Diane’s Book Reviews

Orbital by Samantha Harvey reviewed by Diane Dachota – December 15, 2025

This was difficult to rate; I enjoyed the beautiful quality of the writing and the philosophical questions poised, yet the lack of plot or dialogue was difficult. I’m glad this Booker Award winner was only 200 pages; this type of prose can get tedious fast. This is a book about 6 astronauts who are in space. As they orbit the earth, their thoughts and musings reflect their life in space, humanity, and what it means to be alive. As a typhoon hits the earth, the crew must photograph the storm from space and they spend their days drifting above countries and attending to small tasks they each must do such as experiments with mice, growing wheat and other tasks.

The book has a melancholy tone and at times the astronauts seem to be depressed and possibly mentally afflicted. One of the crew finds out her mother has died back on earth, and she finds it hard to find a place for her grief within the mental spaces the crew must stay in. The author does a great job with describing the colors and shapes of the countries they circle, and I could almost imagine myself floating in space watching the sun rise and set over the world. I did wonder a bit at her insistence that the space crew needs to become nearly inhuman in order to remain in space. There are also lots of facts about space, the earth and human responses to situations most of us will never experience. At times I was bored, other times fascinated and sometimes felt vaguely depressed at reading this book. I’m glad I took a chance on it.

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez reviewed by Diane Dachota – December 8, 2025

Fans of Alvarez might have missed seeing this slim novel about growing older, family connections and doing the right things, which was published in 2020. Main character Antonia has recently lost her husband and has just retired from her job as a literature professor. She is unsure on what she wants to do with her life and the memories of her life with her late husband Sam, fill her thoughts. She has three sisters and although they love each other deeply, they often argue and don’t get along, and Antonia has always felt left out.

Her quiet life changes when two things happen: her sister Izzy who all the sisters think may be bipolar disappears; and due to some random circumstances, she finds herself responsible for a young woman from Mexico, attempting to ride a Greyhound bus to Vermont. The young woman is the girlfriend of her neighbor’s handyman and both she and the handyman Manuel are illegal. There is a fair amount of discussion on the role of ICE which is just as relevant today as in 2020. Antonia goes on a road trip with her three sisters to find Izzy and also becomes worried about the fate of the young woman from Mexico who is heavily pregnant.

The story is written at a bit of a remove and there is no direct dialogue, only Antonia’s recollections of what people have said. I liked the love and messiness of the sisters and also the moral questions that Antonia faced such as how responsible she should be for other people. Alvarez brought up some interesting questions regarding the responsibilities we might have both towards family and other people in our cultural group. 

Heart the Lover by Lily King reviewed by Diane Dachota – November 6, 2025

The story of three college friends and their love affairs that were never quite right. The unnamed woman narrator meets handsome Sam and his funny roommate Yash in college along with their friend Ivan. They nickname her Jordan after the character from “The Great Gatsby” and continue to call her Jordan throughout the novel. She has feelings for Sam, but his religious upbringing prevents him from having the relationship she wants to have, and she breaks up with him only to find herself involved with Yash. Yash is funny, smart and loving but always feels he falls short in the viewpoint of his Indian father.

When ‘Jordan’ graduates and accepts a nanny position in Paris, she wants Yash to join her there and then later in New York, but something goes awry and Yash moves elsewhere, pursuing a career in law. The woman becomes a writer and becomes estranged from both Sam and Yash for a number of years. Twenty some years after graduation, the woman is married with two sons and living as a writer and teacher. When Sam reaches out to her, the past and present collide as she examines the decisions and circumstances that brought her to where she is today.

A coming-of-age story with intelligent and at times very pretentious characters, the novel deals with heartbreak and death as well as pursuing dreams and finding happiness and love. There is a connection that is revealed at the end between this book and King’s previous novel “Writer’s and Lovers”. I enjoyed this story which brought me back to my own college days and the strong connections we form when we are first finding ourselves in the world. 

Twist by Colum McCann reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 22, 2025

Genre defying literary novel, this story is about the twisting cables that bring us the internet from under the sea, but also the twisting relationships between humans, nature and the modern world. A modern retelling of “The Great Gatsby”, this story is about a journalist wracked with guilt and loneliness and the enigmatic character John Conway, who is the leader of a group that repairs fiber optic cables undersea. Anthony Fennell is an Irish journalist who has battled alcohol and his guilt at leaving behind a son who is now 16 years old. Fennell is given an assignment to write an article about the ships that are sent to repair the information cables whose breaks cause communications to cease in communities around the world. Fennell is given the name of Conway who leads a team out of Cape Town, South Africa and he meets with him to help understand the role of fiber optic cables and hopes to be invited onto the ship that repairs them when they break.

Conway is a reluctant character; he supplies the crew and expertise to repair these broken cables while at the same time he has no use for modern technology, even carrying a flip phone. Fennell becomes intrigued with Conway but also with his partner Zanele who he meets at Conway’s home. Zanele is an actress with two children and met Conway through diving, a hobby the two characters share. Conway talks to Fennell about “free diving” which is an activity where the diver learns to build up air in their lungs and then dives without the aid of an air tank. Fennell than joins Conway’s crew as they make their way to several breaks in the hopes of repairing these vital lifelines to communication, business and modern life. This is a story about severed connections, both in the digital and the real world.

At one point Conway disappears and this begins another section in the novel which includes issues of ecoterrorism, and Fennell becomes obsessed with connecting with Conway and Zanele. The technical information on the cable repairs was fascinating and the connections between the cables and the twisting of human nature and the nature of belonging is unraveled in a beautiful and meaningful way. I found the story both fascinating and haunting. 

