The Arts Council by Dolly Gray Landon; The Writing Writes The Writer Taking Kev to Sizzlin' Meats and Salads by Kevin Cann

The Arts Council by Dolly Gray Landon 

 The Arts Council by Dolly Gray Landon is a bizarre book. It can't really be said to be highly recommended. It can't even be considered particularly good or well written. Instead it is a messy, loud, disturbing, darkly comic, vulgar, inappropriate, immature, witty, bizarre, trippy, unforgettable, sharp, and ruthless satire. You don't go into a book like this to like anyone or anything. You read it to cringe, laugh bitterly, compare it to real life, maybe think, and more than likely wonder “What the heck did I just read?”

The plot mainly involves Honoree Oinkbladder and Modesty Greedance, two high school artists who are constantly trying to one-up each other. It also concerns the Pimpleton Regional Arts Council who determines whose artwork is praised and promoted but are often swayed by famous family names, bribery, and other more nefarious means in selecting pieces. There are also various other subplots that involve cheating spouses, hook ups, break ups, murders, public humiliation, illicit lobotomies, and feral attack therapy dogs.

The Arts Council walks that strange line between being a very intelligent satire and an immature joke. There are savage takedowns everywhere from aggravating political figures, to pretentious artists and art experts, to judicial corruption, to inept intellectuals, to kangaroo courts, to depraved socialites, to obnoxious teenagers, and especially to a society which pays lip service to hard work and merit but lets money and names lead to success.

The attacks especially on the art industry are spot on. Landon skillfully dissects an industry which talks a big game about artistic integrity and free expression but only promotes art that is deemed acceptable when it is financially beneficial for collectors, council members, and gallery owners. 

They determine what is considered fine art and will try to assign an arbitrary meaning to make it more valuable. For example, a painting of Honoree’s that was defaced in the most horrible way during a bullying incident is considered a worthy piece. Honoree then displays it, despite its rancid odor and disgusting visuals. She periodically makes some slight additions and changes to make it look like an entirely new piece each time to the delight of her prestigious and unaware fans.

The intellectual satire is augmented by more childish humor making the book a bizarre concoction of humor. Various characters have double entendres and dad jokes for names such as Dweebaldo Van Boofus, Poppin’ Jay Godandy, and Ian Tickleman. The two protagonists named Honoree and Modesty suggest virtue but are conniving manipulative young women who have multiple sexual relationships.

There are moments that over emphasize scatological function and humor. Readers might be torn between sardonically smirking at the satire or rolling their eyes at an obvious dirty joke, sometimes doing both in the same paragraph.

There are many things that prevent this from being a highly recommended book or even a great work of satire and parody. The characters are off putting in that exaggerated way that is found often in satire where everyone is written to an obnoxious extreme and no one is particularly likeable. Some plot points go nowhere or are arbitrarily resolved. It's hard to care about anyone in a cast of shrill annoying caricatures who do stupid obnoxious things as plot devices.

That is probably the point but the incomprehensible plot and one dimensional characters also cause the book to run far too long. Readers might say, “We got the joke the first time. Can we move on please?” It's a book that is not well constructed but also revels in how ill constructed that it is. Technically that makes the book a potential work of genius.

Trigger warnings but there are also moments that are incredibly disturbing. A few characters get publicly humiliated in sexually and physically abusive ways that are treated as graphic and disturbing jokes. One could say that is the point and comedy is subjective. In a world that is becoming increasingly satiric on its own, those who point out society's flaws in arts and entertainment need to be more graphic, more satiric, and crazier to get their points across.

However, these are chapters that go to an extreme that is beyond humor. The excessive nature of these passages turn dark satire into psychological horror. The characters don't just suffer but others stand around, watch it happen, and take part in the humiliations. Once read, the reader can't unsee them and has a hard time focusing on the rest of the book. Because of them, the book could be considered recommended but with extreme reservations that it is definitely not for everyone. It is for people who like bizarre satire, dark humor, sexual innuendo, and have strong stomachs.

The Writing Writes The Writer Taking Kev to Sizzlin' Meats and Salads by Kevin Cann 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: Some books capture large moments. Characters dealing with politics, life transitions like birth and death, trauma, and sweeping changes. Some capture little moments concerning friendships, couples, and daily life. 

That is the case with The Writing Writes The Writer: Taking Kev to Sizzlin' Meats and Salads by Kevin Cann. There isn't much in the way of plot but it's heavy in characterization.

The book mostly focuses on Kev and his best friends, married couple Jeb and Mae. Kev is legally blind and Jeb and Mae often drive him around. One of their favorite places to go is Sizzlin' Meats and Salads, the local eatery. It's just a few weeks of their lives punctuated with trips to Sizzlin.’

The three characters and setting are relatable and identifiable. Those who live in small towns will understand the comfortable routine found in a town like Peculiar, California. It presents a history of the town and how it got its, well, peculiar name. It's the type of story that townspeople know by heart and retell. Maybe celebrate it in historical reenactments and guided tours. 

There is also recognition of the important locations that give the town character. In this case Sizzlin' Meats and Salads. It's a local mom and pop place where people arrive every week, order their favorite expected meals so often that sometimes even the servers memorize it before they order, and recognize co-workers, classmates, neighbors, or just the regular gang of diners. It's so beautiful because it's so familiar and comforting.

The three protagonists are the type of characters who depend on daily lives and routines. This is especially vital to Kev. An intellectual and writer, Kev hates being dependent on his friends but still relies on them to be his contact with the world outside his house. 

He is such a devotee to this routine that he looks forward to it like a kid waiting for a trip to a theme park. When things get in the way like car trouble or a family issue, Kev makes them swear that they will go the following week and it's non-negotiable. Of course unlike most people, he doesn't have the luxury of going some other day because of his lack of transportation. It's just as aggravating for him as it is for them and the frustration is easily understood.

We also see Jeb and Mae as a couple that are comfortable with each other. They compliment each other with different personalities but a yin yang dynamic that recognizes each other's strengths and vulnerabilities. 

They have shared memories, inside jokes, unfinished sentences that they answer. They know each other so well and treat Kev like another family member that's welcome in their lives and not an unwanted third wheel. It's a power trio that relies on warmth, familiarity, and connections as their strongest assets.

The Writing Writes The Writer is a simple book. But sometimes the simple books tell the strongest truths.

After The Rain: Stories by Dina Sokal ; The Narrow by Dan Cornelious; The Love That Wouldn't Die by Anthony Biren; 200 Things Women Can Do After 50 by Permission Press

 

After The Rain: Stories by Dina Sokal

This is a summary of the review. The entire review can be found on LitPick.

This poignant and meaningful anthology focuses on emotional confrontations, secrets, trauma, memories, and how sometimes it takes adulthood and maturity to understand these experiences.

The best stories are:

“Henry and Sally”- Henry learns that his ailing wife, Sally, has secrets that he never knew.

This story is about how we never know everything about the people that we are around the most, spouses, children, and close friends and family. 

