The Lantern Boats

The Lantern Boats takes place in post WWII Japan. The story follows the life of Elly Ruskin who is struggling with getting settled in Tokyo. Elly is half Japanese and she was repatriated to Japan from an internment camp in Australia even though she doesn't know the country well. 

The publisher's summary:  

Elly Ruskin is trapped between worlds.  Half-Japanese, Half- Scottish, she is deported from Australia to Japan after the war, but Tokyo is a city Elly barely knows.  In a whirlwind romance, she falls in love with a Scottish journalist and they marry.  Kamiya Jun is a teenage war orphan from the lost Japanese colony of Karafuto.  He is smuggled to the mainland on a fishing boat.  Captured by the police, he is handed over to the occupation forces, and finds himself unwillingly recruited to work in an underground intelligence unit run by a maverick American officer.   Now Elly thinks her husband is having an affair, and her suspicions will her down a treacherous path that will put everyone in danger.  Jun might be the only person who can help her.

The setting descriptions are what make this novel shine.  The realities of the post-war occupation of Japan are prominent.  You see that individuals who had jobs or lived in China or other countries before the war were viewed with suspicion, even though many of them were loyal Japanese citizens. The American troops occupying Japan were afraid of the anti-communist stance going on in their nation, promulgated by Senator Joe McCarthy, and possibly being accused of associating with one. The proximity of communist China and North Korea to Japan heightened the fear that there were spies everywhere. When Jun is captured by the Americans he tells the truth of how he came to be a spy for an underground organization.  No one believed his story though because nations did not select uneducated, homeless people to spy on their behalf.  A mysterious character named Vida Vidanto was being watched by several groups because she lived in China during the war where she wrote poetry.  No one actually believed that Vida was her real name either which resulted in some serious research into her background to determine who she was and whether she was a threat.

The realities of what mixed race people faced were also shown well.  Our Elly is always having to explain her heritage to police officers and military officials as well as the average citizen, who is just trying to avoid trouble be avoiding Elly.  Elly tries her best to put forward the fact that her mother was Japanese before she arouses any suspicion from others. The author knows her subject matter well.  She as an Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University. 

I enjoyed reading The Lantern Boats. Having never read anything before about the occupation of Japan, I learned alot. The average Japanese citizen was just trying to survive the occupation and were acutely aware when it would end. The hope was always "when the occupation is over we can do X."   The ending was sad and I liked that the author used this approach.  It was realistic. Besides, do you really want to read books where you always know that all turns out well for the characters? 

I highly recommend this historical novel. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Girl From Silent Lake

Wow!  What an exciting, pulse throbbing book.  This crime thriller is the first in a new series featuring former FBI detective Kay Sharp. The second book in the series, Beneath Black Water River, was published last week and I will definitely be buying it. Although she was written 19 novels, Leslie Wolfe is a new author for me. It always feels good when you find an author you love.

The publisher's summary:  

When single mother Alison Nolan sets off with her six-year-old daughter Hazel, she can't wait to spend precious time with her girl.  A vacation in Silent Lake, where snow-topped mountains are surrounded by the colors of fall, is just what they need.  Hours later, though, Alison and Hazel disappear.  Detective Kay Sharp rushes to the scene.  The only evidence that they were ever there is an abandoned rental car with a suitcase in the back, gummy bears in the open glove compartment and a teddy bear on the floor.  Kay's mind spins.  A week before, the body of another woman from out of town was found in a wrapped blanket, her hair braided and tied with feathers. Instinct tells her that the cases are connected - and it won't be long until more innocent lives are lost.  

As Kay leads a frenzied search, time is against her, but she vows that Alison and little Hazel will be found alive.  She works around the clock, even though the small town is up in arms, saying she's asking too many questions. Then she uncovers a vital clue - a photograph of the blanket that the first victim was buried in.  Just when Kay thinks she's found the missing piece, she realizess she's being watched. Is she getting too close, or is her own past catching up with her?  With a little girl's life on the line, Kay will stop at nothing.  But will it be enough to get inside the mind of the most twisted killer she has ever encountered, or will another blameless child be taken?  