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 8, 2025

The first chapter of this book started with a bang and made me curious as to what would come next. It is a story about grief, connections and finding second chances. It is also about people making mistakes and how those mistakes can have lasting repercussions. Tom is a widower who lives with his young son Henry. Tom sold his company so he could become a stay-at-home parent and is doing a great job with Henry with some help from his late wife’s two friends Lauren and Annie. His life changes one day when he receives a letter by mistake, a letter which leads him to meet Grace, a lovely young woman who is training to be a sommelier and who happens to be a dead ringer for his late wife.

The book has an unusual narrator, and it added a great deal of interest by having this person narrate the story. Tom’s friends want him to find happiness but their loyalty to his late wife made it difficult for them to embrace the new woman in his life. Grace’s women’s group are protective of her and her heart and can’t quite warm up to Tom. There are some moral dilemmas explored that I found interesting and made me wonder how I would handle the situation. 

I won’t reveal the various twists and turns that occur here (some of them too coincidental for me) but I fell in love with Henry and also liked Tom despite his making some bad choices. This is not really a love story but contains a lot of love.

The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani reviewed by Diane Dachota – August 1, 2025

Family roles and traditions and finding the courage to live your dreams are the themes of this novel. Trigiani is an expert at describing the Italian American experience and her descriptions of the food alone are enough to make you drool. Jess, (short for Giuseppina) is recently divorced and living in her parent’s basement. As she is in her mid-thirties, she realizes she has been letting life happen to her rather than seeking out her own passions. She enjoys her work as a drafter with her Uncle Lou’s stone and marble business but when he dies, she finds herself feeling adrift. Her family seems to want to keep her as a maiden aunt type; someone to cook, clean, entertain nieces and nephews and to always be there for everyone else. Jess wants more out of life.

She decides to take a trip to Italy to see the quarries where her uncle got their Carrara marble and where he once lived and worked on the mountains. Jess’s parents are against her going and on top of that her ex-husband Bobby wants her back. Does she have what it takes to forge her own path? I enjoyed the parts set in Italy as Jess finds a beautiful apartment, a job and meets a handsome and complicated Italian man. Jess is healing not only from her divorce and her loss in the family, but from a family secret she found out before leaving home. She is also doing online therapy and through her assigned journaling, we find out more about what made her so scared to be herself.

I did feel the novel was a bit fairy-tale like at times. Jess gets a job, the home of her dreams and a handsome man who falls in love with her without much effort. However, there were equally things I loved such as the close and bickering Capodimote-Barratta family and the way they celebrated events in their very close community. I loved the beautiful descriptions of Italy, and the marvelous food Jess ate while living there. Recommended for those who enjoy complicated family dramas and everyone who loves Italy.

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen reviewed by Diane Dachota – May 1, 2025

Bob the Drag Queen, who became famous through RuPaul’s Drag Race wanted to write a novel that gave readers some background on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad but also addressed the challenges with being a gay person of color in today’s society. This is a book of fiction, and the author uses the devise of Tubman and other notables from history returning to the earth for reasons not explained. The first half of the book is about a middle-aged man named Darnell who is contacted by Tubman. Tubman has a group of people she knew during her lifetime that she calls the Freemans, and she wants to put out a rap album and set up a concert schedule to tell the world about slavery. Darnell works in the music industry and is surprised to be contacted by Tubman who goes by the nickname “Minty”.

The second half of the book is about how Darnell who is a gay man was outed on television by a fellow musician who is gay himself. Darnell felt betrayed and lost his passion for music until he met Tubman. As Tubman tells the story about her life and that of other enslaved people and people who tried to help the enslaved, Darnell realizes he never really knew the truth about this time in history and the difficulty in securing freedom. The author ties in the freedom from slavery to the difficulties faced by gay people and especially gay people of color.

The message is good, and I enjoyed hearing from the very feisty Minty and learned a fair amount about Tubman’s life and her role in securing freedoms for many of the enslaved. However, the book is not intended to be an exhaustive account of slavery but rather is filling in some gaps which may be missing from the typical history books. At times the writing was almost too simple, and I felt this could almost be a young adult novel. As Darnell helps Tubman and her group get ready to go in concert and provide her story to the world, he becomes more confident in his own abilities and the direction for his life. The ending of the book gives a list of song lyrics which Harriet proposes for her tour, and I enjoyed reading the songs and they gave an air of authenticity to the story. 

We Do Not Part by Han Kang, Translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris reviewed by Diane Dachota – April 23, 2025

A literary fiction novel using magical realism and the forces of nature to describe the real horrors of political upheaval, generational trauma and making peace with the past. This is not a novel that will be for everyone. Much of this book exists in a dream-like state as the main character suffers from maladies both physical and emotional and in this story the horrors of the past are visited upon the bodies of the present. Kyungha is a writer of unknown age, who is all alone trying to write in a sweltering apartment in the heat of summer. We know that she had a family at one time and that her health problems may have driven them away, but we are not told anything else about her circumstances. One day she receives a message from a friend named Inseon asking her to please come. The two women had previously decided to work together to create a documentary project about the massacre at Jeju Island, in which thousands of men, women and children were murdered in 1948-1950. Kyungha decides not to do the project but finds out Inseon has been working on it on her own.

