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Reading Wednesday

    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

    May 21, 2025
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    What does it mean to be or have a true friend? One who forgives and still loves? This is the theme of this novel. A beautifully written story of devotion and love of friends and country. Here is my book review The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.

    Friendship

    It’s the 1950’s in Iran, and little Ellie has a privledged life in a beautiful home with her domineering and narsisstic mother. Her mom, constantly claiming to be of royal blood, looks down on most people. Ellie is a lonesome girl and just wants a friend.

    Ellie’s father dies suddenly and she and her mother lose all of their wealth and security, and move to the poor side of town.

    When Ellie makes friends with Homa at her new school, Ellie see’s another kind of simplier life, with kind, caring parents who welcome Ellie into their humble home. Her friend Homa shows Ellie what a true friend can be, and helps Ellie come out of her shell. But Ellie’s mother looks down on Homa and Homa’s family and decides to take extreme measures to get Ellie out of the neighborhood.

    A Different Life

    Ellie’s mother marries the brother of her dead husband and once again Ellie finds herself in a mansion and opulent school. Years go buy and beautiful Ellie is “queen” of the school. She is slowly falling for a nice boy, when one day Homa arrives at the school too. Expecting to pick up their friendship where it left off, Ellie is conflicted by her old friend and her new status.

    Coming of Age

    The two young women with very different political views will come of age during the tumoltuous 60’s, 70’s and 80’s of Iran. Finding different paths for their beliefs. When Ellie makes an innocent statement in what she believes is an innocuous conversation, Homa’s life will change forever, and Ellie will live with the guilt of that night and her naivety.

    The Lion Women of Tehran

    Ellie and her husband will go to New York for him to take a tempory job. And soon after the Shaw of Iran flees the country and the Ayatolla Khomeini takes over. Women in Iran lose most rights and now are required to wear the Hajib. Ellie and her husband never return to Iran. Homa continues her political fight despite being raped, beaten and imprisoned.

    When Homa reaches out to Ellie after years of silence, Ellie’s continued guilt resurfaces for her old friend. Homa will ask Ellie for the ultimate favor. What can Elllie do but say yes?

    A story of deep friendship, political uncertainty, female strength and the ultimate sacrafice. A sweeping saga of courage and destiny and the different paths that each can take.

    *****Five stars for the Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.

    Thank you for reading my Book Review The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. See last week’s book review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford

    May 14, 2025
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    Jamie Ford’s first novel The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was a wildly successful novel. Based on the Japanese experience during WWII and set in Seattle. This novel I am reviewing today, is also based in Seattle. It conjures so many memories for me growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Here is my Book Review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

    Jamie Ford

    Wait. What? I went to Ford’s bio when writing this book review. And I learned he actually grew up in the town I currently reside – Port Orchard Washington. I was totally taken off-guard;

    “Jamie Ford was born on July 9, 1968, in Eureka, California, but grew up in Ashland, Oregon, and Port Orchard and Seattle, Washington. His father, a Seattle native, is of Chinese ancestry, while Ford’s mother is of European descent.”

    Okay, interesting little tidbit that makes this book even more personal. If you liked The Hotel At the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, I am sure you will enjoy Ford’s book Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

    Worlds Fair

    Love and Other Consolation Prizes explores the Asian experience in Seattle, beginning with the Great Alaska Yukon Exposition of 1909. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), was held in Seattle from June 1 to October 16, 1909. It followed on the heels of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon.

    It’s here we meet young Ernest. He has already had a treacherous journey to the United States, lucky to still be alive. Taken under the wing of an evangelical women, Ernest is placed in a christian school. Then without his knowledge he is used as a “prize” in a raffle. Promoted as “a healthy boy to a good home” at the AYPE. The winning raffle ticket goes to a local well-known “madam” of a high class Seattle brothel.

    Love

    Ernest is very happy with his new position as a houseboy at the brothel. He feels at home for the first time in his life. He befriends the Madams daughter Maisie and “working girl” Fahn and finds himself in love with both girls.

    Consolation Prizes

    In 1962 the Seattle World’s Fair is opening and Ernest is now an old man. He lives in a tiny apartment alone. His wife lives with his daughter who cares for her ailing mother with dementia. Ernest carries secrets from his childhood he has never shared with anyon. Secrets that bubble to the surface with the opening of the worlds fair.