I loved this novel!  The main character, Kay, is a superb detective. Her background in profiling the personalities of serial killers is a great asset and the author revealed her expertise gradually as the plot developed.  I thought this was written well. Normally you see a detective's entire skillset revealed in the beginning of a novel. This added to the excitement while I was reading.  Her partner in the investigation was a good foil for her personality. Elliot is a Texas good old boy who thinks he knows more than Kay because he is a man. However, Elliot was continually impressed by Kay's analysis of the case they were working on. 

The setting includes the Native American tribes in the Mount Chester locale where the story takes place. Several tribes were known to be in the area but their burial traditions were slightly different from each other.  Knowledge of this was essential to solving the crime.  I enjoyed learning about the differences between them. 

The Girl From Silent Lake is a fabulous story. I highly recommend it to mystery lovers. 5 out of 5 stars.

My Sister's Grave

You've heard the writing advice "show don't tell."  In My Sister's Grave there is alot of telling. The first 20 pages were awkward to read and this telling continued throughout the book.  Once the plot got started though, it became much more interesting.

The publisher's summary:  

"Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister's disappearance and the murder trial that followed.  She doesn't believe that Edmund House - a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah's murder -is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers. hen Sarah's remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she's been seeking.  As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past - and open the door to deadly danger."

I had a hard time maintaining interest in this novel because of how the author wrote his narrative throughout it. Perhaps it would have read better if background information was revealed with dialogue. There is a definite fabulous plot here but this was just a big miss for me.  The setting should have helped me to stay interested as I love the Cascade Mountains.  However, the setting wasn't used to its maximum impact. Many book reviewers loved this novel and the author is a critically acclaimed writer. This is the first book of his that I have read and I am sorry to say that I just didn't like it.

2 out of 5 stars.

The Code Breaker

All of my friends raved about this book and we talked about it for over a month. I knew I had to read it. The Code Breaker is a biography of sorts. Scientist Jennifer Doudna's professional life is featured as well as the rush among the scientific field to develop the CRISPR technology.  CRISPR is the acronym for Clustered Relatively Interspersed Short Palindrome Repeats.  It can be used as a gene editing tool to cure diseases. When COVID-19 broke out, researchers had a head up on developing the COVID-19 vaccine because of the CRISPR technology.

The book opens with several chapters on Doudna's childhood. Her experiences as a white person in Hawaii formed her tenacious personality. She was regularly harassed by the Polynesian kids in her Hilo community because of her race. She was the rare Caucasian in Hilo. However, it taught her to focus on what was important, a trait that helped her in her work life.  

Several other scientists worked with Doudna on and off. Emmanuelle Charpentier is the first one I will mention as she and Doydna won the Nobel Prize for chemistry together in 2020. This award was given despite an ongoing court case over the CRISPR patents in the U. S. Supreme Court. Another scientist, Feng Zhang, fast tracked his patent application so that he would be the first person to obtain the CRISPR patent. His application was filed 3 weeks after Doudna filed hers.  His application contained false statements over who did what work. Zhang narrowed his patent application to push out other scientists who he worked with at the Broad Institute, George Church.and Luciano Marraffini. Normally 3 people are together awarded the Nobel Prize. Zhang would have been the 3rd person but that would have left out Marraffini who did most of the Zhang's work at the Broad Institute. 

Most of the scientists who did research on DNA and RNA as well as the developing CRISPR technology were doing it out of a passion for science, not financial gain. Zhang is the exception here. The other scientists were Blake Wiedenheft, Francisco Mojica, James Watson, Krzysztof Chilinski, Rodolphe Barrangou, and Le Cong. There are chapters in the book on their work as well. All worked on and off with Doudna. 

Code Breaker is a fascinating look at the search for new biotechnologies in the 21st century. 5 out of 5 stars.

Can't Wait Wednesday #5

I have just ordered a few comics from Amazon. Two limited series by acclaimed author Ed Brubaker sound fascinating and I don't know why I have not read him before. Here is what I am expecting in the mail:

Criminal is a seven part crime anthology that begins with Coward. Here, we see Leo planning a diamond heist. While each installment of the series follows a different character, some of the characters are connected to each other.  Also, they are all living in the same universe. Because of the world building in the series, I have heard that it would be best to read the books in order of publication.

