Review: Mudbound

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished. I'm not sure I can muster any words of elegance as I sit with the emotions that are overwhelming me but I will try.

If you haven't yet read this book and are up to it, get a copy. Get a physical copy. Move it to the top of your TBR pile. When it comes time to read it, open the cover and feel the pages. You will want to feel their texture underneath your fingertips. This read won't be one of soaring imagination, lyrical beauty, lifted spirits. As you will see, the deeper you wade, you will feel yourself becoming bogged down in the mud along with them. The darkness and the duty that drives each of them. But underlying it all is an ugliness and an evil that consumes the very oxygen they breathe.

I warn you, this is a TOUGH read. It is dark and heavy and the words weigh heavy on your soul. There is an underlying anger that wells up and you feel helpless to find somewhere to put it. You see, early on, where things are headed, though you can't picture exactly how it will play out. But you know...yet you are helpless to derail it...to change things. To warn them. But, as you see them headed down their path, you are compelled to hold tight and stay with them and pray there will eventually be a real end to this evil once and for all one day.

When it is over, you will be thankful to have held this book in your hands. To feel a physical part of it. To have held onto something to remind you that this is fiction. Words on a page. Not truth. Laura and Henry, Jamie, Florence, Hap, Ronsel, Resl, Franz aren't real. They don't live...and breathe...although at times you can almost feel them taking a breath beside you. We can breathe because we know this is just a story...and they didn't live...but how many thousands of named and nameless faces who did have the same stories to tell?

I grew up surrounded by it. Surrounded by people on the wrong side of it. I will never begin to understand it...and I hope none of us ever does.

Hillary Jordan has created a simple but tangible world in Mudbound. We know it so well by the end of the book, we can almost pick it out on a map, complete with the characters that inhabit its land. Its story is riveting and immersive...dark and powerful. If you are looking for a light read, pass this by. But if you are willing to allow yourself to dig deep and really feel...even the darker side of humanity... If you are looking for a read that will impact you and stay with you long after it is done and has an impact on how you interact with the real world around you, then this is a book for you. ...and when it's over, close the cover and hold it quietly and let it settle into your soul.


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Review: Don't Let Go

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

My 2nd Harlan Coben. Loved it. Different than the books I usually read but I'm really enjoying his books. Mostly, I love his characters. Flamboyant, colorful, lively, and witty, these are characters you'll remember long after you finish the book...maybe even more than the story itself. An enjoyable read. Can't wait to read more of his work. I needed something much lighter than my normal fare and this fits the bill perfectly.

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Review: Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter

Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter by Melissa G. Moore
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Very intriguing book. For those who may be planning the read, be aware of a couple of things.

1) The story is about Melissa's life. It is not a telling of her father's. Although she obviously covers that ground, those portions are superficial in detail (with regard to his activities) and focused more on the reflection of what kind of a man he is and either her relationship or perceived relationship with him as she learned more over the course of her lifetime. If you are looking for a book that discusses details of his crimes, that is not covered in any depth here.

2) As you may expect, there ARE references to animal torture/killings that she witnessed or experienced during her childhood at the hands of her father. I include that notation for those who, like me, wish there were trigger warnings/rating systems to identify cases where animals are harmed before stumbling across them unknowingly. While these episodes in the book (there are just about a half dozen or less), she is careful to tell you enough to understand its impact on her as a child but not detailed enough to make you throw the book against the wall screaming and sobbing. For this, I am appreciative. Those limited details, as she relays them, give you the vision of the monster she saw with little understanding where it came from or what they foreshadowed, but she skirts through it swiftly enough to allow you to move forward without severe trauma to yourself as a reader. If the limited description is still too much, skipping ahead a mere couple of sentences (as I did a few times) is enough to continue without taking the images too deeply to heart (long term).

For those who are interested in this memoir, it is well written and you get a rare glimpse of what it was like for her as a child, living in an impoverished environment, surrounded by dysfunction, much of which she didn't understand or even know until later years. You will feel her discomfort, her questions, her fears just as you will see her strength, her confidence, and her self begin to develop as she matures.

As someone who spent many years studying criminal pathology from high school age through and past my college years, leading me to obtain a degree in Psychology, I considered (for a long time) pursuing a career as in forensic psychology. Despite a change in career path, the field has and will continue to fascinate me. That intrigue is what drew me to this book and I am glad I picked it up.

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BOOK REVIEW: The German Girl

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Finally finished this book. Life kept getting in the way. I have to say this is one beautiful, thought-provoking book. As an avid reader of books (non-fiction and fiction) based during or surrounding the Holocaust, this book brought new information to me. I am grateful for the historical lessons, the beautiful narrative, and especially the addendum documentation of the ship's manifest and photographs, bringing it home in a truly palpable way, much like the ending of the film Schindler's List. I am so thankful to have yet a broader understanding of the times and the reality of what so many faced. Thank you, Armando Luca Correa, for this beautiful work.

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BOOK REVIEW: And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer

I'm not sure what to say. This book was simply beautiful. It isn't filled with a lot of action. There isn't a riveting, page-turning, can't-put-it-down storyline. What you get is a beautiful story following an uncovered treasure, an unknown manuscript of music written by JS Bach and passed through several generations until it reaches the hands of the main character in present day. It is a simple, quiet journey full of beauty and splendor. I simply loved every moment of this quiet masterpiece. If you are a lover of classical music, you will find this book to be a treasure. I simply hated it to end and to return it to the library. I have already made a space on my shelf for the copy I will buy and re-read in the future. I will always remember the quiet beauty of this book.