    When his journalist daughter begins to ask questions for a news story, Ernest is thrown back in time. Confliced by memories of a remarkable life, a remarkable love, and a consolation prize unimaginable. Ernest must face his personal Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

    Love and Other Consolation Prizes

    This is an easy read full of emotion that looks at the Asian immigrant experience in the Seattle area. I enjoyed this book very much and should be a read by anyone growing up in Seattle.

    *****Five stars for Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

    See last week’s Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Thanks for reading my book review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick

    May 7, 2025
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    Surprising. A unique plot that brings the reader intimately into the lives of eight people, and the decisions each make that defines the measure of life. Here is my book review The Measure by Nikki Erlick.

    An Ordinary Morning

    It’s an ordinary morning like any other. Or is it? Around the world, whether you live in a high rise apartment, a slum dwelling, or a sailboat, each person on earth wakes to the same thing. A box. Some people will open the box. Some people never will. But inside the box is a piece of string…the measure of ones life.

    Worldwide

    Governments and scientists analyze the strings while society goes into a confused and frightened state of awareness. What can it mean? Do you want to know? Do you really want to know how long you will live? What would you do differently if you knew the answer to this question?

    The Measure

    Erlick’s debut novel looks at how society as a whole, and individuals, deal with a lifeline knowledge. The novel explores families, couples, politics and friendship and how these relationships change when you possess a knowledge never imagined before.

    I enjoyed this story despite it’s lack of reality. What it brings is a magical essence to how people view their lives and the value each person puts on relationships and our individual existence. Both sad and uplifting The Measure is a perfect read for the times we are living in.

    Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick

    *****Five Stars for The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Thank you for reading my Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Read last week’s book review Next Year in Havanna by Chanel Cleeton.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

    April 30, 2025
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    Part history lesson, part love story and part mystery, Next Year in Havana will keep you engaged. I learned some great history in this story, that will help me ironically when I visit Havana next year. Here is my book review Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton.

    Revolution

    Cleeton herself is a descendant of those who fled Cuba during the revolution, much like her characters in Next Year in Havana. She writes with great insight how difficult the decision was for families who fled Castro’s Cuba in the early 1960’s.

    The story is told in alternating timelines. 1958 Cuba we meet Cuban heiress Elisa Perez. Born to wealth and power she is young and naive about politics and revolution. Until Elisa meets and falls in love with a revolutionary. Their love affair will change the projection of Elisa’s life.

    Miami 2017, we meet Marisol Ferrera. Following her beloved grandmother’s death, Marisol is challenged by her grandmother posthumously, to bring her remains to Cuba to be scattered. No one in Marisol’s family has returned to Cuba since they fled. How can Marisol manage this final request of her beloved grandmother Elisa.

    Sixty Years

    Despite Fidel’s recent death, Marisol arrives in Havana to find a vastly different Cuba than the one her grandmother left sixty years before. She is welcomed by her grandmother’s childhood friend who gives her a box of memories and letters Elisa had left behind. Marisol will begin a dangerous scavenger hunt after reading the letters, to learn answers to secrets of Elisa’s life she took to the grave.

    Book Review Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

    Though somewhat predictable in the story line and plot, I enjoyed reading this novel. This is one of many books with similar themes by Cleeton. I was intrigued by the family saga and both present and past examples of life as a Cuban woman. I can’t wait for my visit to Cuba next year and I hope to read more about it in the months ahead.

    ****Four stars for Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

    Thank you for reading my book review Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton. See last week’s book review The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

    April 23, 2025
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    I loved this book. Listened to it on Audible while we were traveling in Australia. It was well written and well narrated. Though a work of fiction, Lawhon has well researched the story of real life 18th century midwife Martha Ballard and woven a remarkable tale of mystery, family, love and perseverance. Here is my book review The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

    Maine

    For most of us I think Martha Ballard contribution to midwifery has lived under the radar. Lawhon brings this amazing women to life in The Frozen Women. We are introduced to Martha in winter 1789. It’s a hard scrabble life for Maine’s residents during the long, cold winters. The frozen Kennebec that runs through the village of Hallowell Maine will be the center of this story.

    Healer

    Martha Ballard is a healer, midwife, and pursuer of justice. Over her decades of service she has become something of a legend in our village, called open for births, deaths, and tragedies of all kinds. On a cold winter night she is summoned when a man is found dead and frozen in the river. This death is on the heals of a recent brutal rape, allegedly by two of the towns most wealthy and important men. Now one of those men is dead.

    Female

    Martha is, of course, female. And the local male doctor believes he is more skilled at both determining the cause of death and saving mothers in childbirth. Martha’s talents and practices are questioned at every turn, by men of wealth and power including the powerful local judge.

