111. "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch

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Fitch, Janet. White Oleander. New York: Little Brown and Company, 1999.

390 pages

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

Twelve year old Astrid's mother killed a man and now Astrid is in foster care. For Astricd, foster care is the exact nightmare that every child pictures. Trauma follows trauma. That is essentially the story. As I read, I wondered if perhaps Janet Fitch sat down and asked herself: in how many ways can I torture a teenage girl? White Oleander was created as her resounding answer.

Fitch's writing is lyrical in some ways, redundant in others. At times, her prose took my breath away. At others I rolled my eyes after the eleventh simile on a single page. Her greatest strength in this novel was character development. The characters were rich, deep, and clearly individuals. Sometimes you read a book and the characters all kind of blend together. That didn't happen in White Oleander. Each character had a unique way being in the world as is represented by Astrid's "museum" at the end of the novel. The book is not so much a story with a conflict and resolution, but more of a character map. For me, this is interesting and kept my attention. Perhaps it is my background in psychology--the Velcro loop for Fitch's hook. If you don't enjoy a deep dive into the mind of a character, or prefer novels that are plot driven, this isn't the book for you.

Overall, it is a commendable work for a debut novel.

4 darts out of 5

110. "One for the Money" by Janet Evanovich

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Evanovich, Janet. One for the Money. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

320 pages

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

SYNOPSIS: 
After getting laid off, Stephanie Plum takes a job as a bounty hunter working for her cousin, Vinnie. Her $10,000 FTA (failure to appear) is Joe Morelli, a police officer accused of shooting and killing an unarmed man. Stephanie and Joe have a history dating back as early as grade school but bringing him in isn't easy. Stephanie finds herself in the cross-hairs of a sadist boxer who enjoys abusing women and gets in a little over her head her first day on the job.

WHAT I LIKED:
I liked that the crime solver (Stephanie) was something other than a police officer or forensic pathologist. I've read so many mystery series where this is the standard. It's rare to find someone outside these roles be the protagonist in a mystery series.

I liked that the characters were dynamic and interesting. Of particular interest to me were Stephanie, Ranger, and Grandma Mazur. I will also admit to liking the standard mystery novel format. I like the rhythm of the genre and figuring out whodunnit (which I did pretty easily with this novel).

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Why, why, why does the mystery genre always have to include a story line about a sadistic man who abuses and assaults women in almost every novel? In One for the Money, Benito Ramirez is that man. The man who dos unspeakable things to women. The archetype of the criminal misogynist. Why is this constantly the trope? There are so many interesting things a writer can do with a mystery, so many different crimes to choose from. One of the reasons I like the recently deceased Sue Grafton is that her stories are outside the box of constant mysteries about assault on women. She writes about arson and burglary and other crimes. It takes some true grit and creativity to pull off a story that doesn't center around a misogynist. I had hoped that Evanovich would rise to this challenge and she failed miserably.

That being said, I did still enjoy the book enough to be curious about the next book in the series.

RECOMMEND FOR:
Readers who like a standard mystery novel.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR:
Women sensitive to stories about sexual violence.

3 darts out of 5