Henry cares for his wife through her dementia and finds out her secret on his own. He weighs his suspicion towards her and his guilt in bringing this outcome forward. He has to address the reality of his marriage, not his romantic rose tinted view.

 “The Ritual Committee Meeting”-Christy weighs religious devotion with her uncertainty about her committee leaders Jonathan and Rivka who are becoming quite authoritarian.

This story is only a few pages long but says a great deal about Christy and the other church members. Christy sees the tight hold that the couple have on the committee and when she disagrees with them, they let her know that she has fallen in their estimation. 

She wonders if they are there to lead others to worship God or themselves.

“Mother's Day”-An accident forces Val to evaluate her marriage, motherhood, faith, and behavior.

Val once held a superficial view of her life. She thought that it was an idyllic home as long as she existed on the surface and lived in benign contentment. 

Afterwards she has to weigh her love for her husband and family. She also has to look at her own troublesome behavior and seek to change it.

“After the Rain”- A woman has a magical encounter that forces her to confront her past.

Most of the story is surreal and yet meaningful as a strange box leads her to several human figures, particularly a baby that beckons her to follow it. They have a lot of symbolic touches concerning security, suppression, and confrontation.

The story’s climax is reached when she names the trauma that was done to her. She confronts her assailant and brings her pain to the forefront. Recognizing it gives her the first step towards healing.

 Sokal’s watercolor illustrations are winsome pleasant landscapes that bring a timeless dream-like quality to the stories and provide light to even the darkest moments.

The Narrow by Dan Cornelious 

This is a suspenseful Science Fiction Thriller that combines monster disasters, alien encounters, and conspiracy theories and does some clever unique things with the concepts.

After surviving an attack by a mysterious creature Eli Merritt investigates the encounter. He sees a sealed passage which leads him to a civilization of reptilians called the Zargata. He bonds with one named Ryznk. When a greater evil approaches Eli, Ryznk, and their human and reptilian allies have to work together to fight it.

Most of the book focuses on typical military science fiction thriller tropes. There are the military figures who try to keep the weird stuff under wraps as they fight against it. The scientists and doctors with the analytical questions, devotion to science, and arguments with the military. 

The salt of the Earth protagonist who stumbles on the strange new world but still kicks ass. The religious supporting character that quotes the Bible and fears the End Times. It's all familiar but also kind of fun as a good action novel read for the summer should be. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this book are the reptilians. Most Science Fiction novels that focus on conspiracy theories treat the reptilians as some unstoppable inhuman evil bent in conquest and destruction. Dan Cornelious however took great care to make the Zargata just as important and multi-faceted as the humans.

 Ryznk is actually a well written character more so than Eli, his human counterpart who is alright but stereotypical and cliched. Ryznk however is a proud member of the Zargata community but has enough intelligent curiosity and empathy towards the humans. He draws Eli and others  into their mutual struggles by sharing thoughts and emotions. It is an interesting touch in what might have been a typical Science Fiction Thriller.

The friendship that develops between Eli and Ryznk is the emotional core of the story as they fight against their isolation, assumptions, enemies both human and reptilian, and mental and emotional blockers to work together. It's a twist that elevates this book from ordinary to potentially exceptional.

The Love That Wouldn't Die by Anthony Biren 

This is a beautiful and sinister short novel about the love between parent and child that survives beyond death.

John is devoted to his daughter, Rocky. He is so devoted to her that his final thoughts before he dies in a traffic collision were to always be with her. After death, he watches Rocky as she becomes romantically involved with Derek, a dangerous stalker.

The horror and mystery aspects are well written. John's attempts to communicate with his daughter can be creepy as he speaks to her through her phone and flickers with lights. Also John's attachment to Rocky could affect his memory of her and human emotions leaving him as an angry vengeance seeking spirit.

Besides the supernatural horror, there is also human horror. It is particularly noticeable when John and Rocky are given a chilling vision of Derek's actions and motives. The lengths that Derek went through because he felt entitled to have Rocky are incredibly disturbing.

Above all, this is a strong story about the love between a father and daughter. The opening chapter features a charming moment between John and his then-toddler aged daughter as she watches butterflies. It symbolizes their relationship as Rocky is as beautiful and fragile as those butterflies and John tries hard to hold onto her until he learns to defend when necessary but also to let her go.

200 Things Women Can Finally Do at 50 by Permission Press

If you are approaching 50, don't look at it as old age or think that it is an end to life. Think of it as a potential start to do new things. This is a funny and uplifting book that suggests that women can find fulfillment by living for themselves.

This book covers various areas like social life, beauty standards, work, family, health, tech, and a bucket list. The items suggest similar messages like “It's okay to opt out.” “It's okay to be less than perfect” “It's okay to practice self care.” “It's okay for others to take care of you.” “It's okay to be behind the times.” “It's okay to meet long term goals that were put off by life situations.” “It's okay to be yourself.”

The suggestions are humorous and heartfelt to remind readers that they should make time for themselves. For example in the social life chapter, one suggestion is “Unfriend the Energy Vampire. We all have that one friend. She only calls to complain about her ex, her boss, or the rash on her leg. You have listened to the same loop for 15 years because you are loyal. You are not a therapist, and you are not a garbage can for your emotional refuse. It is okay to outgrow people who only take. Hit ‘Block’ or ‘Mute’ to lift that weight off your shoulders immediately. Rebel Rule: Protect your peace like it is a limited-edition handbag.”

Illusion of Time by Omar Hamoud; Strange Beautiful Philosophical Literary Fiction Novel

 Illusion of Time by Omar Hamoud; Strange Beautiful Philosophical Literary Fiction Novel 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Illusion of Time by Omar Hamoud is a beautiful transformative philosophical novel that touches on various subjects like time, memory, death, fatalism, destiny, spirituality, and whether we are truly in charge of our lives or a part of someone else's design.

The book covers two lives who are connected on the same day in 1967. As restaurateur William Van Dyck dies of natural causes in Charlotte, North Carolina, Andrian Davis is born in New York City. Throughout the book, we are treated to the lives of both men and they seem to be linked. It's never stated why specifically but they seem to share minds, souls, memories, and experiences.

My copy of the book has no transition between William and Andrian's stories. No long white space, no separation of paragraphs, no subheads. Nothing that separates one story from another. Just jumps from Andrian to William and back again.

Now that could be a mistake in formatting or just found in the Advanced Review Copy but it could be intentional. It might be a way of forcing the reader to pay attention to the transitions through time and William and Andrian’s individual accounts. It tells us that even though they have different experiences and separate beliefs and perspectives, they are essentially the same soul living the same story. Each man is just taking half of it.

This is a book that captures both the real and the abstract. Ordinary lives intersect with esoteric discussions about what connections might mean in the deuteragonist’s lives, what their lives mean, or what anyone's life means for that matter.

Mostly these facets are found in William and Andrian who represent the split between the physical and the metaphysical, the material and the spirit, the body and the mind, what we can see and experience with our five senses, and what we think and believe with our extra senses. William represents one side and Andrian represents the other.

