Review: Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee

Synopsis
In Bobcat and Other Stories, Rebecca Lee tells the story of humanity. These seven stories are about the range of emotions and circumstances we find ourselves in, rife with infidelity, with guilt, with longing, but a universal hope that pervades all. In “Slatland” a young woman uses the ability to “rise above” in order to get her through any troubling life event that happens, save for one. “Min” centers around a young woman given the task of choosing a wife for her best friend, while in “Fialta” a group of talented architectural students live together under the strange, glorious, and oftentimes perplexing rule of their mentor and teacher. Each story is specific and incredibly detailed, harboring individual life forces and tales that are both powerful and small. 

Review
Rebecca Lee is one of those rare writers that can take the every day detail and turn it inside out, making it beautiful once again. Her stories are vast and wide, just like her prose. She delves into the matter, and roots up what’s important in a story. Some are longer than others, and the reader instantly knows it has a purpose. Every line, every word: there’s a weighty significance that is intentional and gorgeously written. Her writing is of the best sort. Take for example this passage from “Fialta”: 

“It seemed only right, I thought, as I spiraled down into the evening air alone, that the cows had such a place to live, since they themselves seemed hybrids of this earth and the next, animals and angels both.”

Her stories are rooted in reality, but her prose allows them something akin to magical realism. They are dream-like at their furthermost edges, and once you begin, you’re sucked in until the very end, without any acknowledgement of time or space. They are winding things that take a few moments to establish what they are about, but it’s worth it, because their hooks are massive things that speak of the human condition. 

I’d recommend this read to anyone who likes a wonderfully told, succinct, and realistic short story. It’s a relatively short book, and each story encompasses a universe of its own. 

Reviewed by M.B. Sellers

Book Information
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date: 5/7/2013
Pages: 256

Review: The Broken by Shelley Coriell

Summary
He took her life, but left her alive.

Three years ago, reporter Kate Johnson was the first victim-and only survivor-of the Broadcast Butcher. Scarred both physically and psychologically by the brutal serial killer, Kate lives life on the run, knowing that one day, he will find her and finish what he started.

In the pursuit of justice, you sometimes have to step outside the law.

Agent Hayden Reed spends his life chasing monsters. The only way to stay sane is to detach, but the second the Broadcast Butcher case crosses his desk, Hayden knows this is the case that might just cost him his soul. To catch this vicious murderer before he strikes again, Hayden must find Kate and earn her trust. For it's her darkest secrets that hold the key to stopping this madman once and for all . . .

Review
When I first glanced at the book summary, I was a little nervous. As much as I love a good suspense plot, serial killers sort of push the envelope for me. With those timid concerns of whether I would have to sleep with the lights on, there was something about this book that was screaming at me to read, I'm so glad I did because it was nothing I thought it would be. 

The Broken, the first book of the Apostle series, written by Shelly Coriell was something that could've been ripped from a case straight out of Criminal Minds. Brilliant and cleverly written, Coriell keeps you on the edge of your seat with her keep you guessing whodunit because every time you think you have it solved, you're completely wrong. She wasn't over the top with details; you got just enough to make you want to keep turning the pages. Each element as the book went along made the plot fit together like a puzzle that came together in the end. 

You can really tell she thought out these characters. Individually, they all had their own personalities that invited you into their heads but together, they really worked well together. The best part of the book for me was the Kate and Hayden. The chemistry that develops between the two of them was a great subplot to the book which added a bonus romance into the mix. I really hope that we can get a chance to see what happens as the series continues.