Kill or Be Killed is a 20 part comic series. It was published monthly between August 2016 and June 2018. I ordered the deluxe edition which contains all volumes of the series.  The story follows depressed college student Dylan who survives a suicide attempt.  He is soon visited by a demon who explains why he allowed Dylan to live. Dylan must kill one person each month in order to continue living.

Post office, please don't take forever to deliver my books.

Book of the Month: April

Ruth Heald's book The Wedding is my best book for April. It is a tight psychological thriller with more twists and turns than any other book I have ever read in my lifetime. That's a long, long time.  The plot concerns the events of the last week before Lauren and Adam's wedding. After dating for 18 years they plan on getting married in the same church Lauren's late parents married in. Lauren's parents died in a freak rafting accident 18 years ago. Both Lauren and Adam's families were vacationing together when the accident happened. What happened then matters to the plot as Lauren puts the final touches on her wedding.

The Tea Planter's Daughter

The Tea Planter's Daughter is the first book written by Janet MacLeod Trotter that I have read.  I love books set in India and Trotter has written a four book series called the India Tea Book Series.  I am planning on reading them all.  In The Tea Planter's Daughter, the first book of the series, 18 year old Clarissa Belhaven resides in the Assam region of India.  Her family's tea plantation is slowly going out of business and her father, the owner of the plantation, is grieving the sudden loss of his wife.  Clarissa's younger sister Olive needs a mother and Clarissa provides her with motherly care.  Being beautiful and headstrong, Clarissa attracts the attention of the young and brash Wesley Robson, a rival tea planter.  Before his intentions become fully clear, tragedy befalls the Belhaven family and the sisters must sell their plantation.  They move to Tyneside, an industrial town in England, which is vastly different from Assam.  In order to start over, Clarissa has to endure extreme poverty as she finds employment in a pub and is worked to the bone by her bosses. Olive must also begin working and helps out with household work in the pub owner's home.

I enjoyed this story but expected at least half of it to take place in India. Most of it takes place in England and the English setting has never appealed to me. It is cold, grey and rainy like the city I live in. Escape to a warm weather place is ideal.  That said, the plot premise is good and it was executed well.  I remained interested in the story while reading as the quick pace moved the action along nicely.  

The two sisters were appealing characters.  I could feel their pain when they lost their home in India and had to move to  a foreign land.  I couldn't help but root for them. The Robson family provided the villains for the novel. For Clarissa, she both despised and secretly loved one of them, the handsome Wesley.  They met in India where Wesley was running his family's tea estate but their lives also crossed many times in England, providing the book's drama. 

4 out of 5 stars.

Shadow Life

 

Shadow Life was published in March 2020 by First Second.  It is a graphic novel written by Hiromi Goto and illustrated by Ann Xu and is about Kumiko, a 76 year old woman.  Kumiko's middle aged adult daughters place her in an assisted living home against her wishes. However, she agrees to give it a try.  Kumiko does not like living there, runs away and finds herself a cozy bachelorette pad.  She keeps her location a secret from her daughters, even while they are talking on the phone.  Kumiko loves decorating as she pleases, eating whatever she wants and swimming in the community pool. Something has followed her though from the assisted living place - death's shadow.  

I enjoyed this story.  It is pretty cool that a bisexual senior Japanese Canadian lady is the protagonist in a comic and it shows what many seniors go through with their adult children.  For some reason they always want to lock seniors up in a facility.  Kumiko screams to the universe that she is not ready to die.  The story has a supernatural element in that Kumiko sees and fights what she believes is death's shadow.  The shadow is seen in the illustrations as spiders that are trying to consume her.  The theme of autonomy is a real world problem for seniors.  This theme is explored in Kumiko's fight for control of her life decisions from her daughters. I found the daughters quite bossy but realistic in their attempts to take over their mother's life decisions.