William’s life from his birth in 1893 Belgium to his death is one of poverty, abandonment, and desperate financial need.His mother abandoned him and his father lost himself to alcohol and self pity. 

William was raised with a brother who resorted to theft to earn a living and a sister who was the closest thing to a mother figure that he ever had. This exposure to loss and poverty propelled him to pursue financial earthly gain at any cost.

Andrian was also shaped by his upbringing but to follow a different path. His parents were baffled by his genius intellect, vivid dreams, and questions about Biblical characters and teachings that challenged their Christian faith. He isn't isolated by circumstances around him but more by people who don't know what to do with this brilliant but baffling child. 

His primary source of encouragement is from his uncle who follows the boy's education and career development for his own personal avaricious interests. This exposure to intellectual curiosity and human weakness propels him to pursue scientific knowledge and clear answers at any cost.

Their chosen professional lives are also indicative of their life paths. William's work in farming, meat preparation, and the restaurant business are about keeping people fed, providing sustenance, and attending to people's basic needs. It's the type of professional life for someone whose focus is on the things of the physical world that can be seen, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted.

 Andrian's work in physics and psychology are about studying the deep philosophical questions, providing knowledge and wisdom through learning and research, finding out why people live the lives that they did, what dreams they had, and what messaged the higher consciousness is sending. It's the type of professional life for someone whose focus is on the mental and spiritual worlds that can be learned, studied, experienced, thought, and believed.

Both men have circles of friends, lovers, siblings, and others who are drawn by their character. William’s wife and friends are drawn to his strength, determination, and earthiness. Andrian's friends and wife are drawn by his acceptance and intuitive intelligence. 

If they ever met, William would probably see a stuffy egghead that he wouldn't understand half the things that he was saying but would appreciate his understanding and the long interesting talks they would have. Andrian would probably see a blunt instrument who operates on emotion but would be touched by his devotion to those around him.

They don't meet in life or death nor do they know about each other but their lives connect in various ways. They share similar problems like conflicts with an older sibling and betrayal from an older mentor or parental figure. They marry similar women who are supportive but aren't afraid to disagree with or call them out. Deaths of loved ones cause them to spiral into Depression for a time. 

They also share much deeper connections that aren't shared in the mortal world but through the metaphysical. Andrian has dreams of various moments in William's life that could be past life regression or evidence of reincarnation. However, what muddies this interpretation is that William has flash forward dreams and thoughts of Andrian! 

Even though William was mostly a practical man of the physical world, higher curious thoughts entered his head. As Andrian experienced many similar earthly experiences of family, friends, and work William experienced some of Andrian's intellectual curiosity and academic research. His dreams of Andrian confuse him and he questions his life path and higher consciousness. 

Since William lacks the education and scholastic research, they are mostly stagnant thoughts pushed aside for reality. Towards the end of his life, William wonders if someone will have the answers. Little did he know but might have imagined that someone would be born on his death day.

There is an interesting theory that Andrian poses towards the end about what this connection means. In the book's universe anyway, it seems to be the right one but up to a point which sends the book spiraling to another direction. It pushes the book’s themes of interconnectivity and the split between mind and body to a higher level. 

Most of the book suggests that we are made by memories, dreams, time, social circles, choices, education, and experiences. This theory suggests that our paths are not made by us but by a greater design and higher power. It is disconcerting for this theme to be thrown in the last couple of chapters without time to dwell on it further into the novel. Though it is suggested that's why William and Andrian's lives are so parallel in some ways and so divided in others.

However, it is left open ended whether this theory is correct even within the narrative. Like many great philosophical novels, Illusion of Time invites the readers to inquire, discover their own views, provide their own answers, and ask questions about their own lives. We ask who made us the people that we are, some outside force or ourselves? 

Tom Ryan's Shoes Legend of The Banshee Castle by T.A. Keenan, Sketch by Ros Hill, and Whispers of Blue Ridge by Nina Purtee

 

Tom Ryan's Shoes: Legend of The Banshee's Castle by T.A. Keenan

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

T.A. Keenan’s Tom Ryan's Shoes: Legend of The Banshee Castle is a gentle slice of life, a dramatic account of life at the beginning of the Irish Potato Famine, and an engaging folktale involving witches, curses, and finding true love. Most importantly, it is a masterful example of storytelling by Keenan writing the book the way someone would verbally relate their family history.

In 1933, brother and sister, Tommy and Molly find a steamer trunk full of papers that belonged to their mother, Lizzie. Most of them consist of Lizzie's handwritten accounts of their family history, stories that she told her children out loud. Molly’s thoughts wander to a specific story that Lizzie told in 1897.

Lizzie's story focuses on her father, Tommy and Molly's grandfather, Tom Ryan in 1846 during the Potato Famine. After being rejected by his girlfriend’s parents, Tom goes to work on his family farm, mostly walking the family pig to market. Along the way, he is accompanied by his cousin, Frank. During this day, the cousins encounter various people and situations. 

The most fascinating person that the Ryan Cousins meet is the Bean Feasa or the Hag, a woman of knowledge, witch, healer, and midwife who crosses their path many times. As they are going about their business, she is going about hers blessing or cursing various people and requesting that they leave specific offerings as a reward, bribe, or a peace offering.

The story of the Ryan Cousins and the Bean Feasa conveys various situations that run the gamut from commonplace, humorous, romantic, tragic, disturbing, eerie, bizarre, uncanny, and magical. Keenan weaves the ordinary and mundane with the ethereal and otherworldly rather well. He depicts the voice of Ireland in a specific point and time by interacting the natural physical world with the unseen and invisible world.

Keenan captures the Irish milieu well by making each character unique. We see the peaceful farmlands, rolling hills, the recognizable accents and colloquialisms. Above all, there are the quirky characters.

 There is a crotchety taciturn neighbor who makes his opinions about everything known. A couple carry on an extramarital affair under the clueless husband's nose.There is a snobbish nun who can't believe that she is stuck in this backwater area. She is from France for crying out loud! Trouble making twins plan bullying shenanigans for the lulz.There is a lot of humor and charm in these looks at everyday life.

However this is not a book about fluffy nostalgia with only a postcard look at rural Ireland. All of the charm and humor is used as a front for the darker edges that appear because of the trying times of English oppression, crippling famine, and religious dominance. Sometimes the humorous moments are intertwined with the tragic. 

Tom and Frank see the various struggles that their friends, neighbors, and others are going through. Many characters are facing unemployment, starvation, and are considering leaving Ireland forever. While alcoholism is prevalent throughout, the historical context suggests that it is used for people to sedate their troubles away when they can't move up, out, or forward.

 There is an ongoing English presence of upper class land owners who look down on the locals with disdain and ownership that they can do whatever they want to these people and face no repercussions (at least until 1916 but that's another story entirely).

The cousins see lads and lasses kept from each other by income, religion, or their own personalities perhaps in desperate attempts to either move up a social status that doesn't include hunger and poverty or to hold onto a family legacy and culture before it's forced into extinction.