For me, since I was concerned going into this about the violent aspects of the book, I'm glad it wasn't overtly described. Mild and tamed considering what I have come across in similar novels, I was put to ease because she has a way with writing the action as it fit well with the content of the book. Overall, I think this is one of those suspense stories that you will not want to stop reading. I'm not saying that because of the pace of the book but because the quality of the story engages you psychologically as well as being entertained. Between the twists and turns and a plot that keeps you guessing, you will definitely be hooked! If you love a good suspense, I'd definitely recommend.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Book Information
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: 4/29/2014
Pages: 416

Review: The Quarry by Stan Grimes

Summary
Dante Dunham is a starving young writer barely making ends meet. His mother passed away long before he graduated from college and his father just happened to be the richest man in his hometown. Johnson Meredith did not take part in Dante’s upbringing and offered no assistance to the boy’s mother.

Dante is shocked, however, when he is told that he has inherited half of his estranged father’s estate. Upon learning of his future wealth Dante also learns that the other half of the estate was bequeathed to a sinister man, John Butcher.

Butcher is greedy and seeks to murder young Dante in order to grab the entire inheritance, and hires an assassin to take the young man out. “The Quarry" takes the reader on a long chase from Lincoln’s Port, Indiana to Key West, Florida. A showdown in Key West is inevitable with a surprising end…

Review
Stan Grimes created an intricate series of which includes an elaborate mystery and suspense in his story, The Quarry. Since the reader is all knowing and receives the point of view and thought process of multiple characters, it is effortless to predict many of the events that transpire. The mystery is geared more towards the characters and how they deal with such events. 

The reader may be able to assume many of the happenings throughout the story, but we are always kept on the edge of our seats. The characters emotions are also known, but their unpredictable and unstable personalities keep the way they will deal with certain events a mystery. 

I loved the use of psychological disabilities throughout this story. I find reading about this abnormalities fascinating and they truly do add to the overall feel of the book. These disabilities can be used to understand and describe many of the characters behaviors. Schizophrenia is one that I personally find intriguing due to the many different levels. Specifically in this story, one character suffers from what can be called multiple personality disorder. As the reader, we get to experience the inner workings of the characters mind and witness firsthand the ‘voices’ within his head. 

Towards the beginning of the story I was quite annoyed with only one element; the amount of swearing. I understand the need to authenticate the male characters and give them a masculine feel, but I felt it was a little too much. Swearing in novels is not typically a deal breaker, and it certainly was not within this story. Grimes began to reduce the number of curse words and the frustration with them diminished. Such a small complaint for such a thrilling story. 

One element that was surprising but considerably pleasing, was the addition of a fantastical element. I do not wish to give it away and ruin the wonderful surprise, but towards the end of the story, I was completely thrown off guard by the fantastic element. I love when a book can add a little detail no one was expecting and this one is no exception. I found that it really helped to accelerate the plot and continue with the feeling of suspense. 

The length of this story comes with no complaints from me. I found it to be in perfect harmony with the plot, allowing just enough time to develop characters and the story line, but short enough not to drag it out. While a fairly quick read, it is worth the time if you find your passion to be for suspense and a little mystery. 

Reviewed by Rachel Keane

Book Information
Publisher: Stan Grimes
Publication date: 1/18/2014
eBook

Review: The Latecomers Fan Club by Diane V. Mulligan

Summary 
What is it about guys with guitars in their hands that makes them so irresistible, even when they are obviously self-centered jerks? If Abby and Maggie could answer that question, maybe they could finally get over Nathaniel. There’s just something about him when he picks up his guitar and gets behind the microphone, something that makes sensible women act like teenyboppers.

Review 
Quite the reality check out of most novels I’ve read, The Latecomers Fan Club is the looking glass of life for most of us in our mid twenties to early thirties who have a few regrets under our belts. This novel makes one reexamine one’s life and realize that the things you once wanted may have been fantasies and teaches you to grab a hold of what’s in front of you and make the most of it. Though frustrating and over dramatic at times, The Latecomers Fan Club also makes one see that being stuck in a rut is not the end of the world. It will get better, you just have to be willing to put forth the effort, not just sit around and wait. And although I usually wrap things up in a pretty bow, I’d have to say if you take nothing else from The Latecomers Fan Club, make sure you have good friends by your side to get you through the hard times.