The black and white illustrations match the gloominess of the story and the drawings of Kumiko's body, particularly the naked ones, were spot on.  She has rolls of fat allover and they have drooped with the aging process.  Her leaking bladder is also realistic for older women.  It interesting that this fiftysomething writer knows so much about being a senior and can write from a senior's point of view.  Hiromi Goto has done a great job with this comic.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Woman in the Green Dress

This story takes place in Australia and the time period alternates between the 1850s and 1919. After a whirlwind romance, London teashop waitress Fleur Richards cannot wait for her new husband Hugh to return from the war. When word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a huge fortune.  Fleur does not want to accept the inheritance because they were not married very long but travels to his beloved home in Australia to search for his relatives who she believes deserves the fortune more than her.   She soon finds that she is the sole owner of a remote farm and a rundown curio shop full of preserved animals.  With the help of Kip, a repatriated soldier dealing with war wounds, Fleur finds herself unable to resist looking into Hugh's family's past. What she finds is a shocking story about a large opal and a woman in a green dress.  

I enjoyed the 1919 story much more than the 1850 story.  The latter seemed to drag on and on.  I did not see any connection with the former and found myself skipping pages.  As far as the woman in the green dress is concerned, there wasn't much said about her at all.  Perhaps a different title would have been best because my expectation while reading was to read about this particular woman. However, she did not have much to do with the plot. 

The Australian setting descriptions were elaborate.  I could feel like I was there myself and experience what the characters were experiencing.  It was amusing to think about a small town being larger and more developed than the eventual capital, Sydney.  The Australian landscape was in stark contrast to England where Fleur was living during the war.  As she sees more and more of Australia, Fleur remembers how Hugh described various cities and towns where he grew up.  As she travels within the country, the long commutes from one place to another contribute to the setting.  Fleur needs to travel 2 days to get from Sydney to Mogo Creek in New South Wales where her husband grew up, taking a train, a boat and walking on foot for hours in order to get there. 

Learning about the Australian landscape 100+ years ago was fun. Unfortunately, that was all that I liked about this novel.  2 out of 5 stars.

Stacking the Shelves #4

 

This morning I added two new graphic novels to my library.  Andy Warhol the Factory is a graphic biography of artist Andy Warhol. The graphics of the book are quite busy and it is still downloading on my Kindle 4 hours after I purchased it this morning.  In fact, it may be breaking my Android.  

Shadow Life is the story of Kumiko, a 76 year old widow, whose adult daughters put in an assisted living facility. Kumiko runs away and finds a cozy bachelorette pad to live in. She continues to communicate with her daughters online, never revealing her location.  However, death's shadow haunts her as she fights for her life. It was published last month. 

I am looking forward to reading both of these books.  It's been almost a month since I have read a comic/graphic novel.  Way too long.

The Wedding

Lauren Haywood and Adam Glenister are finally getting married after an eighteen year courtship.  As Lauren is putting the final touches on their upcoming wedding she begins receiving threatening messages from someone who wants to stop her wedding from occurring. When Lauren receives a card, she expects to see a congratulatory message about her upcoming wedding.  However, inside the envelope was a photograph of a doll that looked just like her.  The doll was wearing a torn wedding dress and her neck was cut.  A short note was written inside, "he does not love you."   The couple have been planning a ceremony in the same church that Lauren's late parents were married in. They both died in a water rafting accident eighteen years ago and Lauren has been estranged from her sister Tracey since their deaths.  As Lauren dreads seeing her sister again at the wedding, it becomes clear to her that Adam has not been truthful about his past.  To add to Lauren's drama, she has planned a destination wedding in Thailand at a resort hotel that her sister owns.  Then, the story gets twisted!

The Wedding is twist heaven.  I cannot think of any other book that I have read with so many twists. It made the book a fast read.  There are a small number of characters and almost all of them seemed like suspects because of the secrets that they held.  Just when I thought that I had figured out who the villain was, another twist developed that changed my mind.  The author used her characters to full advantage as the Haywood family drama was slowly revealed by them.  

The suspense began with the prologue, "I am no longer a bride.  I will not be a wife.  Not now. . . What am I even doing here?  I should have run away as fast as I could, away from this place, this hotel, away from her. But instead I have come back to this suite. . . Now the bed taunts me."  Given the book title, this makes the reader want to keep reading until you find out why these statements were made.  Most of the answers were not revealed until the end of the story.  The suspense was increased by short chapters and the ups and downs of each character's emotions, with the reason for them unknown until the ending.  

A fabulous thriller!  5 out of 5 stars.