 A Magdalene Laundry is an important scene as we encounter young unwed isolated expectant mothers. A pharmacist sells abortifacients and other medicines on the side for those who don't want to bring children into such an uncertain world. A single mother is resorted to begging for food with her children. 

By far one of the most heartbreaking moments occurs when Tom and Frank see the bodies of an elderly couple floating down the river. It is implied that they committed suicide. Besides this image, the most disturbing aspect is the indifference displayed from Tom, Frank, and everyone else.

 Aside from the usual duties that come with fishing the corpses and planning for the burial, there's no grief, no mourning, no investigation. Just talk about whether the burial will be a church burial. It's a weariness that accepts that things are bad and are only going to get worse. 

Thankfully the darkness is only a part of the story and is tempered by the quirky charm mentioned earlier and the fantastic aspects. There is talk about ghosts and spirits in the atmosphere. A little man appears in various pages and dispenses uncanny advice and might be a leprechaun. A beautiful woman is compared to a leannain sidhe, a beautiful fairy that takes a human lover. There are references to a castle that might be haunted by the banshee, the wailing female spirits that predict the death.

By far the most enchanting character of the story is the Bean Feasa. She is able to see what people are really worth, recognizing their virtues and vices by sight and a few words of dialogue. She knows secrets that many hypocritical authority figures hide and calls them out on their promiscuity, crimes, corruption, and abuse of power. 

She acts as the words of vengeance, perhaps the voice of a people who have had enough. She curses them then offers to remove them in exchange for food and other items. She uses her own fierce reputation as leverage.

However, the Bean Feasa is not unkind. She also rewards good behavior and foreseeable fortune such as when she tells Tom that he will find true love. As before, she does this in exchange for food and other goods. While they probably are for her (even witches have to eat after all), we learn that there are more heartwarming reasons. They reveal that this stern, baffling, eccentric crone is probably the most moral ethical character in the entire cast and the real heart of the book.

This book uses the power of Lizzie’s storytelling to ensure that these people, their real world, their legends, their world will never be gone. Not as long as there is another generation to hear and read it.

Sketch by Ros Hill

This is a summary. The whole review is on LitPick.

Sketch is on the surface a witty meta fictional satire about superheroes and the comic industry but underneath it is a deep nuanced clever work about creativity, free will, and finding one's own purpose and agency.

In 1967, Charles, an illustrator, while on a trip to Egypt received a bottle of magic ink. Heba, the mysterious seller, suggests that with all of the problems in the world, he should draw a superhero. He does and creates Sketch who comes to life and is given powers through Charles' drawings. However, where there are superheroes, there are always supervillains and Sketch is no exception. His archenemy is the Finger Gunman who knows about the ink and wants to use it for his own destructive means. This rivalry ends in grief and tragedy.

40 years later Sketch finds Sid, a young man with a connection to all of the goings on from the past and needs him to confront his former enemy once more for their final battle.

There is some brilliant commentary about superheroes and comic book culture such as Sketch and The Finger Gunman playing their expected roles to the hilt particularly the end when The Finger Gunman has Sketch and Sid captive in his lair and monologues because of course.

Despite the humorous references, there are some interesting questions raised about the creative process, maturity, and choosing one's path.

In their first few minutes of creation, Sketch and The Finger Gunman only possess the knowledge their creators gave them. They know names and goals but don't have the ability to understand why or how to act towards them. In both cases, they have to make the choice to be a hero or a villain.

This shows that a creator, or a parent, gives the tools but they have to decide what to do for them. Charles may have drawn and wrote Sketch's powers, but he had to choose to use them and take the path of a hero. The Finger Gunman was created for the same purpose, but he chose the alternative. 

Whispers of Blue Ridge by Nina Purtee 

This is a summary. The whole review is on Reader's Views 

Nina Purtee’s novel Whispers of Blue Ridge has a beautiful rural Southern small town setting. It has a charming romance between a couple that goes from meet cute and flirtation, to making love, to making long term plans, to potential soulmates. It's a nice trajectory but underneath all of the light surface sweetness, there is a dark undercurrent of actions that are results of secrets, affairs, the failures of maintaining perfection, and death.

Vintner Savannah Gray runs Graystone Winery in Blue Ridge, Georgia after the deaths of her parents and grandmother. The upcoming wine tasting festival is an important event and coincides with the arrival of rodeo champion Jake Rollins who is looking for sponsorship from Graystone. Jake’s arrival opens family rivalries and long buried secrets that resulted in a serious car accident that took lives and left many physically and emotionally destroyed. The memories force Jake, Savannah, and other characters to come to terms with the revelations that could change their lives forever.

Jake and Savannah are a fairly decent couple. Savannah struggles to hold onto her family business and care for her aging grandfather. She also has her own personal goals that put her in conflict with her family responsibilities. She is torn between her loyalty to her family and pursuing her own happiness. 

Jake fits the rugged outdoorsy cowboy and love interest without much depth beyond that type of character. He doesn't come into his own until he reveals that he was involved in the accident that left him scarred, traumatized, and amnesiac.

The accident forces the characters to come to terms with the difference between the reality and the image that they tried to convey. The setting of Blue Ridge is one of those idyllic small towns that live off of maintaining an image of beauty and perfection. . It is a small town where status quo must be maintained at all costs and serious issues are brushed aside unless forced to face them.

When the true events that led to the accident and the subsequent aftermath are revealed, the characters have to weigh the consequences of earlier lies and secrets. Jake, Savannah, and the others have to confront the truth of what happened and how the subsequent years of artifice, pretense, and maintaining a perfect idyllic facade contributed to this catastrophe. 

King of My Scars by Abby North; Whoever Romances in Vegas Stays in Vegas

 

King of My Scars by Abby North; Whoever Romances in Vegas Stays in Vegas

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Abby North’s Suspenseful Romance novel, King of My Scars, can be a bit paint by numbers in terms of romance but it doesn't shy away from darker and more disturbing topics like domestic abuse, battered person syndrome, stalking, and self-esteem issues.

Ariana has fled her abusive husband, Aaron. She leaves their swank Los Angeles home for Las Vegas hoping to move on. She is rescued in a tight spot by Denham King, hotelier, who moves her to one of his penthouse suites. He's handsome, charming, helpful, and kind but Ariana is reluctant to pursue a romance with him. She has had two previous bad relationships and isn't sure she is ready for #3. Then again the third time could be the charm.

Ariana is a strong yet vulnerable lead character. North expertly details how her trauma affected many of her actions in the present. Her trauma is realistically described and depicted and despite being put into a new romance. It doesn't shy away from her fear and reluctance to embark on another serious relationship.

That she has had two abusive relationships is a very understandable detail. She fled her first boyfriend Jonny who stalked her so much that she moved cross country and changed her name. When she encountered Aaron, she was susceptible to the love bombing, the manipulation, the controlling masquerading as caring, and the sharp criticisms coming from her latest lover.

While one would expect Ariana to recognize the signs and flee immediately from the scene, that isn't always the case. She was so determined to believe that her prior relationship was a one-time thing that she justified the abuse until it was too late. There is also a part of her that believed that she deserved the abuse that she was given. 