Our story setup is of three main characters: Abby, Nathaniel and Maggie. And each time the story takes a turn, one of these three characters takes the helm of the wheel. Up to bat is Abby and she is working on New Year’s Eve when she discovers she is pregnant. Knowing she has only been with Nathaniel (her reluctant with commitment boyfriend) for the past three years, she concludes he is the father. With this news, Abby hopes she can get him to commit (marry) or at least force him to stop drinking and want to do better in their relationship and be a father to their baby.

Nathaniel, unaware of this news, makes plans to spend New Year’s Eve with an old friend, Nick, from Worcester; anything to get away from Abby, who he can’t stand. While there, he runs into another old friend, Maggie, the one that got away. He knew Maggie had a crush on him in high school but he never wanted to ruin the friendship. But in reality, he was just being a stupid teenager, chasing some fantasy girl. Well Nathaniel wastes no time, reconnecting with Maggie and by the stroke of midnight, his lips are locked onto hers.

Maggie is recently divorced from Andrew, the perfect man who always took care of her; yet, Andrew wanted kids and Maggie did not. Thus here she is: back home in Worcester, the one place she said she wouldn’t return, living in her mother’s house. With only an art degree to show for herself, Maggie must figure out how to start all over without her husband’s money or any money of her own and no one to really rescue her from her despair. Then she meets Nathaniel and suddenly things are looking brighter.

You know who isn’t looking or feeling so bright right about now: Abby. She is trying to just get in touch with Nathaniel just to tell him she’s pregnant. She wants to do it in person but he isn’t home and he hasn’t returned any of her calls. And to top it off, she will have to look for a new job because working at a bar won’t do for a mother-to-be. 

While Abby is trying to switch careers, Nathaniel is trying to process the change in his life. Abby has just dropped a bomb on him that she is pregnant and he is the father. But he can’t focus on that because he is trying to begin again with Maggie while sleeping with one of his students, as well as working on getting his band, The Latecomers, back together. Plus his drinking problem has gotten worse, and it looks life his life isn’t far behind. 

Maggie, in her mind, has hit rock bottom. Not only is she living at home but she is working at Macy’s in the Junior Miss department. She can barely afford her cell phone bill, much less her own place and her so called ”relationship” with Nathaniel isn’t looking so great. In fact, it’s actually worse than the friendship they had in high school. Yet Maggie doesn’t know if she is ready to let her dream of being with Nathaniel turn into a reality without him. And Maggie isn’t the only one. Can Abby sum up the courage to be a single mother, no Nathaniel at all? Can Nathaniel get his act together, with the band and with his life? Will any of these “latecomers” finally arrive at reality?

The Latecomers Fan Club is not a happy read but it does have a happy ending or rather a lesson to the tale. The lesson, life sucks, but you don’t have to let it. Ruts happen but you don’t have to stay in them. Figure out how to move forward and then take that first step. Also, The Latecomers Fan Club is about letting go of ill conceived notions and coming to reality. Learning to let go of what we had hoped or wanted out of life and making the most of what we do have or being more realistic about our dreams and aspirations. And to tie it all up, if you learn nothing else, keep a friend or two handy to help you sail on through the rough spots in life. It’ll make things so much easier. 

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Book Information
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication date: 10/15/2013
Pages: 198

Review: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Book Summary
Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey- with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake- through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city- until powerful corperations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining. 

Review
At once a story of apocalyptic endings and healing beginnings, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake reads like a glimpse into a shattered mirror. The reader inhabits the troubled consciousness of Snowman/Jimmy, as he wanders through the empty wasteland of a world purged of humanity after the rapid spread of a contagious and fatal disease. Juxtaposing a dystopic future with an equally unfamiliar dystopic past, Atwood strands the disoriented reader in medias res, scattering fragments of contextualizing information like breadcrumbs for readers to follow and establish their bearings as they navigate their way through the many overlapping narratives. 

