The Marriage Clock

The Marriage Clock is a delightful modern day story about a South Indian American Muslim woman living in Los Angeles. Leila Abid is a 26 year old single woman who teaches high school English. Her parents are mortified that she has not gotten married yet and begin to search for a husband for her. Leila, though, wants to find a husband on her own.  She does not want an arranged marriage.

Leila discusses her predicament with close friends Tania, Annie, Liv and Hannah. Tania, a divorced Muslim, is the only friend who agrees with Leila that she should not accept an arranged marriage.  Tania had a bad experience with hers. Leila's other friends offer suggestions on how to find a man such as online and speed dating. With her parents setting up family dinners with prospects from her mother's portfolio, Leila agrees to an arranged marriage but only after she has had three months to do her own search. The marriage clock is ticking for Leila.

This story showcases Leila's internal musings over her self worth as a female.  Indian women are taught from birth their only value is from marrying well. A doctor or engineer is the preferred career for a prospective husband. Leila, though, grew up in Los Angeles and has American ideals concerning marriage. While she is a Muslim, her parents had a semi-traditional home. These two factors contribute to Leila's predicament.

I loved this novel and highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Stacking the Shelves #5

I just returned home from a trip to Barnes and Noble having spent way too much money. I could have easily spent $500 but was able to keep my purchases lower.  There are four new books that I am adding to my bookshelf. Two are graphic novels, one is art history and the fourth book is historical fiction.  

Yellow the history of a color is the fifth book in a series by Michel Pastoureau. He has written books on the colors black, green, red and blue. While the blurb states that the book is chock full of images, it really is a scientific book on the color.  It focuses on the visual, social and cultural history of yellow with chapters on the color's place in art, religion, fashion, literature and science.

China is the latest novel in a series by Edward Rutherford.  He has written historical novels on Paris, London, New York and Ireland.  When I first saw the book, I recognized the surname of the author.  When I was in college I had a class on asian history.  I remember reading two books written by someone with the last name of Rutherford.  One was on China and the other on Japan. I loved those books and wondered whether this Rutherford wrote those histories.  I do not know if this author is the same person or not but it propelled me to buy the book.

Hawking is a graphic biography of Stephen Hawking.  I have had this book on my Amazon wishlist for some time so when I saw it on the B&N shelf, I bought it.  The illustrations are colored which is a must if I am going to buy a comic. 

Idle Days is about a man who deserted his post in the Canadian forces. The man's mother sent him to live with his grandfather in a remote location.  Here he is isolated and the only thing that interests him is the history of the house.  The house has bootleggers, a fire and a suicide as former residents and their ghosts begin to haunt him.  The comic has colored illustrations which, as I said above, is a must for me to want to spend money on a comic.

I am going to get started reading these tonight.  It's a cold, rainy day here in Chicago so I will get a cup of cocoa and sit in my favorite chair.

Book of the Month: May

My favorite book for this month is Alan Brennert's Honolulu. While there were 2 other books that I loved I had to pick Honolulu because I am enthralled with Hawaii.  Psychological thrillers The Girl From Silent Lake and The Lantern Boats were close seconds.  Honolulu concerns the lives of seven picture brides who emigrated from Korea to Hawaii around 1913.  A picture bride is a woman chosen by an overseas man for marriage on the basis of the woman's photographs. They don't see who they are marrying until they step off the boat. Most of the women were married on the ship's dock having just set eyes on their men. The lives of these seven ladies are detailed through 1957.

The Banks

Roxane Gay's The Banks is a heist thriller in comic book form. The Banks are a family of thieves from the South Side of Chicago and include married couple Melvin and Clara, their daughter Cora and their granddaughter Celia, an investment banker.  Their philosophy is to get in, get out, get paid and don't get greedy.  They are the most successful thieves in the city.  When Celia, who has long turned her back on her family, comes across a great idea for the heist of all heists it brings together three generations to determine whether it is feasible.

The Banks is a fun read. I especially loved the illustrations and coloring. The story begins in 1972 and I remember the fashions and hair styles well. It's what made me read the comic twice before writing a review. Ming Doyle drew the illustrations and Jordie Bellaire did the coloring. The colors that Bellaire used are all cool jewel tones which I found attractive. 

