former defense attorney who later honed his creative writing skills through a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program. Eskens has mastered his craft and personally caused this sometimes-squeamish reader to step out of her comfort zone.

I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this book even though there were times early on that I was tempted to put it down. By sticking with it, I discovered that The Life We Bury has well-developed characters, riveting subplots, and well-placed plot twists. All these attributes cause the reader to have “Ah ha!” moments. As an added bonus, written just for me I’m sure, the book has rich narration which flows masterfully page after page. This is one of my mustread book club picks that I almost put aside, but Allen Eskens knows how to write so well that he turned this doubter into a devotee.

Eskens brings to life his protagonist Joe Talbert, a college student tasked with a writing assignment for an English class involving interviewing a stranger and writing that stranger’s biography. Joe selects nursing home resident Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran and convicted murderer, who has been medically paroled after serving thirty years in prison. The reader not only learns about the evolving and contrasting story of the war hero-turned-convict Carl Iverson, but also discovers the story behind young Joe’s complicated and troubled life. Hope springs eternal as Joe meticulously unravels the mystery behind the old man’s conviction. The Life We Bury is a book whose secrets are well-worth uncovering. And yes, in case you are wondering, I’ve already ordered the sequel, The Shadows We Hide.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Imagine, if you will, a coming-of-age novel which includes the following: the unpredictable misadventures of a character similar to Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer; an intense and evolving father-daughter relationship on the level of Harper Lee’s Atticus and Scout Finch; and a character with the mystic and clairvoyant qualities of L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz. If you’ve enjoyed any, or like me, all three of these classics, you will be over the moon in love with Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. What’s not to love about a winning trifecta combination of characterization, theme, and technique?

When single parent Gideon Tucker accepts a railroad job in Des Moines,

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Iowa during the summer of 1936, he places his twelve-year-old daughter, Abilene, on a train headed for Manifest, Kansas. She’s to live under the care of an old friend of his for a few months while Gideon works for the railroad. Through the years she’s heard her father share many wonderful stories about his childhood and Abilene’s excited to experience the people and town that he’s described. But the years and the Great Depression have chipped away and reshaped Manifest into a shadow of what it once was. It’s within those shadows where this curious and imaginative young girl uncovers a mystery which includes a hidden cigar box full of odd trinkets and letters with references to two adventuresome boys named Ned and Jinx. And why not throw in a spy known as the Rattler to advance the story? The town has a past, and no one is truly ready to reveal its secrets.

Along with two friends from her new school, Abilene tries to unravel the mystery with clues from various residents. The reader is treated to an eclectic cast of characters including Shady, a saloon proprietor who doubles as the town’s preacher; Miss Sadie, a mysterious fortune teller and diviner; a relentless and often clueless Sheriff Dean; Sister Redempta, the rigid backbone of Sacred Heart of the Holy Redeemer Elementary School; and Hattie Mae Harper, the Reporter About Town from the Manifest Herald. Clare Vanderpool’s novel will capture your imagination, but the combination of clues, curses, and chaos will also keep you captivated.

The Scorpion’s Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Masters of adventure and suspense, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have created a mystery thriller of a tale in The Scorpion’s Tail. These two know the formula for a suspenseful plot: alternate short, crisp chapters between their main characters then slowly add several complex subplots; measure out a bit of plausible history; then toss in some hidden treasure to tease the reader along. Sprinkle with excitement, intrigue, and peril. Shake things up with an early discovery of a dead body. And that’s just the first chapter. The story begins as Junior FBI Agent Corrie Swanson is called upon to complete some grunt work in a routine assignment because she mishandled her previous case. She’s asked to identify a body found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a New Mexico ghost town and to determine the cause of death. Now this four-hundred-page thriller could be over in less than ten pages if that’s all that happened, but authors Preston and Child are better than that. Enter Nora Kelly, an archaeologist called in to lend her expertise to the excavation and the plot thickens. It’s determined that the deceased died in agony, presumably murdered. Once they identify the body, they discover a treacherous and clandestine world involving ancient treasure, dangerous criminals, and secret codes. As a rookie FBI agent, Corrie is in over her head, but has no choice but to continue working the case in order to redeem her place in the bureau. As a reader, your interest has no choice but to be piqued as you continue to read in order to solve this mystery for yourself.

As I stated before, hope springs eternal and I’m hopeful that at least one of these novels piques your interest and makes for some enjoyable reading.

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