nomadreader

narrated by Lorelei King The backstory: Some Luck  was longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award . The basics: Some Luck, the first in a new trilogy from Jane Smiley, stretches from 1920 to 1953 and tells the story of the Langdon family, who farm in the fictional town of Denby, Iowa. My thoughts: I'm thirty-four years old. This book covers thirty-three years. This synchronicity fascinated me as each chapter brought a new year for the Langdon family. Covering thirty-three years in just over four hundred pages means that there are many moments and events not told. As the Langdon family grows, there are more people to catch up with each year, and as the children begin to leave the home, there are more places to go to catch up with them. While the novel begins as a quiet, farm tale, covering fascinating times of transition in the 1920's and 1930's, I was surprised by how much Smiley tackles. Some Luck  spends a surprising amount of time away from the farm. While ...

The basics: The Orchardist , a debut novel from Amanda Coplin, is the story of Talmadge. When he was a boy, his father died. His mother took him and his sister west to an orchard in the Pacific Northwest. Tragedy continues to befall this family, as Talmadge's mother dies when he is 15. His sister disappears two years later, yet Talmadge lives on growing and selling fruit. When two young, pregnant girls, begin stealing from him, he tries to take them under his wing and provide food and shelter for him. My thoughts:  I confess: the description of this novel did not entice me to read it, but as it kept appearing on "Best of the Fall" lists, I took a chance, and I'm so glad I did. I think the word haunting may be approaching overuse for describing novels, but in the case of The Orchardist , it's apt. Coplin's writing is as haunting as her characters: "She'd had the look of departure about a year before she disappeared. A watchfulness. Stirrings of res...

The backstory: When Jennifer Egan listed Butterfly's Child  as her favorite read of 2011 , I knew I wanted to read it. The basics: In Butterfly's Child , Angela Davis-Gardner imagines what happens after Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly . (The novel opens with a synopsis of the opera.) Butterfly's child, Benji, goes to the United States with his father, Pinkerton, and his father's new wife, Kate. They live on a small Illinois farm. My thoughts: I knew nothing about Madame Butterfly  going into this novel, but I found the premise fascinating aside from the opera: a half-Japanese half-white boy witnesses his mother's suicide, leaves Japan with his father and stepmother, both of whom are essentially strangers to him. To seem proper, the Pinkertons claim they are adopting the boy, but Benji knows the truth. What follows, initially, is a haunting portrayal of life on a Midwestern farm at the turn of the century. Benji longs for Japan. Pinkerton longs for a life no...