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Wordless |Wednesday – LinkUp

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My Ainsley reading before bed. It has always been our routine. But these days she surrounds herself with books and occasionally falls asleep the same way I do, book in hand, nodding off halfway through a chapter. Here, she is reading the timeless Dr. Seuss.
Wordless Wednesday is a linkup over at Tara’s View of the World.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney – Review and Blog Tour

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The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney is an interesting and flavourful mystery/ suspense story. At the outset of the novel a private investigator named Ray lay in hospital not sure why he is there. As the plot progresses, the story of his last investigation is slowly unveiled, as is the fact that he has been in a car crash and was apparently at one point also poisoned. Ray has been contacted by a father searching out his missing daughter, Rose Janko. But Rose has been missing for seven years and nobody has sought her until now. Why? And why after seven years is it suddenly necessary to locate her? All of the characters are gypsies (Romany), and the Janko family appears to be hiding some sort of secret. They may be cursed, some believe, evidenced by the fact that countless members of their family have been stricken by disease. This odd disease seems to occur only in the males. We soon learn Rose Wood, was married and had a son named Christo, afflicated by the disease. She is vilified by members of her husband’s family who wonder why anyone would wish to find a mother who apparently abandoned her son. The family she has left behind struggle with secrets, disability and poverty. They invest their time and resources chasing strange, unproven treatments in hopes they can save their youngest family member.

Penney is an interesting and unique writer. Her characters are not extremely likable but plot and setting sustain the Invisible Ones. I found this novel a difficult read at times. Ray, the main character, is engaging and three dimensional and even memorable, perhaps because he is himself wounded in several ways. Ray is also part Romany, a fact that has led to his hiring. The narration is split, alternating chapters are told by Ray and JJ, the young nephew of Ivo. JJ provides an interesting counterpart and a different insider’s view of the Janko clan. He is a somewhat naive narrator because of his young age, but it seems abundantly apparent from the start that JJ is himself, either withholding something vital to the investigation, or about to stumble onto a big clue. While I enjoyed these two characters and their opposing narratives, I found this to be stylistically jarring at times. There are few writers who can flawlessly juggle this alternating viewpoint style of narration. While I grew to expect the alternating chapters, and even understod why it was necessary in this story, I felt the chapter transitions might have benefitted from a minor massaging to make it flow better.

The setting of the story is very unusual and Penney scores points for that to be sure. The cultural elements are rich and believable. This is a world where some characters are full gypsy (Romany) and others only half. Intermarriage is frowned on and Rose, it turns out, was only a half Romany wife. There were many moments I felt it took far too long for the climax of the story to speed up the pace of the plot and create any urgency at all.

Penney is an interesting author, a bit mysterious herself. Born and raised in Scotland she was for a time agoraphobic. Her first novel The Tenderness of Wolves was an international bestseller. This is the first novel I have ever read by Penney.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, Viking Canada, January 2012, $30.00, 416 pages, Fiction

This one gets $$$ out of $$$$$. If you enjoy mysteries with strong and compelling cultural backgrounds you will enjoy this novel. I was not compensated for my review but receive a free copy of the book for review purposes.

Thanks to Bronwyn Kienapple, the author and Penguin Canada for asking me to be part of this blog tour.

The Virgin Cure – Review

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From the opening line “Mama sold me the summer I turned twelve,” Ami McKay’s latest novel The Virgin Cure will  hold your attention and keep you spellbound. Moth is a young girl of 12, part gypsy, living in dire poverty with her fortune-telling mother in 19th century Manhattan. She is endured by her mother and, from early on she is objectified and yet relatively unaware of her beauty. She is sold at 12 years old for a price she is never told and often fixates on, asking herself how much it took for a mother to sell her daughter. Moth becomes a maid in the home of a wealthy sadistic woman named Mrs. Wentworth. The mistress of the house beats her for the slightest infraction or inattention to detail and Nestor, an employee who befriends Moth eventually promises her there is a way out and he will help her find it. Unfortunately Moth is beaten terribly first and her beautiful hair hacked off, largely because the lady of the house maniacally worries her husband will return from business and lust after Moth.
Eventually Moth escapes this jail cell and sneaks home to where she once lived with her mother in the slums, only to find her mother is also gone. No home. No mother. No income and no family, she knows she is incredibly endangered in the slums. Her virginity, in the age of syphilis when infected men sought out virgins believing they could cure themselves by having sex with one, puts her even more at risk. When a charming young woman named Mae approaches Moth with the offer to live and be clothed and fed inside the home of a Madame, Moth makes a calculated choice. She becomes “an almost whore” or in other words a whore in training. She is cleaned up and groomed, in more ways than one, for a life serving men sexually. Moth is a naive child at the start of this novel, but the pace at which she is forced to grow up is extremely accelerated and almost unreal. Her character is somewhat complex because despite her age, she is quickly street savvy and smarter than most. She thinks her life as a near whore quite tolerable until faced with the reality of her debt to the madame that has essentially bought her service and virginity. Moth makes friends inside her new home and is mentored by a young whore named Rose. At times she is obviously still a child playing childish games like Tag and Hide N Seek and then she transforms into a bewitching and manipulative young mistress.  I couldn`t help reading this book with an eye to how great and rich this book would be if adapted also for the screen.
Historically The Virgin Cure is fascinating and disgusting and a really compelling read. It is every bit as well written as the Birth House. Interspersed with snippets of news and trivia from the time period, it is extremely creative. I often am jarred by books that intersperse fake news fictionalized inside the plot of a novel, but for some reason here in this context the snippets of news weren’t jarring to me. They were not necessarily rooted in realism but that seemed okay as it sort of supported the slightly gothic tone and the fabulous streak woven throughout. McKay writes fabulous female characters that are quite well rounded. Moth is such a great main character, really a unique girl child with a worldly side and, in the end although she is a whore, she is fantastically strong and fully takes charge of her own fate.  
There is, of course, an unexpected twist towards the end that is not quite heartbreaking, but tragic nonetheless. This time period is very rich and McKay, of Nova Scotia, is a lovely writer reminding me slightly of London`s Emma Donoghue, author of Slammerkin and The Room.The Virgin Cure is well researched. McKay is very thorough at painting a scene and a historical period with accuracy. Thematically there is a lot to chew on here. This is the first novel of 2012 for me and it will prove hard to top. My only tiny complaint is the narrative that jumps slightly in viewpoint when the good doctor, Sadie Fonda enters the scene.