She emerged as someone with low self-esteem, PTSD, and battered person syndrome. She may have been able to physically leave the situation but mentally and emotionally, she's still there.

This perspective helps to understand the context of her struggles so they make sense. She is in danger a few times and is rescued by Denham. While it can be cringy and some would say dated, in this specific situation it works. She has extreme PTSD from both of her bad relationships so of course she would be on edge and feel helpless. These situations probably aren't helping either.

Ariana is naturally cynical and mistrusts Denham. Even though he's handsome, wealthy, charming, and empathetic, she is still living in the mindset of reluctance and caution that were her survival instincts during her previous relationships. After all, if Aaron was able to play the part of a nice guy before revealing his true colors, who’s to say that Denham isn't doing the same?

I don't know if North intended this but there are times when the Reader doubts Denham 's sincerity. There are a few red flags like when he uses his vast wealth to solve problems, hides information from Ariana, or veers towards arrogance. While Denham is written as a better alternative to Ariana's exes, he could become yet another abuser in her life and Ariana might have fallen into familiar and toxic territory. 

Perhaps these are traits that make Denham a multi-layered flawed character, but it could also be a commentary that Ariana’s suspicions are not entirely wrong. At least, Denham is aware of those traits and works on them so Ariana doesn't end up with more of the same.

The Las Vegas setting is also a subtle play on the book's themes of relationships. It is a city of glitz and spectacle where one can't always tell fantasy from reality at first. Someone is drawn to a casino for the atmosphere and the opportunity to win easy money. A few hours later they give away their life savings and have to go to Gambler's Anonymous. 

Ariana’s exes and Denham are like that, good looking, flashy, charming, charismatic and appear like nice guys to her. She is drawn in by the fantasy and then is left battered by the reality of her ex's abusive natures. 

What sets Denham apart from them, is that he is able to transcend the initial illusion that often comes with first meeting someone who creates instant attraction. He is able to show through his actions that he is a good man and has the patience to wait for Ariana to recognize that. 

He is the reality of love that lives within the Vegas illusions and helps Ariana to live in that reality as well. 

And Then They Fell in Rome by C.L. Rosario; Magical Realism Novel About Love, Coincidence, Fate, and The Power of a Great Bromance

 And Then They Fell in Rome by C.L. Rosario; Magical Realism Novel About Love, Coincidence, Fate, and The Power of a Great Bromance

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: C.L. Rosario's novel And Then They Fell in Rome, is a powerful Magical Realism Contemporary Fantasy book that says a lot about love, romance, fate, coincidence, synchronicity, and maturity. Mostly it's a book about the importance of friendship between men. A novel that is largely concerned about romance is told primarily from the points of view of a group of male friends, a circular bromance if you will.

A group of friends called the Troubadours meet up in 2021. They are Freddy Bustamante, Juan Fernandez, Charlie Costa, Brian Verdugo, and Jan Luis Larose and are reuniting for the first time since their Senior year in college three years prior. In the middle of their drinks, laughter, and reminisces, a woman appears. She is called “La Bruja” (“The Witch”) or “The Stranger.” She says that she had been following them for some time, entered the minds, and took the forms of people that they met. 

La Bruja has a challenge for the guys. One of them, Jan Luis, was “compromised on a cosmic level” and is in danger of dying young. The only cure is love. The other Troubadours need to help him find love. To make things even more complicated, La Bruja removes the memories of their conversation from The Troubadours’s minds. So they know that they have to help Jan Luis but not how or why.

The book is rich with moments of magical realism with more emphasis on the realism than the magic with the exception of the appearance of La Bruja who comes straight from the latter. Her presence is reminiscent of Latin American novels that fit the magical realism subgenre. She is a mythical and legendary creature in a real world setting. The guys are talking about everyday things in a commonplace setting then BAM, she appears and moves things in a different direction. 

Most of the book focuses on situations that can be magical, mundane, coincidental, or from a more cynical perspective contrived. When the characters, except Jan Luis, go to Rome, a series of serendipitous moments lead them to the right people at the right time. After one relationship is threatened, one of the Troubadours encounters another woman who is connected to his previous lover.

Conversations and encounters are told through multiple perspectives so we don't realize that characters are supposed to meet and fall in love until it happens. Going down the right street, visiting the right cafe, and looking up at the right time leads to a meeting with the love of a lifetime. Even Jan Luis’s later trip to Rome seems to be fated to occur at that specific moment in time.

Similar to works like One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, La Bruja 's presence is tied to the real world conflicts concerning the characters. However the two books merge magic with politics, war, colonization, authoritarianism, and other global issues. 

The focus of And Then They Fell in Rome is exclusively on personal friendships, romantic attachments, and the interactions between men and women. Romance in and of itself can be considered magical with people looking and acting like the best versions of themselves to attract and enchant someone else. Sexual and emotional attachments are often described in fantastic ways (“She enchanted me.” “He's so charming.” “I am drawn to your presence.”) 

Even the ideas of creating lasting relationships, finding compatibility, and finding that perfect partnership are actions that often resist being analyzed and quantified because there are always exceptions, variables, emotional experiences and situations leading to other potential outcomes. So this book just injects literal potential magic where figurative magic already existed to give a slight nudge to the characters.

Speaking of characters, this book has some well written multifaceted characters. While La Bruja is my personal favorite, the Troubadours and their love interests convey richness and complexity.

The Troubadours are a group that doesn't play on conventional male stereotypes when guys get together. They aren't looking to drink, party, have wild and crazy adventures, and score as many hot willing babes as possible. They are ready to enter the next stages of their lives, as professionals, committed boyfriends, potential husbands, and maybe someday fathers. They aren't looking for one night stands. They are looking for a lifetime.

The complexities of modern relationships are shown through the Troubadours’s romantic experiences as they look for their potential partners. Juan goes through three separate romances before he realizes that he let his jealous assumptions interfere with what could have been a great relationship. One woman leads him to face his regrets so he can change his future. 

Cinephile Brian keeps comparing his love life to favorite films and hopes to find the leading lady in his life. He is faced with the reality that real people don't act according to a script. They need to be recognized for their frailties, flaws, and insecurities, not his fantasy projections of them.

Former frat boy Freddy is caught between two women: Maddy who represents his lost wayward wild youth and Katelyn who offers a chance at adulthood, maturity, realization, and authenticity. He also has a previous close association with La Bruja and is the only one who remembers her conversation with them and sees the truth that no one else does. 

Charlie is tempted to cheat on his girlfriend with unexpected results. This encounter forces him to confront his own thoughts about fidelity, desires, commitment, and adulthood.

 What about Jan Luis, the central focus of these romantic journeys? His past of an unhappy childhood with separated parents and a previous break up of his own have made him reluctant to seek or accept love. He is in danger of closing himself off emotionally and achieving fulfillment only in dreams and fantasies.

The love interest characters are just as brilliantly written. These are characters with their own stories, identities, and agencies. They aren't there solely to fulfill the Troubadours’s romantic desires but are meant to stand toe to toe in equal footing with them. The relationships happen because the characters work on improving themselves as individuals before they become coupled. 

