90. "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay

DeRosnay, Tatiana. Sarah’s Key. New York: St Martin’s Griffin, 2007.

294 pages.

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

In Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay writes a fictional account of one of France’s most horrific moments in history. In July of 1942, more 13,000 Jews were arrested and taken to the Vélodrome d’Hiver, an indoor cycling arena. There they were housed in very poor conditions with very little food, water or sanitary facilities and then were shipped to concentration camps in Pithiviers and Beaue de la Roande, among others. Families were split apart and most of the babies and children were sent to camps separate from their families.

(The Velodrome d'Hiver. Image Source)

In Sarah’s Key, readers follow the story of Sarah, a young Jewish girl whose family was arrested in the Vel d’Hiv roundup. Rotating between 1940 and what I presume to be the 2000s, Tatiana de Rosnay introduces readers to Julia Jarmonde, a writer who is assigned the story of Vel d’Hiv at the magazine where she works. At the same time, Julia and her husband are working to renovate an apartment that has been in her husband’s family for a few generations. In doing her research, Julia discovers that a young girl named Sarah once lived in the apartment and the connection between Julia and Sarah’s stories becomes intricately bound.

There is simplicity in de Rosnay’s writing style that has lead some critics to give the book a fairly low rating. I don’t disagree with critics observations that the writing is simplistic and the relationships (particularly between Julia and her husband) are a bit forced. I gave this book five stars because Tatiana de Rosnay took a bold chance in writing this story.

France has a hard time with its World War II history. It is an incredibly touchy subject. I learned in my time living there for a short while in 2005, that it isn’t a subject you bring up without extreme caution and trepidation. As a result, in my experience (and also according to other sources), the French generally don’t talk about the Holocuast. It’s a very hush-hush subject. Tatiana de Rosnay is a French citizen who dared to break the silence about the more painful points of French history. Not only did she illustrate the horrors of Vel d’Hiv but she criticized the French for the silence on all things related to the Holocaust. This was brave. This is the kind of brave that leads writers to be forced to flee the country and seek asylum elsewhere. That’s why I gave this book five stars.

This book is FOR: people interested in the Holocaust or French history.

This book is NOT FOR: those who are sensitive to the subject of the Holocaust or who are expecting complex or artistic writing.

5 darts out of 5 

89. "A is for Alibi" by Sue Grafton

Grafton, Sue. A is for Alibi. New York: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1982.

308 pages.

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

A is for Alibi is the first book in the “alphabet series” of mystery novels written by Sue Grafton. The main character is Kinsey Milhone, a private detective living in Santa Teresa, a town that is a thinly veiled fictionalized Santa Barbara. Kinsey is approached by Nicki who has just finished her prison sentence for begin convicted of murdering her husband by poising him with oleander. Nicki wants her name cleared and hires Kinsey to do just that.

The pace of A is for Alibi was a bit plodding. Very little happened for quite a long time until the end when everything crashed together at once. While I can’t claim that this was a literary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, I liked Kinsey just enough to be curious about reading the next book. One of my favorite mystery writers is Tess Gerritsen. I especially like her “Rizzoli and Isles” series, but her first book in the series was pretty terrible. I feel like it might be the same case with Grafton’s series. The first book was underwhelming, but I’m willing to give the next a try.

The one thing I did love about the book was the way in which readers really got an up-close-and-personal picture of Kinsey’s day-to-day life. I admit to having some voyeuristic tendencies, nothing freaky or weird, but I have always been insatiably curious about how people move through life from one day to the next. I’m not necessarily interested in extremes or scandals but I find people’s regular choices fascinating. What does this person wear and why? When do they eat breakfast? How much sleep do they get? How much time do they spend doing X, Y, Z? This book satisfied that voyeuristic curiosity a bit by taking readers through the minutiae of Kinsey’s day. We get to know what she eats, what she wears, how often she sleeps, how she spends her free time, etc. This would drive some readers absolutely nuts but I really liked it…because I’m odd.

Overall, this book gets a two rating, but as I said before, I’d give a lot of first books in a series a two rating, so I still have a lot of hope for this series.

2 darts out of 5

This book is FOR: people who are ok with slow moving mysteries.

This book is NOT FOR: people looking for fast-paced, suspenseful reading.

88. "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

135 pages.

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

***TRIGGER WARNING**

This review may be a trigger for those who have PTSD or related disorders as a result of religious fanaticism/fundamentalism.