The Girl in the Painting

 

This story takes place in Australia and it alternates between 1906 and 1862. Orphan Jane Piper is nine years old when philanthropists Michael and Elizabeth Quinn take her into their home to further her schooling.  The Quinns are no strangers to hardship. Having arrived in Australia as penniless immigrants, they now care for others as lost as they once were. Despite Jane's mysterious past, her remarkable aptitude for mathematics takes her far over the next seven years, and her relationship with Elizabeth and Michael flourishes as she plays an increasingly prominent role in their business.  When Elizabeth reacts in terror to an exhibition at the local gallery, Jane realizes no one knows Elizabeth after all - not even Elizabeth herself.  As the past and present converge and Elizabeth's grasp on reality loosens, Jane sets out to unravel her story before it's too late.  

This was an enjoyable read although the reason for the book title was not known until the latter third of the story.  I kept waiting to read about a painting and when it finally came I was somewhat disappointed that it didn't happen sooner.  If a mystery concerns a painting, the author should showcase that painting early on.  I enjoyed reading the descriptions about the Australian landscapes as I have never read a book set there.  This novel was set in Sydney, Hill End and Maitland as well as Ireland and England.  It was interesting that Maitland was more urban than Sydney in the late 1800s.

I always love a story that is told from alternating viewpoints and eras.  They read faster for me and this one was no exception.  While the story varied from the 1860s to the 1910s, it was also told from several viewpoints including Michael, Elizabeth and Jane's.  The author was able to weave a great story from these differing viewpoints, settings and a time period that spanned fifty years.  

5 out of 5 stars!

The Art Collector's Daughter

As I was reading this novel I had a sneaking suspicion that I had read it before or saw a movie based on it. It seemed familiar. A search of my blogger posts did not find anything so I continued to read.  It has an interesting plot but because it was so familiar I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have if the storyline was new to me. I guess I have read too many Nazi art theft novels.

The publisher's summary:  

As the German's advance on Paris in 1940, a young Jewish girl, Sylvie Vasseur, is sent by her father to rural Ireland to live with the Courtney family.  He also sends his valuable art collection - including a portrait of Sylvie by the renowned Mateus, Girl on a Swing.  Sylvie is education by the narcissistic elder son Nicholas Courtney when she is eighteen, but he abandons her when he discovers she is pregnant.  To avoid the inevitable social stigma, Sylvie marries his brother Peter.  In Dublin, she becomes involved in the art scene, achieving critical acclaim as a painter.  But, trapped in a loveless marriage, she continues to be obsessed with Nicholas.  Until, unexpectantly, secrets from her father's past emerge, leading her to question everything she once believed.  Shortly after, she is found drowned on a Wexford beach.

Seventeen years later, Claire Howard, struggling art historian, is hired by the Courtney family to record Sylvie's lifeworks.  Fascinated by the artist and working with Sylvie's son Sam, Claire travels between Dublin and Paris, eventually unravelling a labyrinth of deceit and lies that threaten to endanger her life.

The books is advertised as an historical thriller.  It is not a thriller but rather an historical mystery.  I don't think that the writing style meets the thriller formula. That said, the plot is intricate and sophisticated.  A plot twist at the halfway point moves the direction of the expected outcome toward a different path.  I was not expecting this twist and it added to my enjoyment of the novel.

The Irish setting interested me because I have never read a book that was set in Ireland.  When the story alternates between Ireland and Paris, the Paris setting is familiar to me as I have read many books that were set in France.  I have always loved reading about Paris.  The writing about Ireland, on the other hand, could have been more descriptive.  I was expecting to read more about the weather and the topography of the island.  What we read read about is the societal norms of the country, which I believe most readers already know about for this war era.

The characters could have been more developed, particularly Peter.  We don't really know what makes him tick.  Why did he put up with so much shunning from Sylvie? What is his personality like?  We know more about Nicholas than Sylvie's husband.  Nicholas is the usual male cad and we women know exactly what to expect from him.  Sylvie was a compelling character.  She grew from being a shy, fearful girl into a confident woman but only after discovering her artistic talents.  As an artist myself I can feel exactly what she feels when she is painting.  There is an ecstasy to the process of creating something on a canvas.

This was a good book but as I stated earlier, the familiarity of the story to other books that I have read affected my enjoyment of it. 3 out of 5 stars.