While the romance and magical realism are important aspects of the story, by far the central relationship is not between the Troubadours and their significant others. It is among the Troubadours themselves.

These are five friends, who are brothers in heart and spirit. The conflict of helping Jan Luis find love becomes a catalyst that leads to their own conflicts and questions. They would be unable to evolve without each other. It's easy to recognize that these men deserve romantic love when we see that they are capable of maintaining a filial love. They are there for each other through university, work, romance, and marriage. Chances are their future kids will have not only loving fathers but four honorary uncles that will protect them with their lives.

It's also a kind of brotherly love that inspires change in each other. They aren't afraid to give one another advice or criticism to say exactly what they did wrong and how they can be better people. It is among the best bromances that I have read in recent novels. They aren't just there for each other in good times but bad as well.

And Then They Fell in Rome is a book that is magical, realistic, romantic, and bromantic.

We Spread by Iain Reid; Delicate Symbolic Open Ended Look at Old Age and Senior Care

 

We Spread by Iain Reid; Delicate Symbolic Open Ended Look at Old Age and Senior Care

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: This is the second book in a row, after Delusions of Madness by Kimberly K. Taylor, in which institutional care is an important focus. Delusions of Madness was a dark disturbing Historical Fiction about the institutional abuse found in a 19th century mental asylum and the stranglehold of the patriarchy that controls it.

We Spread by Iain Reid, the second book, focuses on Senior care in modern day. The setting and plot aren't the only things that are different about it. Where Delusions of Madness is more direct and honest about the mistreatment suffered by the patients, We Spread is more hidden, subtle, and delicate with how Senior care is portrayed. It is surrounded with potential metaphor, allegory, and open ended questions that are left for interpretation. 

Penny, a Surrealist painter, has just lost her partner who passed away. After an incident where she collapses, her landlord authorizes her commitment to a long term care residence which both he and the center’s staff insist was arranged by her partner. She doesn't recall such a conversation and is very reluctant to go. However the three other residents, Pete,Ruth, Hilbert, and the only two staff members, Jack and Shelly, seem very nice and she's well taken care of so maybe it will work out. 

That is before strange things start happening. She and other residents start to forget things that they always used to remember. There are moments of missing time where they may have slept for several hours or days due to medication. Some of the residents’ personalities are different. Objects keep appearing and disappearing. There are whispered conversations and warnings about the residence’s founder, Shelley whose behavior is utterly bizarre.  

Six Cedars seems like a pleasant setting that perhaps might be just a bit too pleasant. Penny's first description of the residence is a stone house surrounded by trees. It's big, old, plain, and the only sounds are songbirds and natural silence. The foyer is clean and immaculate with fresh roses, two leather chairs, and the sound of a violin coming from one of the rooms. 

Penny's room has a queen bed, a thick duvet, a recliner chair, lamp, dresser, desk, and a grand window facing the forest. There are common rooms, a hair salon, a dining room, and even though residents are not permitted to go outside alone, they can be accompanied plus every room has a scenic natural view. 

It's safe, comfortable, welcoming, clean, sterile with no clutter, dust, or personal items. It's the kind of place that relaxes one because they don't have to think about duties, responsibilities, stuff, mental clutter. 

Penny can get her needs met and everyday she sees new brushes, paint, and other supplies encouraging her process that appear as if by magic. Who wouldn't want to live in such a nice, comfortable, quiet place that allows you to create to your heart's content?

 Penny bonds with the other residents who have their own interests as much as Penny has with her art. Pete was a concert violinist and plays in his room. Ruth is a polyglot and often peppers her conversations with French phrases. Hilbert is a mathematician and often speaks in complex puzzles and equations. Each one has a special means of communication and self-expression and uses it to create a shared language of words, music, numbers, and pictures among them.

Though the staff is small, they are also memorable. Shelley is a beautiful woman who seems to genuinely want to give the residents the proper care that they need and allow their minds to flourish and grow. She also has an interest in biology so often speaks in terms of environment, plant cycles, and growth. Jack is probably the least developed of the main characters, but he alternates between being a helpful guide and a fountain of frantic exposition especially when the weird things start happening.

The sinister happenings don't occur until halfway through the book so the Readers fall into the same subtle complacency and detachment that Penny first does. Things are strange here but this place is too nice. Everything is so routine. You don't have to think about the strange things or the world outside. Everyone here will take care of you. Now lie down and relax. Oh you can't remember your partner's name whom you have been with for decades? Well perhaps that's a sign of dementia. We'll have a doctor look you over in the morning. Now take this drug, lie down, and sleep for a couple of days.

It works because it puts the residents in a stagnant comfortable routine. They can't and won't question anything because there doesn't seem to be anything to question. There's just a general unease when memories become fragmented, items are missing, and Penny can't recall details like whether or not she and her partner ever did talk about this place or their future end of life plans. When Penny starts questioning them, she can't get anyone to act in meaningful ways beyond talking. She isn't sure if she wants to either.

What is particularly compelling about this set up is because it is so subtle it remains uncertain if anything sinister really is happening. After all, absent mindedness and forgetting details are signs of dementia. The languid tired feelings could just be that their minds are becoming numb from routine and the appearing art supplies and other things could be gifts from Jack and Shelly to keep their minds active.

Even some of the stranger events like odd discoloration on one characters' skin, Jack's frantic late night warnings, and a crucial overheard conversation could just be nightmares or delusions from Penny since she is the only person who experiences them. 

A metaphor that is spread throughout is Penny's connection to art. She laments that when she was with her partner, some of her more complex Surrealist paintings were unfinished while he often flourished creatively. 

Since she has all the time in the world in Six Cedars, she can finally work on them. But she is always finding something incorrect, flawed, or wrong with them so she has to start all over again. It's almost like she doesn't want to finish them.

This conflict could be symbolic of her feelings towards Six Cedars. She is curious but uncertain. She thinks that her life might be in danger or she's paranoid and imagining it. She wants to find out but doesn't want to. Because finishing the painting is like finishing a story. If she asks questions and gets answers that she doesn't want to hear, then her story is finished. She is moving closer to the edge of her life and while she sees the view, she is afraid of jumping off. Her life is in her art and now her art and life are here in Six Cedars. Is she really ready to put her signature on the painting and read the final end page?

Tracey's Calling by Rob Santana; The Mantis Continuum (The Mantis Gland Series Book 4) by Adam Andrews Johnson and Where The Wave Broke by Robert Rooks, The Travel Man

Tracey's Calling by Rob Santana, The Mantis Continuum (The Mantis Gland Series Book 4) by Adam Andrews Johnson and Where The Wave Broke by Robert Rooks, The Travel Man 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Tracey's Calling by Rob Santana 

Tracey's Calling by Rob Santana is a tense psychological suspense short novel about trauma and its chilling aftermath on two people, the victim and the perpetrator.