In the introduction of Act One of The Crucible, Arthur Miller writes, “When one rises above the individual villainy displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we shall be pitied someday. It is still impossible for man to organize his social life without repressions, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom” (7). This passage suggests that what happened in Salem during the witch trials is the enacting of an attitude that still crops up today. It’s the spark of panic that causes mass hysteria and paranoia. It’s the point at which we stop thinking for ourselves and just try to blend in to avoid persecution.

The Crucible is a dramatic depiction of the Salem Witch Trials. Broken up into four acts, The Crucible slowly builds in tension until the climatic and gut-dropping final scene. The Crucible was Miller's thirteenth published play and it examines the darker parts of human nature: fear, blame, and collective delusions. Literary theorists argue that the play is an allegory of McCarthyism. 

This paly is powerful not only for the way in which it brings history to life, but also for the uncomfortable feeling of knowing that something like this is possible and could happen again. I couldn’t help but think about some of the fundamentalist claims made in recent history and how those claims sounded a lot like the claims being made by the fanatics in The Crucible.

Similar to Animal Farm, The Crucible is an important piece of literature not just for its artistry but for its reminder to us that we should never forget the past, lest we end up repeating it.

5 darts out of 5

This play is FOR: people who like gritty, tense stories and historical fiction.

This play is NOT FOR: people who may have PTSD triggered by religious fundamentalism/fanaticism. 

87. "The Vampire Diaries: Awakening" by L. J. Smith

Smith, L. J. The Vampire Diaries: Awakening. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

276 pages.

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

After reading Vampire Diaries: Awakening, I have a really hard time believing that Stephenie Meyer never read vampire fiction. Twilight parallels this book so very closely, it almost seem like she ripped off the story from L. J. Smith. That being said, in Vampire Diaries: Awakening, Stefan Salvatore is a new guy in town and, naturally, he’s a vampire. Elena, the female protagonist of the story is haunted by the recent death of her parents and infatuated with Stefan but Stefan is too troubled about being a monster to truly let Elena into his heart. By the cliff-hanger ending, a love triangle has formed. Sound familiar?

I found this book entertaining but a bit dated. It’s dated in the ways it illustrated teenage social structures. In the story there is one “queen” of the high school (Elena) and her “crowd” of cool people. Their values and interests are shallow and materialistic. The social structures are reminiscent of the films Clueless and Can’t Hardly Wait; they’re very 90s era and irrelevant to teenagers of today’s world. My biggest issue was how manipulative Elena was in trying to “have” Stefan. I’m pretty sure Mean Girls blew this kind of behavior out of the water (again, going back to how 90s clichéd this book is). If she could drop the manipulation and give some concrete reasons for why she loves Stefan other than him being “so hot,” I might actually like her.

If we stripped away the 90s social structures, the story itself is pretty interesting. One of my favorite parts of reading vampire fiction is picking about the vampire mythology used in each series or book. These vampires don’t sparkle and in order to change from human to vampire, the Dracula method is used (vampire sucks human blood and then human drinks vampire blood). There are some other fun magical features to these vampires but I’ll leave that up to you to discover should you choose to read this book.

2 darts out of 5

This book is FOR people who: want a quick, meaningless read with some fun vampire characters.

This book is NOT FOR people who: want character depth or maturity.   

86. "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni

Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

224 pages.

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Dysfunctional teams are something I’m sure many of you have experienced. You know the team—at a meeting one member stares off into space, another makes rude or sarcastic comments and the leader seriously fumbles the entire agenda. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team seeks to identify and alleviate the problems that arise when building a team. Lencioni argues that the success of a company depends largely on how successfully its leadership team acts as a high functioning team.

The first dysfunction is lack of trust followed by several others such as focusing on individual success rather than team success, lack of commitment to decisions, and an absence of healthy conflict. All of these concepts are first illustrated with a story about a team in the Silicon Valley experiencing some major dysfunction. To fix the problem, the CEO steps down and the board of directors brings in Kathryn, a woman with years of experience in leadership in the automotive industry, to fix the problems. Readers follow Kathryn as she walks the team through the steps of fixing the five major dysfunctions of the team.

Lencioni breaks down his concepts clearly and while some might think the story a bit cheeky, I found it really helpful to see how the concepts might play out in an actual organization. As a leader myself, I’m going to put some of these concepts to use and see how it goes!