The Banks family accurately reflects the the time and place of the story. All three of the Banks women are products of the era in which they were born. Clara and Celia have a particularly rough relationship as Celia wants to be an honest worker in a high paying career while Clara didn't feel she had many options for a career. Celia is an investment banker and her grandmother tells her that being a thief is not as bad as being an investment banker.  Cora tells Celia that Celia steals from more people than Clara and steals much more money. Thus, Clara is more honest than her granddaughter. While the heist itself is prominent, these three characters are a major part of the story. 

Highly recommended!  5 out of 5 stars.

Redfork

The advertisement that I read for Redfork went as follows:  "Ex-con Noah McGlade returns to find his coal mining hometown of Redfork to be blighted by opioid use and economic decline. But there is something even darker draining the life from this town. As Noah digs deeper he unearths a dormant horror that threatens to consume what little he has left to live for." I was not expecting to read a dark supernatural horror comic but that's what I got. Obviously I missed the clues in the description.

Tragedy follows Noah upon his return to his hometown. His younger brother gets trapped in a mine and his daughter, who suffers from asthma, cannot get medical attention becauseshe is not insured. When a scab miner, Gallowglass, rescues Noah's brother during a strike, he sets up the townspeople against Amcore. Amcore is an energy giant in the country and owns the mine. 

This comic has alot of foul language, even too much for me. The artwork  reflects the horror story that is Redfork. The pages are colored in dark blues, greens and purple and supernatural creatures abound. This type of comic is not my cup of tea but other readers may enjoy it. It had a detailed plot and character development so I hate to give the book a poor rating just because Redfork is not the type of book I enjoy.  I will leave that up to other reviewers.

Persian Perpetrator

When I purchased this cozy mystery for my Kindle, I thought it was a full length  novel. However, it is only 113 pages long. The story began well with the introduction of the characters, including a Persian cat named Monkey Business.  The coronavirus shutdown has just begun in Christchurch, New Zealand where the story takes place. The author's dialogue between the characters was the apparatus used to advance the plot. In a modern twist, all of the dialogue was via Zoom community meetings. I knew that one day we would be reading stories that take place during Covidtide but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly.  

Because of the shortness of the script there was no sleuthing here.  Gossip among the city residents tells the reader who killed Lilith, an elderly woman. No investigation of Lilith's murder is mentioned either. In this respect the book was a let down. I was impressed, though, at the naturalness of the conversations between neighbors as well as showing how they had a hard time adjusting to lockdown. I also expected that the series would prominently feature a feline. Monkey Business did not have a role in the plot so I am unclear what the title refers to.

There are 4 more books in this series. I can only assume that they are short like Persian Perpetrator. I think I will skip them. 1 out of 5 stars.

Reckless

Reckless is part one of a new comic book series by Ed Brubaker. Part 2, Friend of the Devil, was published last month and the third and final part will be published later this year.  Reckless follows a man named Ethan Reckless.  He has a home business where he fixes your problems, for a price.  If someone owes you money, he will get you the money.  If someone stole your artwork, he will get it back.  It is something that he fell in to after helping out a few friends.  His jobs increased due to  the spread of word of mouth and after 2 years Ethan decided that it would be his career.  The setting is 1980s Los Angeles where sex and drugs were rampant. However, Ethan's past as a radical in the 1960s comes back to haunt him when a former girlfriend, Rainy, asks for his help. She has been running from the law ever since she took part in a bombing for the Weathermen group.  It's funny that Ethan Reckless is considered the good guy in this comic.  When compared to some of the people he does business with Ethan seems likable but he is clearly breaking the law just as his clients are.  

The artwork was drawn by Sean Phillips and colored by Jacob Phillips.  The dark color palettes used are monotone.  For me, it was a little depressing. There are a few pages colored in oranges which I liked better.  I prefer that the artwork be lighter but I must admit that the Phillips duo matched the feel of the story.  

Having come of age in the 1960s, Reckless was a trip down memory lane.  I enjoyed reading about the chaos of the times and even was proud of the "work" the Weatherman group was doing.  Today, I view their activities as domestic terrorism but back in the day, they were cool. Also, I hate to admit that I used to dress the way Rainy dressed.  

All comic fans are going to love this graphic novel.  I highly recommend it.  5 out of 5 stars.