Tracey is left traumatized after being sexually assaulted by Phil, a married husband and father. She is angry and filled with vengeance but she doesn't want to just have him arrested or kill him. She has a more long-term goal. She manipulates her way into his home, befriends his wife, Patsy and daughter, Joy, and blackmails Phil into financially providing her escape from her abusive family.

This book is essentially a two-person story between Phil and Tracey, the abuser and his sexual victim, the blackmailer and her financial victim. They both have plenty of depth and layers in their one-on-one combat.

 Tracey is very methodical in planning and executing her revenge. She decides to become a haunting presence in Phil’s life instead of taking the easy way out and killing him. It's a way of disarming Phil and leaving him as vulnerable and uncertain as he was. She may have been physically underneath him then but she is figuratively on top of him now.

Phil is also an interesting albeit antagonistic character. His memories of that night are filled with the graphic violence that he inflicted and his weak attempts at justifying it. He is not understandable at all here.

However, there are points where the safety of his family is compromised and the Reader's thoughts shift to Patsy and Joy's welfare and how Phil will be affected by their losses. It allows Readers to understand and even be concerned about the husband and father without defending or condoning the violent actions that he did.

Also, Patsy and Joy’s subplots are handled well. Patsy sometimes acts as the comic relief by rehearsing weather girl monologues and being preoccupied with an upcoming job interview at a news TV station. However, she also shows awareness with Tracey’s presence and the circumstances of her arrival by going from empathy, to suspicion towards her, then distrust towards Phil.

Joy is an effective foil to Tracey. She was a sheltered girl thrown into violent catastrophic circumstances which Tracey knew about practically since birth. She acts like a spoiled brat at times, but is also a very realistic teenager with emotions, hormones, and irritation at everyone else around her. She follows Tracey into some dangerous circumstances without thinking of the consequences.

This is a cold calculated tale of revenge in which much is lost and there are very few victors.

 

The Mantis Continuum (The Mantis Gland Series Book 4) by Adam Andrews Johnson 

No matter how an ongoing book series, not every volume is going to be a winner. The first three books of Adam Andrews Johnson’s The Mantis Gland Series told a captivating series about a world where some people called Shifts have mutations because of a gland called the Mantis Gland. These people develop extraordinary abilities like flight, telekinesis, elemental control, super strength, impervious skin, or remote viewing.

 The Shifts are targeted by the Messiahs, a religious cult that has a great deal of power and influence. They perform ritualistic murder on the Shifts so they can swallow and absorb the glands. In each volume, the Shifts gather together in Teshon City where they form a resistance aided by a Demifae,a person who studies magic, called The Mystic and others who fight against the Messiah’s influence. The first three volumes tell a streamlined story and introduce new characters with the goal of bringing them together. They have a definite beginning, middle, and end. 

The fourth volume in The Mantis Gland Series, The Mantis Continuum is by far the weakest book in the series. It has some interesting passages of character development that push some forward into new relationships, abilities, positions, and self-awareness. However, there are too many characters and subplots to tell a comprehensible or compelling story. It’s a case of doing way too much at once.

Some of the new characters and subplots aren’t bad. After the murder of their mother, twins Thech and Jzuna flee to Teshon City with an entertainer named Bivon. A trio, Kosephaji, Relliduna, and Pelipi have to escape via boat after Relliduna becomes seriously injured. Meanwhile a group of former Messiahs whose bodies have completely altered into monstrosities by consuming too many Mantis Glands are heading straight for Teshon and they are hungry.

When the book slows down, it captures some pretty decent moments. Thech and Jzuna have a loving sibling relationship. The sweet but dim Thech is the more physical one while the bright eloquent Jzuna provides the brainpower. Jzuna is a maternal influence on her brother’s life while Thecha brings out her more empathetic side. 

Another winning relationship is that of Kosephjai and Relliduna. As their lives are in danger, they evolve from best friends to lovers. With the constant threats to their lives and feeling out of focus because of the suspicion towards Shifts, there are very few people that they and Pelipi can rely on. These stressful situations bring out their most vulnerable emotions, cause them to evaluate their feelings towards each other, and move their relationship forward. 

The problems occur when the action moves to Teshon City where the new characters meet the old ones. There are way too many characters to focus on and it’s hard to remember who is whom, what their significance is, which book they debuted in, or even their powers. 

If you notice in my previous paragraphs, I mentioned some of the character developments that I liked but not their powers, it's because I don't remember them. There wasn't anything that made their abilities stand out or differentiate from the older characters.

There are times when the chapters read like one giant roll call by showing brief scenes of characters in their current setting but don’t do anything important with them. It was almost like Johnson said, “See this character? Yeah they are still alive. Move along.” With that many introductions or reintroductions, it takes a long time for them to actually do anything.

Even an interesting plot point that was introduced in the previous book of Messiahs whose bodies have become distorted by their addictive consumption of the Mantis Gland, isn't as compelling as it was in the previous book. They leave a creepy disturbing presence, enter Teshon City with unending appetites, kill a few Shifts, and anticlimactically meet their end. They were much more intimidating as a cult.

Perhaps Johnson should have ended the series at Book Three or, as much as I like the new characters, just developed the original ones instead of inserting new ones. This book shows that there is a time to write and build on a new series but there is also a time that it should end. There is a fifth book, The Mantis Synchronicity. Here's hoping that it's better.

Where The Wave Broke by Robert Rooks, The Travel Man 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Where The Wave Broke by Robert Rooks is a short novel about a touring music group that is long on atmosphere but not on plot or thankfully music group cliches.

Two years after they break up, the band Borrowed Light has re-formed to go on a tour of several European cities. Drummer Giada, bassist Julian, and the guitarist Narrator endure long days going from one place to another, long nights of performing, playing at various clubs, and facing fans, owners, executives, on and on.

Let's explain what this book doesn't have. No love triangles though they had some romantic entanglements in the past. No drug addiction fights or onstage meltdowns. No slow climb to success followed by a rapid fall thanks to personnel disputes and the soulless music industry. No internal conflict between the member who is full of themselves and the others. Not much of the usual music tropes, which actually makes this a great short novel.

The biggest strength in the book is the atmosphere. The opening describes the trio’s travels as “The map matters only because sound behaves differently from where you stand. Amsterdam’s wood, Paris’ velvet, Brussels’ take, Montreux’s morning light, Valencia’s warm air, Stockholm’s clean edge, those spaces shaped our tempos more than adrenaline ever could.” 

The book is a constant stream of wearying movement, travel, faces running together, frustration with last minute changes and bookings, the exhilaration of a performing high, and the languid exhaustion afterwards. 

The clubs are filled with smoky air, tight compacted space, argumentative organizers and club owners, and customers either enraptured by the music or bored with life. Only faces and names change. The music draws the band, their listeners, and club employees for one moment before it ends and they trudge along to their separate lives.

The tone explains perfectly why this book doesn’t go into the usual tropes and cliches about music groups, It tells the truth about that kind of life. Julian, Giada, and The Narrator don’t fall into those typical hijinks because realistically they don’t have time to. They travel to different places, check into hotels, inspect the clubs, negotiate with owners and executives, put up their instruments, sound check, play a few sets, close, thank everybody, pack up, maybe have a few drinks or talk to customers, stagger off to bed, sleep, wake up the next day, check out, and then go on to the next city. 