3 darts out of 5

This book is FOR people who: want to learn more about management and leadership skills, and who may be interested in Industrial/Organizational psychology.

This book is NOT FOR people who: want empirical studies and intense management theory.

85. "Chronicles of Steele: Raven" by Pauline Creeden

**I was given this book in exchange for an honest review**

Creeden, Pauline. Chronicles of Steele: Raven, The Complete Story. AltWitPress, 2014.

249 pages

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Raven is a reaper. She has been trained as an assassin, but for every life she takes she must redeem another. Her latest assignment is to protect a young boy, Darius, who has fits that cause electric and steam devices to go haywire. He’s the son of a duke who plans to have him killed if his fits are not cured. Raven’s job is to take young Darius to the Wood Witch in search of a cure.

Chronicles of Steele: Raven is a set of installments that were previous published separately. This steampunk fantasy novel takes readers on a magical quest. There are many stories woven into this journey from a romance turned heartbreak and the unbreakable bond between a daughter and her father. These stories are intriguing and, as a reader, I wish they were fleshed out more thoroughly. The story of Raven and her father could have been so much more touching had readers been given more details. I wanted to know her father’s quirks and see more of their interactions. I wanted more information about his death and why Raven felt so responsible for his death. I wanted more information about Gregory; what were some of the sweet moments they shared as children? I wanted to know more about Captain Jack. What is his back story? What has shaped him? These questions were left unanswered.

Chronicles of Steele is categorized as a steampunk fantasy novel and for people who have never read steampunk before, this would be a good starter. There wasn’t a whole lot of steam in the steampunk, though. Some of the genre staples were present: zeppelins, Victorian age clothing styles, steam powered horses and automaton servants. I wanted more of this stuff though! Steampunk is a genre that relies on details. Some of the reaper weapons were fantastic steampunk elements but there is more that could have been done here as well.

That being said I really enjoyed this book for its entertainment value and its girl power. Raven is a wonderfully feminist lead character. She’s someone I’d want as a friend and companion and I believe her to be a solid role model for young girls. The mission and story of the reapers was also interesting and I certainly hope that Creeden will continue writing stories about these mysterious warriors.   

3 darts out of 5

This book is FOR: people who want a good introduction to steampunk and a powerful female protagonist.

This book is NOT FOR: people who are deep into steampunk already.

84. "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo

Russo, Richard. Empire Falls. New York: Random House, 2001.

483 pages.

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

I have a slight obsession with diners. There is something about old-fashioned diners with a line of bar stools, the smell of hamburger grease in the air, and a constant stream of coffee into anxiously awaiting mugs that makes me feel at peace with the world. I’m not sure why exactly, but I love any story whether told on film or in print, that has something to do with an old-fashioned diner.

Empire Falls is the story of a failing town in Maine, and the diner that is the heartbeat of the community, the Empire Grill. Miles Roby runs the grill for the invidious Mrs. Whiting. Miles is unsatisfied with life in Empire Falls, though he isn’t really aware of it. He is kindly reminded by his brother, daughter, and life-long crush that he wants more for himself and that his deceased mother had always wanted more from him as well.

Empire Falls is a character-driven novel. It tells the story of a small American town and its inhabitants, how they came to be who they are, how their pasts are interwoven and how their futures depend the next choice that Mrs. Whiting will make. Russo is an enchanting and masterful story-teller and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this novel. Well-deserving of the Pulitzer, Empire Falls spirals into an unexpected climax that ties all the looped story lines together in a compelling and artful way. The title is apt as nearly everyone’s empire—Mrs. Whiting’s, Miles’, even John Voss’—falls by the story’s resolution.

I could not get enough of this book. I read it slowly, drinking it in as if I were sitting for coffee with Miles and the boys at the grill. It was a book that I didn’t want to end. I wanted to follow these characters through the rest of their lives. I imagine I will re-read this book several times and find something new to savor with each reading.

Empire Falls was turned into a TV miniseries that’s waiting in my Netflix queue. I’m excited to see how these characters will come to life on the “big screen. Empire Falls is by far one of the best books I’ve read in 2014.

5 darts out of 5

This book is FOR people who: like a character-driven read, can appreciate the literary artistry of a novel, and are interested in fictional depictions of small-town, American life.

This books is NOT FOR people who: want a fast-paced, action packed story, or are looking for a light romantic read (this story can get pretty heavy).