Upon arriving at a hospital in Seoul, Kyungha finds that her friend has had a woodworking accident and must stay in the hospital. Inseon asks Kyungha to go to her home in Jeju and take care of her pet bird who was only left with food and water enough for a few days. The main portion of the story begins as Kyungha finds herself traveling by bus and then walking miles in a snowstorm to Inseon’s home. Kang’s descriptions of the heavy snow, the wind and the black trees that resemble people give a creepy edge to this story. Upon arriving after nearly freezing to death, Kyungha finds the research her friend has done of the massacre and through conversations with Inseon or her possible spirit, learns about the connections between Inseon’s mother and the victims of the atrocities. The book is difficult and it clear that the author feels the island of Jeju is haunted in a way by the bodies buried there and the fact that the government took a long time to recognize and identify the remains for the families. Kang’s book “The Vegetarian” is one of my favorite books, and this book belongs in the same realm as it deals with the trauma that can transcend generations. The novel does not end in despair despite the dire circumstances; the author shows the power of friendship and love.

The Last Bookshop in Prague by Helen Parusel reviewed by Diane Dachota – March 19, 2025

Historical fiction about the occupation of Prague during WWII and the courage of the men and women who fought for their lives during this terrible time. Janna and her father own a small bookstore which belonged to her late mother. Jana sells the books and her father makes puppets. One day she is reading to a small boy named Michal and Janna walks him to his home in the Jewish section of Prague. Janna sees Michal’s mother being taken away by the police and it is up to Janna to save this small boy. This starts Janna’s story as a young woman who works to save Jewish children from imprisonment and also joins the resistance; a group of Czechs who are fighting the Germans in secret.

The author does an amazing job of describing the beautiful city of Prague and since I recently visited this historic city, I could vividly imagine the scenes set around the buildings, bridges and the beautiful Astronomical Clock. There is a romantic side story when Janna meets Andrej who is a police officer secretly working for the resistance. I enjoyed the characters in this book especially brave Janna and her family and felt sad for the people who struggled to eat, work and live in such an oppressive environment. As Jana takes a job cleaning offices in the Prague castle, currently used by the Nazi officers, I feared for her life and the author did a great job with the tension building. While this is a story of fiction, it reflects the author’s extensive research into the communist takeover of Prague during WWII and the resistance fighters who fought to take back their city and country. 

Emotional and heartfelt story about the hearts and souls of the Czech people during wartime and the hardships and hope found in the characters of Janna and her father. I can’t wait to read more from this author. 

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger reviewed by Diane Dachota – March 17, 2025

(3.5 Star Rating) 

Three generations of women and the long-term effects of parental 

abandonment is the theme of this family saga. Politics, modern culture and the Jewish experience in America are also themes throughout this story of the Pereria women. The main character in the story, Lila, is retiring from her position as executive editor at The Washington Globe when she becomes ill from lung cancer and dies. But Lila and her story continue on as the novel goes back and forth over time to tell the readers about Lila’s difficult childhood with a mother that was sent to an institution when Lila was two years old, and she was left in the care of her brutal and abusive father.

Lila is an unusual character and while I liked her ambition and attitude about not caring what other people think, she was not a good mother. I understood Lila was this way because she suffered so much abuse from her father, but she still made the choice to put her career over her children. Lucky for Lila, her husband Joe was very happy to be a loving parent to their three daughters. Two scenes really stood out to me with Lila: when her daughter Grace is first born, Lila picks her up just once holding her at arm’s length and then she never picks up her baby again. When Grace is in college, Lila thinks she heard a rumor her daughter might be engaged but decides she doesn’t care enough to look into it.

The second part of the book is about Grace who suffers and is angry her mother never loved or paid attention to her. Grace’s roommate Ruth also takes up a lot of space in the story as we meet Ruth’s mother and grandmother who are both single parents. Grace writes a book called “The Lost Mother” which is a thinly veiled book about the missing grandmother that seemed to hover over their lives.

The very end of the book finds Grace and her sisters looking for what happened to her grandmother Zelda after she was sent away and find surprising results. I had mixed feelings about the book as a whole. The plot was intriguing but some of the dialogue seemed more like speechifying rather than the way real people speak. 

James by Percival Everett reviewed by Diane Dachota – February 4, 2025

Happy to be starting my reading year with a five-star novel! James is the retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the viewpoint of the enslaved man Jim. Jim has renamed himself James and is on the run with young Huck Finn as he heard he has been sold, and he doesn’t want to be separated from his family. Huck has faked his death to get away from his abusive father and is friendly with James and his family. James is an interesting man who taught himself to read by sneaking books from a judge’s study, and he often dreams of conversations with philosophers. The pair head out on the river in a raft, where they will meet a lot of people including enslaved men and women, con men and evil men who enslave others. 

This book tells the terrible truths about America before the Civil War and also includes adventures, family relationships and a bit of humor, much like the original Mark Twain book. I found the book to be both heart-breaking and hopeful as well as exciting and at times I was on the edge of my seat hoping James and Huck would escape another bad situation. Highly recommend this Book of the Year Choice!

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett reviewed by Diane Dachota – January 29, 2025

I put off reading this novel because several friends have said it was boring, and in places it is. It is also a beautifully written story about regrets, choices made, family relationships and finding where you belong. Set during the time of COVID, we meet Lara and her husband Joe who own a cherry orchard in Michigan. I frequently vacation in this area and Patchett does a great job of describing the beautiful lake community and the mechanics of running an orchard. As they pick the cherries, the daughters beg their mother to tell them stories of her days as an actress when she was young, and the man she used to date who became a famous actor.

The book is slow moving and Lara’s story is meant to parallel the story of “Our Town” with Lara standing in for the “Stage Director”. Lara was hired to come to the theater town of “Tom Lake” when she was in her early twenties, and it was there that she played Emily and fell in love with fellow actor Peter Duke. Duke was charismatic and fun but had issues with drinking and Lara allowed herself to get swept away with the days spent rehearsing, swimming and hanging out with Duke, his brother Sebastian and her understudy, Palace.