The book opens with a portrait of the seemingly sole human survivor, Snowman, living in the midst of a new genetically engineered race called the Children of Crake. Naked, innocent, and animalistic, the Children of Crake rely on Snowman to protect them and explain their existence. Snowman, a self-appointed prophet, constructs wild tales seeped in recognizable religious rhetoric, painting Crake as both benevolent God and original creator. Yet, as the stories unravel alongside Snowman's memories, both the reader and Snowman himself begin to question the truth, acquiring a haunting and sinister feeling that neither narrative is quite as it appears. 

As he searches for answers in the abandoned buildings and corpses scattered along his path, Snowman's self-created alter ego begins to bleed into his memories of a previous time and a previous self named Jimmy. Jimmy, hailing from a past still decades into our future, already inhabits a world in which casual genetic engineering over-runs almost every aspect of life, and cities have become inescapable compounds sealed off from the rest of the world. Disturbing reality television shows reminiscent of The Hunger Games abound alongside anti-aging products with horrifying and unadvertised side effects. As remnants of this past trickle into his present, and both progress toward a shocking conclusion. Jimmy attempts to come to terms with his mother's abandonment, his friendship with Crake, and his love affair with Oryx.

As usual, Margaret Atwood delivers a uniquely horrifying vision of the future, comparable with the worlds created by George Orwell's 1984 and H.G Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. Yet, like most dystopic novels, the true horror of this story lies in its haunting resonance with the present, merely exaggerated to its logical and seemingly inevitable end. Atwood takes the reader's desire for a utopic world free from age, disease, and even the polarizing force of love, and subverts them by raising profound questions about what it means to be human. 

Ultimately suggesting that our mortality and our fallibility are essential to our humanity, Atwood paradoxically gives us hope for the future by revealing its potential bleakness. Well-written, insightful, and suspenseful, Oryx and Crake is a worthwhile and fascinating read, a promising first installment in a trilogy that leaves you wanting more.  

Reviewed by Miranda Wojciechowski

Book Information
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 3/30/2004
Pages: 416

Review: A Cry In The Night by Mary Brown-Durr

Summary
The book, A Cry in the Night, based on the murder of a seventeen year old civil rights participant, provides a general background on the life of Negros in Canton, Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. The city of Canton, now the city of lights was once a city embedded in darkness as Negros struggled for justice and equality. It focuses primarily on the role of the civil rights movement dealing with boycott, integration, voter registration, and death. Recommend for general reading.

Review
Considering that we just celebrated 50 years since the March on Washington, it is books like this that painfully remind us of a part of history that today seems inconceivable. So many take for granted the rights they so boldly declare entitled by the constitution but don’t understand their privileges are by the fruits of labor from people who fought so hard to have a voice when they had no right to have one.

A Cry In The Night, represents the silent tears shed by the voices never heard during a time when many had none. Based on the life and murder of a teenage civil rights worker in a small town in Mississippi, we are lead through the reflections of what life was life towards African Americans during the Jim Crow era embedded with the Civil Rights Movement. Experiencing first hand, the author takes the reader through a perspective that is compelling, heart breaking and needed to be shared.

When you read stories such as this, there is a level of appreciation you gain that this is not our existence today. I’m not saying that we don’t have issues remaining but the climate that permeated through the South isn’t indicative of our current times. It puts in perspective and makes you appreciate the life you have and all the freedoms you are entitled to and it frustrates for all the ones who take for granted not understanding that you have choices because someone fought for it. For so many, the basic rights to talk to who you want, shop, get an education, work and vote are all privileges that many have walked, marched and projected their voices when it cost them their lives. 

With the history of oral tradition dying, I’m glad books like this are written because it keeps alive perspectives that shouldn’t be forgotten and we are able to get a picture through the eyes of someone who lived and experienced it. Despite some technical issues in the book, it didn't detract from the heart of the story being told. I think no matter who you are, this is one that everyone will appreciate.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Book Information
Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
Publication date: 8/7/2013
Pages: 100