The Virgin Cure, by Ami McKay, Knopf Canada, 356 pages, New York, 2011, Hardcover, $32.00.
This one gets a $$$$ 1/2 out of $$$$$. A must read.

I was not compensated for this review. I received the book free from the publisher and am a member of the on line monthly book chat hosted by the lovely Wanda @YMCBookalicious who posts on books over at The Yummy Mummy Club.  Go read her for more contests and book reviews.

Makeda

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(My Full review appears in New York Journal of Books)

Makeda combines so many themes and genres it is slightly hard to categorize. It is a sweeping saga starting at the point of the civil rights movement and tracing the roots of a common history through time and, even space. Makeda is also the highly personal inner journey of one man, Gray March. 

March is a conflicted young man when he comes to his grandmother’s parlour to enjoy her company, seeking refuge from his own life. He is alienated from his father and mother and, as we quickly learn, has brother has died under mysterious circumstances. The grandmother, the character of the title Makeda, is a blind woman who claims to have visions and recollects past lives and stories that resonate with Gray.
Makeda is a very matriarchal tale and the female characters here are admirable and strong, which is a rather unique thing to find in contemporary fiction. In fact, they are the heart and soul of the novel, despite the fact that the main character, Gray is a man. He is fashioned by the female influences in his life. Makeda has been blind since birth, but she dreams in color. She recollects several past lives through dream like states and, one of these dreams leads her grandson on a research expedition through Africa. Jeanne Burgess is the scholar and love interest that holds Gray’s past up as the stumbling block it is, and forces him to reveal and deal with his ghosts so that he can move forward.

Randall Robinson is an intellectual and a writer of note. He has numerous publications to his credit. He is the author of An Unbroken Agony and bestsellers, The Debt, The Reckoning, Quitting America and Defending The Spirit. This novel is well researched and intricate. It delivers a lot of historical fact. It is however at times too densely packed and might have been more aggressively pruned. Robinson’s prose is quite lovely in passages such as: “The month of March seems invariably to promise more than it delivers, teasing spring, frustrating hope’s impatience.” And yet there are moments that it is almost bogged down by the plot and excessive wordiness. While the main character Gray is accomplished and a scholar and the intellectual style of writing is not completely out of character, it is a barrier for readers. It is an intellectual affect – using four large words when one accurate one might do and make a work more accessible.

The reincarnation theme takes us through history and dabbles in magic realism. Robinson’s latest has earned some comparisons to the writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, but the latter author has more in common with Robinson stylistically and thematically.

While suspense is maintained through much of Makeda, the middle section lagged momentum. But the end of the story is more than worth the effort. The final few pages of Makeda are a breathtaking revelation, weighted with romance and lovely passionate prose.
Makeda by Randall Robinson, Akashic Books, Open Lens Imprint, 08/30/2011

ISBN 10: 1617750220, ISBN 13: 978-1-61775-022-9, 350 pages.
Thriftymommasbrainfood gives this one a $$$ 1/2 rating.

It’s Your Kid, Not a Gerbil #Giveaway

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I don’t often point out great giveaways here on brainfood, unless they are my great giveaways. But I am making an exception here because I love this author. So I wanted to share him with my readers. Especially if they have yet to hear of Dr. Kevin Leman. Dr. Leman writes smart parenting books. He has also written at least one children’s book about adoption of which I am a big fan. The author, and Tyndale Books, have a super giveaway contest on right now. You can even win an IPOD. Tyndale and the author are giving away he new book, It’s Your Kid, Not A Gerbil. You can visit the Tyndale Blog to enter where we’re giving away an iPod Touch, three Kevin Leman book prize packs, and 5 copies of It’s Your Kid, Not A Gerbil. Subtitle is Creating a Happier and Less Stressed Home. I think we can all benefit from that philosophy. Click on links below to enter. Don’t forget to say that thriftymommasbrainfood sent you. Good luck!

To enter, visit the contest page and fill out the entry form after completing at least one of the following actions (each action completed counts as an entry into the giveaway).