The story is both poignant and sad at parts. There were some surprises as Lara told her story of how she left acting and ended up with Joe in Michigan. I have my doubts that any adult children would want to spend hours every day hearing old stories and the young women were so invested they were often sobbing, gasping or stomping away in anger over parts of the story. This book had a slow, gentle quality that I appreciated, and it made me think about my own life and regrets about the past.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty reviewed by Diane Dachota – January 6, 2025

I loved this book and had tears in my eyes at the end! This is a story about fate, love, heartbreak, marriage and taking chances. I loved the characters and how true to life the experiences these people had were portrayed. This is about a flight on an airplane going from Hobart to Sydney, Australia. All is well until an older woman begins walking down the aisles and pointing to passengers telling them when they die and what the cause of death will be. For many people, they are told they will lead a long life but for some passengers, they are told they don’t have long to live. While most of the people don’t really believe the woman, it still makes them examine their lives and choices and think about “what if?”

I enjoyed the life story of Cherry, the “death woman’ as she is called on social media and appreciated her bits and pieces about the laws of probability that are sprinkled throughout. I also enjoyed seeing how the passengers that were given predications of an early death, decided to make choices that would make them happy no matter what happens. These passengers included Allegra, a flight attendant, Evie and Dom, a married couple who are in love but are told she will die of spousal abuse and Paula who is told her baby will die of drowning at age seven.

This book doesn’t follow a predictable route and the endings for these people are not what you would think starting the book. I will be thinking about this one for a long time!

The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan reviewed by Diane Dachota – January 1, 2025

Oh, the Irish can write! Beautifully crafted story told in vignette form of four generations of Irish women, living together through good times and bad, births, deaths and faith. The book starts with the story of little Saoirse, only a few days old when her father is killed in an accident. Saoirse’s mother Eileen and paternal grandmother Mary, make a home together that is often filled with fighting but always filled with love.

Each short chapter has a title reflecting what event is happening and the Aylward women survive the mean gossip of the neighbors, the deaths of family members and the fears and hopes that they have for Saoirse and then her own daughter Pearl. The novel takes place over a period of more than 20 years and we see the strength and faith the women have as they raise their precious daughter, granddaughter and then great-granddaughter. Other relatives and friends also have their stories told some with triumph and some with tragedy. I can’t wait to read more by this talented author.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 17, 2024

Writers have lots of unfinished stories and ideas; what becomes of these bits and pieces? Julia Alvarez brings a fresh idea in this novel about unfinished business, aging and relationships. Alma Cruz is a well-known writer who is close to seventy years old. She has lived in Vermont for many years but when she and her three sisters inherit some plots of land in their native Dominican Republic, she decides to retire from the writing life and move home. Alma ends up with the largest plot but in the worst neighborhood and she decides to create a cemetery for all of her half-finished stories and ideas.

Alma enlists a local artist to create sculptures to mark the spots for each of her stories and then hires a woman named Filomena as a caretaker. Anyone wanting to come in to see the cemetery must provide a story of their own to enter. Alma and Filomena begin to hear the characters from the stories come alive as each seeks to finish out what they need to tell. Alma’s story takes a bit of a back seat as we hear about the various characters including Filomena’s story of being abandoned along with her older sister Perla. The other main stories are about the second wife of a brutal dictator and her fight to keep her daughter and Dr. Manuel Cruz who was Alma’s father.

Issues of abandonment are in the forefront of most of the stories with several characters being left by their Dominican husbands due to aging or gaining weight. The children of these woman are then torn apart from one or both of their parents and they carry their own abandonment issues throughout their life.

There is also a lot to unpack about displacement, prejudice and mental health struggles. There are a lot of characters, and it takes a while before we can see the connections between them. There is a beautiful sadness to this story as these characters age and become ill along with their unrealized dreams.

Songs for The Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 10, 2024

The death of a mother is always complicated, especially when you lived far apart, both in location and in attitudes. This beautifully written book is about a thirty-five-year-old Yemeni-Israeli woman named Zohara who has come home to Israel from New York City for her mother’s funeral. Zohara has had some difficult years and recently divorced her husband and has become unable to finish her PHD in literature. The author uses all of the senses in this story as we can almost feel the hot winds and the sand beneath our feet, smell the colorful flowers and citrus trees outside Zohara’s childhood home, taste the warm and spicy Yemeni soup and hear the sad, poetic songs her mother recorded when she sang. Zohara’s story alternates with the story of her mother Saida when she was young married woman with a small boy and trying to survive in an immigrant camp in 1950. The third story is about a young man named Yoni, who was quite close to his grandmother Saida even when her two daughters were not.

Zohara arrives initially dismissive of everything; her illiterate mother that sent her away to school at age fourteen and seemed forever upset about her young son who died while they were in the camp, and her sister Lizzie who she never had much in common with and who raises children instead of seeking the intellectual life that Zohara prefers. Zohara’s journey home brings with it finding answers to many questions about her mother and the reasons her mother acted as she did. Along the way, she also discovers the beautiful songs her mother composed and sang and learned that her mother’s early life was filled with heartbreak.

