Say You’re One of Them

Even as our economic system is crumbling around us and as Oregon sits high atop the list of states with the most number of foreclosures, I think it’s sometimes good to pause and remember how good life is in the U.S. as compared to true poverty-stricken and war-torn regions around the world.

In Umem Akpan’s “Say You’re One of Them“, readers travel to 5 locales in Africa (via 5 stories of varying length) and suffer the dread of the inevitable tragic endings of each story.  There’s the young boy who’s family lives in a shanty in Nairobi.  There’s a young brother and sister who are AIDS orphans living with their uncle who face a seeming upturn in their fortunes.  In another story, a young girl wonders why she can’t play with her friend anymore.  In the next, Jabril is a Muslim teen trying to blend into a crowd of Christians in a country divided by religious wars.  The final story is set in Rwanda amid ethnic violence that turns even husbands against wives.

Despite the grim subject matter, Akpan (a Jesuit priest with an American degree in Fine Arts) writes lyrically and vividly and brings local dialects to life.  He has written a beautiful and completely heartbreaking book that brings a different rough and terrifying kind of world closer to home.

Living well is the best revenge

Who doesn’t love a little revenge story about a woman done wrong by the man she loves?  In the tradition of “The First Wives Club” comes “This is How it Happened (Not a Love Story)“.  This book has it all… poisonings, hit men, public humiliation, a bubbly Tri-Delt and of course a happy ending for our beleaguered heroine.  Poor Maddy put all her eggs in one basket and started a new company with her live-in boyfriend.  You just know that won’t end up well!

It’s a fun, quick read, and oh-so-satisfying.  It’s perfect for the beach or other summertime locale.

Baa Baa!

A mystery about a murdered shepherd… as solved by his flock of sheep? The gimmick gets you to look into Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, but the writing and the mystery keep you going. Swann’s sheep are all exceptional, and charming to no end, but they are still completely ovine. The flock’s investigative methods are a little unorthodox and their logical reasoning is based on their sheepy world view. Do they have what it takes to solve a mystery though?

The prose is as mesmerizing and as rich as poetry, despite having been translated from German. There are a few laugh-out loud moments, and some of pure melancholy.

Check out this book if you love mysteries but are tired of the genre’s usual conventions!

Creepy-crawlies

The Ruins  by Scott Smith

The Ruins is a psychological thriller.  It’s billed as a horror novel, but I don’t know that it was scary so much as harrowing, nerve-wracking and full of despair.  I find that horror novels are usually only scary until the mystery is revealed, but with The Ruins, that’s just when things start to get interesting.

In one of those “everything that can go wrong, will” situations a group of pampered 20-something American tourists in Cancún finds themselves traipsing out to some ruins in the Mayan jungle in search of another missing tourist from Germany.  It certainly doesn’t sound scary, but there’s a dangerous vine at the ruins that makes thier lives, oh let’s say… difficult.

 When things started going downhill for this group I peeked at the ending first so I could decide if I wanted to continue.  I did, and I wasn’t sorry.  The author has created a fascinating character study with the interplay of all the different personalities.  What would you do if faced with such a dire situation?

 - Jennifer

Jen’s May reading

The Harrowing – Alexandra Sokoloff

It was a dark and stormy night. Five college students remain behind at their dorm over Thanksgiving break. When the power goes off, they light some candles and pull out an old ouija board… mayhem ensues. This is Sokoloff’s first novel, and a good one. It gave me scary dreams one night. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but I often think that scary stories lose some of their edge once the “big bad” is identified. Like it’s the not knowing that’s the scary part. This book is not an exception, but where the scary started to subside the thrill started ramping, so it was a great read from start to end. Highly recommended!