    Martha is undeterred, despite the worry her husband has for her safety. She pursues justice for the woman who was raped and safe health care for all the women of the village. All while dealing with her own family members and their various own pregnancies and medical needs. She is nothing but astonishing in her commitment to others during a time when women are expected to stay quiet and submissive.

    Diary

    In her real life Martha kept a daily diary of all the goings on in the village, every birth she attended. Every ailment and death as well as much of the activities and gossip of Hallowell. This diary becomes both a tool for writing about Martha centuries later, and a key piece of evidence against the corrupt judge.

    Book Review The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

    I loved this book, and I am sure I would have loved it just as much reading it as I did listening to it. It has a compelling story line, excellent character development, beautiful descriptive narrative and a fabulous female protagonist. Martha Ballard is an unsung hero worth knowing more about.

    Thank you for reading my book review The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Be sure to see last week’s book review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey

    April 16, 2025
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    The coming of age story is a frequent plot line in many novels. But this story is not fiction. Saving Ellen is a memoir of a large Irish family, growing up in the sixties and dealing with terminal illness. Here is my book review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey.

    Buffalo New York

    As adults, we all look back on our childhood from a vantage point unimagined while we were living it. Maura Casey takes advantage of her long career as a journalist and editorial writer for the New York Times to eloquently describe the tumultuous years of her own growing up, using humor and brutal honesty as she looks back.

    A working-class Irish family in the 60’s and 70’s in Buffalo New York is not so hard to imagine for most of us. But the chaos this family lived through, due to terminal illness of one of their own, might be. And if you have struggled with caring for a family member who is chronically ill, you will identify closely with this family.

    Sisters

    Saving Ellen presents Maura’s memories of her childhood, and her close relationship with her older irrepressible sister Ellen. When Ellen is diagnosed with kidney disease, the entire family and their world will begin to revolve around “saving Ellen”.

    Though Maura realizes the importance of focusing on Ellen’s illness and recovery, she finds herself with her own quiet youthful struggles and nowhere to turn. She internalizes things that are happening to her (including a sexual assault) in an effort to not cause the family more angst. She wants her beloved sister to get well, but also resents the mayhem Ellen’s health has created for the family.

    Family

    Maura’s father is a well known philanderer and drunk, while her mother is the champion for Ellen and the family. Focused and determined, Maura’s mother will risk her own long-term health to save Ellen by donating a kidney during a time when this procedure was dangerous and uncommon.

    Tumultuous

    In an already tumultuous time period in America, this family lives through a family crisis, held together by their love and determination for each other – and a smart, strong and determined mother. Tragic and uplifting, with moments of humor and gratitude – Saving Ellen is a beautiful story of family ties.

    ****Four stars for Saving Ellen by Maura Casey. Thank you for reading my book review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey. See last week’s book review Nightwatch by Jayne Ann Philips.

    I received this book, Saving Ellen by Maura Casey, gratis from Books Forward.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

    April 9, 2025
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    Night Watch is a story of the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War. The novel won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Published in 2023 it is a work of historical fiction. Here is my book review Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips.

    Coming of Age

    This is another coming of age story. We meet 12 year-old ConaLee who tends to all aspects of her family in the rural cabin post Civil War. ConaLee cares for her sick mother and three baby siblings as well as her abusive and tyrannical “Papa”. ConaLee does not remember the time before the war, or when her mother was not ill.

    Mental Illness

    This novel looks at how trauma, abuse and grief can result in depression and mental illness. It explores through the eyes of ConaLee what life inside the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum might have been like.

    Memory Loss

    “Papa” drops ConaLee and Eliza at the door of the Asylum and drives off leaving them abandoned. The pair will be met by the Night Watch, a man named O’Shea. He wears an eye patch and has a serious head injury from The War. Unknown to ConaLee, he is tied to her and her mother in a very deep and surprising way. Can Eliza come out of her deep depression? Can O’Shea retrieve his lost memories? And can this happen in time for all to reconcile the past, the war and find a way forward?

    Book Review Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

    There are some wicked characters in this book. Phillips has a great writing style to describe the horrors of war and the chaos that followed. There are also some endearing characters in this book, particularly the strong-willed and determined ConaLee. My criticism of the book is that there are several coincidences the move the plot forward. I found those coincidences a bit far-fetched. But the novel is a beautiful chronicle of surviving when all seems to be lost.

    ****Four stars for Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips.

    Thank you for reading my book review Night Watch by Janye Anne Phillips. See last week’s book review Long Island by Colm Toibin.

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