There is a fair amount of politics in this story and I found it interesting to learn about the history of the Yemeni people and their struggles to protect their identities in a place that was never really home. The love story of young Saida and Yaqub, a young man who met Saida in the immigrant camp; was both sweet and sorrowful. As Zohara reconnects with old friends and family, she begins to understand her life is not so different from her mother’s after all.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman reviewed by Diane Dachota – July 28, 2024

Sandwich is a perfect name for this book. It describes the place this fictional family goes to for a week each summer, Sandwich, MA, it describes the custom-made sandwiches the mom makes to take to the beach, and it describes the time of life when the parents are still worried about their young adult kids but also worried about their elderly parents. Every summer Rocky (nickname for Rachel), her husband Nick and their two children go to the same house on Cape Cod for a summer vacation. The house is too small, and the toilet always clogs, but the beach is beautiful, and this family is very, very close. This year Rocky and Nick arrive with nineteen-year-old Willa, a college student who is very woke and opinionated, and Jamie, their twenty-four-year-old son who brought his long-time girlfriend Maya. For the last two days of the trip, Rocky’s parents will join them at the beach house.

The book is organized by what happened each day on the vacation and along with hanging on the beach and cooking seafood, surprises and realizations are brought to the surface for Rocky. Rocky won’t be for everyone: she is often vulgar in her speech and appears to have no boundaries when speaking to her kids. Rocky is fifty-four and going through menopause which is bringing with it hot flashes, mood swings and strange fears for her children and their safety. Rocky unleashes a lot of her anger on her patient, kind husband Nick and he seemed a bit of a saint at times as he never gets upset but always tries to help her stay calm.

During this week Rocky shares with her daughter a lot of information about her pregnancies, and past miscarriages and abortion. Some of this information is very graphic. Willa was a bit of an unlikable character as she constantly told her mother how she was supposed to feel, speak and think, although Rocky had no problem with her daughter being gay and was overall very liberal in her beliefs. I enjoyed hearing about the family’s traditions including going to the library book sale each year and an epilogue gave us an update on the future of this clan.

The Women by Kristin Hannah reviewed by Diane Dachota – July 8, 2024

(4.5 Star Rating)

It is 1966 and Frankie’s beloved older brother is going off to the war in Vietnam. The McGrath’s are a Navy family and Frankie’s father has a wall of heroes photo gallery that only contains the men in the family. Frankie wonders if women can be heroes too. She has just graduated nursing school and in the cultural mores of the time she is expected to work until she marries. On impulse, Frankie joins the Army Nurse Corps (the other branches of service won’t take her because she has no experience). Upon arriving in Vietnam, Frankie realizes she is not prepared for the life of an Army nurse. The soldiers who arrive are badly injured, many have lost limbs and many of them die. The living conditions of the nurses is very far from what wealthy Frankie is used to and she requires the help of two nurses, Barb and Ethel to survive. Barb and Ethel become lifelong friends of Frankie and save her life in more ways than one over the years.

The first part of the book is set in Vietnam as Frankie struggles but is able to hone her skills and become an excellent surgical nurse. She falls in love more than once, the last time with her brother’s friend Rye with whom she shares a passionate few days on leave in Hawaii. The second part of the book is when Frankie returns home, a home that feels strange and unfriendly to her. The veterans returning from Vietnam were not hailed as heroes but spit on and called names. They found it difficult to get jobs or housing or find help for PTSD which was not really recognized at that time. Frankie found that women had it even worse as the fellow vets and even the Veterans Organization did not recognize that women served in the military and thought that women who were not in combat did not experience the results of that combat.

 As Frankie and her friends Ethel and Barb struggled to find a life outside the military, the USA slowly began to both protest the war and understand the sacrifices of those who served in it. The author did a great job of researching for this novel and she interviewed nurses who served in Vietnam as well as read several books on the subject. I found this story of the women who served in Vietnam moving and educational and appreciated the author including a picture of the women’s memorial statue which was not unveiled until 1993.

You Like It Darker by Stephen King reviewed by Diane Dachota – June 13, 2024

I’m always excited to get a new Stephen King book and this book of short stories was excellent. King has the knack of combining horror with deeply thought-out characters and the results are stories that stay with you long after you finish them. My favorite in this collection was also the longest; “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” which was about a man being unjustly accused of a crime and the unhinged police officer who would not believe him. I also loved “Two Talented Bastids” which was about talent and how some people just have it (and others don’t) and “On Slide Inn Road” which is a homage to Flannery O’Connor.

King’s works have changed a bit reflecting his age and life; a story is set in Florida where King lives part of the time now and some of the characters are in their 70’s like King. “Rattlesnakes” is a sequel to “Cujo” and probably the creepiest of the stories. Themes of being down on your luck and fate are reoccurring in this collection of stories and not every character gets a happy ending.  For people wanting sheer horror this may not be your favorite but if you enjoy horror mixed with literary fiction this will be the right book for you.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong reviewed by Diane Dachota – June 6, 2024

Beautifully written story told in three parts: part one is a romance story, part two is a coming-of-age story and part three is historical fiction. Each story has its own identity and come together to provide a riveting picture of three generations of a Chinese family in both China during the revolution and in America. The interlocking themes of this book are racial identity, science and fate with a touch of magical realism.

Part one begins Lily’s story and is set in 1999 when Lily is a struggling unpaid intern at a travel magazine. Lily was born in America, but her parents are Chinese immigrants who are scientists and want nothing more than to have Lily follow the same path. Lily meets Matthew at a party, and they are different in every way; he is rich, white and highly educated. The two fall in love but Lily struggles to fit in with Matthew’s family.

Part two is set in 2021 and is about Nick, the son of Lily. Lily and Matthew are not together, and Lily raises her boy with strict rules and little resources in the state of Washington. Nick is tall and blonde and doesn’t look Chinese at all, a fact that makes him curious about the father he never knew even though he loves and is loved by his mother. Nick’s quest to find and reunite with his father is a catalyst to a lasting rife between Nick and his mother.   