Any conflicts that occur between them is not because of rock star ego. It’s because they are tired and snippy from constant travel and are getting on one another’s nerves, 

There is a simplicity within these characters and how they accept the music and travel lifestyle as just a part of their lives. They leave complicated love lives, conflicts with family members, and their own insecurities and self-esteem issues behind to play. Also their personalities mesh well with Giada’s no nonsense leadership and organization skills, Julian’s flash and outgoing personality, and The Narrator’s rationality and poetic observation. 

The band gives them a chance to use their musical talents and personality traits to good use by contributing to their chosen art, openly and honestly expressing their emotions, seeing different places and meeting different people, and despite the hardships having a good time, and making exciting memories to look back on.

In fact their tour isn’t really seen as a means to become discovered and sign on with a bigtime record company. It’s just something that they get to do once in a while as friends and musicians and then return to normal life afterwards. . 

Recovering Maurice by Martin Zelder; Intellectual and Introspective Academic Journey

 Recovering Maurice by Martin Zelder; Intellectual and Introspective Academic Journey

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Recovering Maurice by Martin Zelder is a novel about an academic’s journey of self-discovery that is both intellectual and introspective.

Maurice Obster (pronounced with the long “O” he insists), is a 60 year old economics professor who is contemplating his comfortable life, nice home, and relationship with his wife, Lucia. However, a chance meeting on a plane changed his outlook. A passenger is reading a book called Trauma and Recovery. This meeting illustrates the maxim of “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear” because this quick encounter causes Maurice to think about the traumas that occurred throughout his life.

Maurice largely reflects on his older brother Emil who had hydrocephalus. His parents often paid more attention to Emil than Maurice leaving the boy to parent himself. 

This results in a boy who learned independence but anxiety. Self-reliance but self-consciousness. Quiet in nature but longing for attention. Supporting his brother but jealous of him being the primary focus. 

In one key moment, Maurice auditions to be a guest on the Bozo show but isn't able to make it out of the studio audience and get on stage. This moment says something that throughout his life Maurice often comes close to happiness but never quite hits the landing.

This self-consciousness, anxiety, restlessness, and constant searching become consistent through Maurice's life. He accepts various positions but has trouble remaining in them. Sometimes he has issues with colleagues, sometimes the students, and sometimes with the faculty. He has immense knowledge in the subject of economics but not the ability to establish roots and let that knowledge grow in a stationary place.

He also has some relationship issues that end early until he finds a stabilizing influence with Lucia. Lucia becomes a catalyst for Maurice to settle down and find some permanence in his life. He is able to find the familial, personal, and professional success that has eluded him for so long.

Maurice's successful life becomes halted when his parents and Emil go through separate health crises. He is then forced to confront his childhood in which he was neglected and cast aside and assume the role of caregiver and primary focus. 

Maurice's chapters with Emil reveal the depth of Maurice's care for him and also the deep seated regret of being away for so long. It's a relationship where words were never said and instead of saying them Maurice went away. Now the two brothers are surrounded by a silence that needed time and each other to fill it. 

Gravity Flow The Jimmy Whistler Stories by EM Schorb, Walk With Me One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H Lee, Penthesilea Rise of An Amazon by Stephanie Vanise, The Bluestockings A History of The First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson, Violeta by Nikki Roman

Gravity Flow: The Jimmy Whistler Stories by EM Schorb, Walk With Me: One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H Lee, Penthesilea: Rise of An Amazon by Stephanie Vanise, The Bluestockings: A History of The First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson, Violeta by Nikki Roman 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

These are summaries. The full reviews can be found on Reader Views or MockingOwl Roost 

Reader Views 

Gravity Flow: The Jimmy Whistler Stories by EM Schorb 

This is a seriocomic anthology of various moments in the life of Jimmy Whistler, a writer, in the 50's-60's.

The covers Jimmy's troubled childhood, his time working in a burlesque theater, military career, writing career, his friends, lovers, children, and other important experiences.

Characterization is this book's strongest asset. Jimmy's experiences are told by various vignettes that describe events in his life. He encounters many eccentric characters including a burlesque performer, a Beatnik poet, and different lovers.

The book is told through Jimmy's point of view so we see the world through his eyes. Most of the characters are broad, farcical, and bizarre. Jimmy's narrative voice is arrogant, impulsive, but always fascinating.

 

Walk With Me One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H. Lee

This is a powerful evocative novel about life, love, death, and learning to appreciate life.

Mark Rennie and Karen McKenzie are both dying. Instead of just waiting for the inevitable, they decide to spend 100 days traveling and enjoying themselves before the end.

The book is a descriptive travel guide of different experiences like dancing in Cuba, walking across the Great Wall of China, and swimming with sharks in Cancun. It is a scenic itinerary of exciting adventures and experiences.

It also captures how people face death in different ways. Some want to do everything medically possible to prolong their lives while others would rather face death on their own terms. There is no one way to face this conflict and all are valid.

Penthesilea: Rise of An Amazon by Stephanie Vanise 

This is a powerful and gripping Historical Fiction novel about a young Amazon, Penthesilea during the Trojan War.

She is third of four daughters of the Queen of Amazon. Penthesilea lives in the shadow of her other sisters and struggles to find her own identity in war.

Various characters and events from Greek Mythology appear including Hippolyta, Hercules, Paris, Helen of Troy, and Achilles. They are made more complex in this adaptation as Vanise captures their psyches and inner conflicts.

Penthesilea in particular is looking for recognition in a powerful war like family. She strives to empower herself and stand out. She strives to be one of a kind not one of hundreds.

MockingOwl Roost 

The Bluestockings: A History of The First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson 

This is a fascinating Historical Nonfiction account of the Bluestockings, a group of 18th century women who hosted salons, encouraged creative talents, and discussed politics, philosophy and other topics in which women were discouraged from discussing.

These women supported one another in their creative pursuits like writing and art. These were women whose voices might otherwise have not been heard. They also had unconventional lives where some married supportive men, had Lesbian relationships, or opted not to marry at all.

The Bluestockings did not last very long but they were an influence for many women like Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Elizabeth Gaskell who in turn inspired the various waves of Feminism. Women's History would have been very different without them.

Violeta by Nikki Roman 

This is a Gothic Literature novel that focuses on child abuse, trauma, and finding ones personal power and independence.

Violet Valentine is isolated by her mother who keeps her secluded from the outside world. Her only contact is with her brother, Tommy. The toxic situation explodes when their mother puts both children'a lives in danger.

Violeta involves the anxieties that are found in families particularly between parents and children and siblings. The Valentine Family engage in continuous conflict, emotional and psychological instability, and fragile dysfunction. 

The siblings are confined and battered by their mother’s volatile and abusive behavior so they can only rely on each other. They support each other to break from her, recognize their comfort, strength, and independence, and find sanctuary and a real home.