The third part of the story is set in 2030 and tells the tale of Mei who is Lily’s mother. Flashbacks tell us that Mei was a young college student in the 1960’s when the cultural revolution was taking place and people and their belongings were destroyed in favor of living a grueling life under Chairman Mao. Mei’s story was fascinating and explained many of her choices in life and how there were many things in her life she could not choose.

I very much enjoyed this novel and at the same time wished some things were better explained including the decisions made in the name of science. I also thought the magical realism aspect wasn’t really needed although I understood the symbolism behind the idea of ‘freezing time.’

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawson reviewed by Diane Dachota – May 21, 2024

Based on a real-life midwife named Martha Ballard, this historical fiction book is about a murder and the midwife who was the backbone of the town of Hallowell, Maine in the late 1700’s. Martha Ballard was a midwife who left behind a diary where she detailed the hundreds of babies she delivered as well as snippets about her daily life. This novel takes the bones of her story and creates a murder mystery about a man who is pulled from the frozen Kennebec River in 1792. The man is named Joshua Burgess, and he has been accused of rape by a local minister’s wife. Martha is the closest thing the town has to a doctor, so she examines the body and finds evidence the man was beaten and hanged before being dumped in the water. Martha is determined to find out who may have murdered Joshua and also to get justice for Rebecca Foster who says she was raped by two men while her husband was gone.

           The book is slow moving and I was tempted to put it down in the first few chapters, but I continued because I enjoyed the daily life of Martha and the beautiful descriptions of the cold winter in Maine where she and her husband and children lived. There are a lot of characters in the book and Martha often struggles with the authority of the various men who are judges as well as a new male doctor who does not believe in using midwives. There also seems to be a large amount of women in this town who are pregnant before being wed and I did wonder about the sheer number because these women would have been closely chaperoned by family. I also think there is a fair amount of the dialogue and attitudes that are more aligned with current times than the 1700’s.

        I did enjoy Martha’s loving relationship with her husband that included a lot of physical contact even though the pair were over fifty years old, and Martha gave birth to nine children. I also enjoyed the segments from Martha’s daily journal that detailed the births and deaths she attended and short reports of the weather.  A side story about a man who wanted to obtain the Ballard’s property led to the story being a bit longer than needed but I did appreciate the ending and the author’s note regarding her inspiration for the story.

The Last Ranger by Peter Heller reviewed by Diane Dachota – April 12, 2024

Literary novel about the life of a park ranger in Yellowstone, with a bit of a mystery story. Heller does a great job of describing wildlife and the outdoors and uses all of the senses in his writing. At times I could almost smell the mesquite burning on the campfire, hear the thunder of the buffalo as they traveled for food and see the beautiful sunsets over the mountains. Heller himself is an outdoorsman and his books are often set in the west. This book is a bit slower paced than a typical mystery and is more of a slice of life type story with a mystery element.  The ranger of the story is a widower named Ren Hopper. Hopper leads a quiet life when he is not out breaking up fights between campers or trying to stop illegal poaching. He is often lonely and finds himself drawn to the various people who live in or near the park.  One of the people he visits is a wolf biologist named Hilly.

One day he finds Hilly caught in an animal trap near the wolf habitat. Hilly is alive but nearly frozen and Hopper is determined to find out who set the trap as well as determine who has been leaving vaguely threatening notes on his car. There are a lot of characters in the book, and they all have side stories many of them tragic. Hopper himself struggles with the loss of his wife at a young age and he sometimes comes across as having some form of mental illness as he spaces out when driving and generally seems depressed. Most of the novel is about the beauty of Yellowstone and the people who live their lives dedicated to maintaining the plant and animal life contained in the National Park. There is also a romantic subplot that didn’t quite work for me. The mystery is resolved, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see future books about this ranger and the people who live near or in Yellowstone. I loved the beautiful cover of this book!

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz reviewed by Diane Dachota – February 23, 2024

Beautiful, melancholic collection of stories where the city of Rome is the main character and the people who live there often feel isolated and displaced. Pulitzer Prize winner Lahiri moved to Italy a number of years ago and wrote this collection in Italian which has been translated. None of the characters are given names, only initials or character descriptions (the woman, the professor etc). This could serve as a distancing tool for the reader, but somehow it does not. The collection deals with displacement and prejudice, loss and marriage, and always the beauty of Rome. Like all collections of short stories, some held my interest more than others.

My favorites stories were “The Procession” a tale of a middle-aged couple who have gone on vacation to escape the loss of their only child but find themselves carrying the grief with them wherever they go (this one made me cry). “The Steps” which was about the same set of Roman steps viewed through the lives of various people who climb them each day and “P’s Parties”, about a man who encounters the same woman at a friend’s parties year after year and develops a fascination with her. Some of the stories deal with the discrimination and even violence felt against Asian people living in Rome and these stories feel very personal to the author.

So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan reviewed by Diane Dachota – February 16, 2024

Luminous writing describes these short stories, put together in a short book titled So Late in the Day. These stories share a common theme of the differences between men and women, and how some men use and abuse the women in their lives. I found the stories to be both haunting and sad, but also beautiful. Keegan’s descriptions of her native Ireland are like painting a picture with words, whether she is describing the many colors of the sky and the sea, or the bright white hen and purple fuchsia one of the characters encounters during a walk. The first story, also the title of the collection is about a man who wanted a woman only if he didn’t have to give anything back. Cathal met the beautiful French woman Sabine and was drawn to her personality, cooking and beauty. But after asking him to pay for a bunch of cherries she was going to make into a tart, he realized that she might sometimes expect him to treat (she had previously paid for all of their food). When Sabine attempts to move in he is horrified to learn that she expects to bring clothing and a few possessions to his home. After she leaves, he is partly relieved but also lonely and realizes he may have missed his chance.

The second story, “The Long and Painful Death,” was my favorite; a woman is awarded a writer’s residency in a famous writer’s cottage. She has trouble knowing where to start so spends some time walking, swimming and enjoying the solitude. Then an angry German professor shows up at her door, demanding to know why she was awarded this residency and insisting she is a waste of resources. The woman gets revenge on the professor in the most delicious way. The last story is “Antarctica” and it is a bleak study of a wife and mother who feels trapped in her life. She decides to go the city for a weekend, intending to perhaps meet a man for a one-night stand, but finds herself in a dangerous spot. I will read anything this author writes!

The Fury by Alex Michaelides reviewed by Diane Dachota – January 31, 2024

Fantastic literary thriller that reads like a Greek tragedy crossed with Agatha Christie. I was a huge fan of the author’s previous books, The Silent Patient and The Maidens, but this one is the best of all! This is a mystery told in a very literary style. Our narrator is Elliot Chase, and he is the ultimate unreliable narrator. Elliot is a playwright and a very clever, cunning, and interesting man. Elliot reminded me of the character Addison DeWitt from All About Eve in that he was a smart, witty accomplished man who happened to be in love with a famous actress, one he couldn’t get to love him back. In The Fury, the actress is Lana Fararr, and Lana has invited a select group of people to her private island in Greece and one or more of them may be a murderer.

The Fury describes the furious winds that come up out of nowhere and hit the island but also the fury of a woman scorned, and the fury of love not returned. How these furies appear is a story told in five acts, with each act unraveling the true story bit by bit. We have some delicious characters here: Lana, her seventeen-year-old son Leo, her husband Jason, best friend Kate, devoted housekeeper Agathi, caretaker Niko and of course our narrator Elliot. I enjoyed the various characters especially Lana who was the opposite of the typical empty-headed actress. The story will keep you guessing until the very end and even has some Easter eggs from the previous books. Bravo!

Greek Lessons by Han Kang, Translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won reviewed by Diane Dachota – January 24, 2024

Kang’s previous novel, The Vegetarian, remains one of my favorite books of all time and I was happy to see this almost novella-sized book was soon to be published. Not as accessible or emotional as The Vegetarian, this story is more a poetic exploration on what it means to have senses, and what it means when those senses are lost. The book is about two characters: a woman who has lost the ability to speak and a man who is slowly losing his sight. Both of these characters spend much of the book pondering both speech and sight along with reliving memories and experiences that affected their lives and adjustments to loss.

The two individuals meet in a class on Ancient Greek. The man is the professor, and the woman is a student who is drawn to learning this ancient language as perhaps a way she may be able to at last communicate. The two don’t interact though until the very end of the book, and before that, are simply two people lost in their thoughts and, at times, their navel-gazing. The woman reminded me of the main character of The Vegetarian; she was beaten down by life, by Korea where men are favored over women and, like the first character, had a traumatic experience with a dog as a child. The woman has recently lost her mother and custody of her son; since she can no longer speak, she has also lost her job as a professor. The man has not told his employer of his diminishing sight, and his family is in Germany; he is all alone. Many of the man’s thoughts concern a relationship with the child of his former optician, a person he fell in love with to a terrible conclusion.

I think parts of the book were not understandable to me even as I enjoyed the beautiful images and language. I think that is part of the “Greek Lessons,” that perhaps many things fall into the old adage “It’s Greek to me.” I also did not get a real connection with either character, although I felt bad for their afflictions and fates.

My Friends by Hisham Matar reviewed by Diane Dachota – December 31, 2023

Beautifully written story about friendship, exile and finding yourself in the world. This new novel by Pulitzer Prize winning author Hisham Matar is about a singular character, a man named Khaled; but the story encompasses the conflicts in Libya, the fear of those living under the dictatorship and of the need for people everywhere to find their place in the world. Khaled is only 14 when sitting with his family in his home in Benghazi a respected journalist decides to read a short story over the radio instead of the news. The short story is about a man who is being eaten by his pet cat and the story stayed with Khaled for many years until he befriended the author himself.

At age 18, Khaled went away to Edinburgh for college and met his friend Mustafa. While he loved the world of books and learning, he missed his family and felt watched by the students who were paid to keep tabs on their fellow Libyans. When Mustafa talks Khaled into attending a political rally at the Libya embassy, both men are badly wounded with Khaled almost losing his life. From that point on, Khaled feels lost, he cannot return home, and he cannot return to his university. Instead, he makes his life in London, one friend at a time, one decision at a time. Khaled reflects on his life when at age 50, he sees his friend and the author of the short story, Hosam off at the train station. I found Khaled’s life often sad and lonely, but also hopeful. He found a family of friends to care for him when he could not return to his own family, and he allowed himself to be content with what he had. For me, the story ended on a hopeful note, and I was glad to have met Khaled and heard his story.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers reviewed by Diane Dachota – November 30, 2023

Book two in the Monk and Robot series, set in a utopian universe called Panga, this book is gentle and thought-provoking at the same time. The first book in this series “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” was dedicated “To Everyone who needs a break” and this one is dedicated to “For anyone who doesn’t know where they’re going”. This short, novella sized book is more about philosophy than action and likely won’t appeal to those fantasy readers seeking complex storylines and quests and classes of people and things.

In this story, Dex (the monk) and the robot Mosscap continue their journey together. Dex is still trying to find themselves and what they want from the world and Mosscap is on a mission to learn about humans. The duo return to the cities where Mosscap is delighted to meet humans and find out how they live. Like the first book there is a lot of explaining about the world on Panga such as details on their bartering system, how they use electronics and their theories on how to be human. While this seems to be a mostly nihilistic society, there is an acknowledgement of the Gods that came before and a different sort of spirituality. There is a part when Mosscap asks about a shrine to the God Bosh and Dex explains “The shrine’s not for Bosh, it’s for us.” and “Bosh exists and does their work regardless if we pay attention. But if we do pay attention we feel we can connect to them”.

This novel and world really made me think. I’m not sure I would like to live in a world which is so focused on humans just returning to the earth with no purpose beyond that of any plant or animal: yet I liked the idea of bartering, and of giving each person what they need and of living in a world that exists to do no harm.

A Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb reviewed by Diane Dachota – November 2, 2023

Give me a book that takes me into a world I don’t know about, and I am hooked. This literary novel/mystery begins with the theft of a violin from a hotel room. It is not just any violin but a rare Stradivarius, worth ten million dollars and worth the world to Ray McMillian who received the instrument from his beloved grandmother. The mystery of the violin theft isn’t the main theme of the book; as we travel back in time, we see talented Ray trying to make do with a rented school violin, encountering racism and family division as he attempts to follow his dreams and Ray’s spirit which will never let him give up. Ray’s mother wants him to drop out of school and work at Popeyes and she dismisses his talent. But his grandmother and one of his aunts encourage him and remind him he is like his talented grandfather who also played the “fiddle”.

As Ray begins to thrive under the care of a Dr. Janice, a professor who helps him get a college scholarship, we see Ray becoming more confident in who he is and what he wants. When the old and dusty violin which spent decades in an attic is found out to be rare and expensive, Ray’s family demands he sell the piece and give them the money and the family that had once enslaved Ray’s family claim they are the true owners of the violin and want it back. As Ray gets ready for the performance of his lifetime, he also has to worry about who took his beloved violin and how he will get it back. The author who is a trained violinist himself, based some of the book on his own experiences and it broke my heart over and over to see Ray being treated so badly by racist people who could not see him beyond his color. Ray’s talent and spirit and especially his grandmother’s advice to respect himself help him to overcome the barriers to his success.

The book does have some flaws. Some of the characters are flat especially Nicole who sounds like all of her dialogue is AI created. There is a fair amount of fat phobia in the book and all of the evil characters are described as fat, wobbling, jowly, etc. At one point Ray worries that he himself will become fat. That could have been left out. The actions of the FBI in investigating the case seems off but none of this takes away from the beauty of the story and the knowledge I gained about the world of classical musicians. I will be picking up Slocumb’s latest book.

Day by Michael Cunningham reviewed by Diane Dachota – October 26, 2023

A short, beautifully written novel about all the ways people become stuck, in patterns of behavior, in relationships and during the time of COVID, stuck in a literal sense. “Day” covers the same day, April 5, in three separate time periods, 2019. 2020. and 2021. The main characters are a trio: Isabel, a photo editor, her husband Dan a somewhat failed musician, and Isabel’s brother Robbie a middle school teacher. Robbie, who is gay has recently separated from a boyfriend and is living in the attic bedroom of his sister and her husband. Isabel and Dan have two children Nathan, ten-years-old at the outset and five-year-old Violet. Nathan is a typical game playing kid and Violet often seems way wiser than her years and is very attached to her uncle Robbie.

In some ways these people are like the self-centered New Yorkers often portrayed in books and movies. Isabel in particular spends a lot of time navel-gazing. We also meet Dan’s brother Garth who is involved in a barely hanging on relationship with a woman named Chess who gave birth to Garth’s son Odin in a sperm donation situation. Garth found himself in love with Chess who is gay, and he wants a family with Chess and Odin, a family that doesn’t exist to Chess. The longest part of the novel is the first year when we get the set up with the characters. Robbie at times thinks he is love with Dan although it could be just a co-dependence. Isabel doesn’t feel in love with her husband and feels inadequate as a mother. Robbie feels stuck, he doesn’t want to stay a teacher but not sure about his previous decision on going to medical school. Dan doesn’t know who he is if he isn’t a rock star, yet he loves his family even as he feels his wife pulling away.

The second part involves Robbie going to Iceland of all places where he is stuck due to the pandemic. During this time, he is able to continue the social media of a fictional character named Wolfe, which he and Isabel have created as an ideal person who lives life in a way the siblings wish was real. The short third installments find significant changes in the lives of the characters and reveals how the pandemic forced some of the changes. I found the novel to be very sad and the characters not likable but fascinating in their own way. I did think Violet never seemed like a little girl, but she also served as a connection to the changing times. To be published in November 2023.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers reviewed by Diane Dachota – October 12, 2023

Gentle science fiction novel that is non-dystopian in nature, a rarity in the sci-fi/fantasy world. The book is book one of a series featuring a non-binary tea monk named Dex who previously worked in the gardens at a monastery. Dex feels unfulfilled and decides to go on a journey as a tea monk which is a person who travels around listening to people’s problems and giving them tea. This world is called Panga and it ecologically sound with half of this world given over to nature and people living in the other half. We also find out that robots who were previously built to work in factories, were given their freedom by the humans and roamed free in the wilderness.

While Dex is wandering they decide to go into the wilderness and come across the first free robot they have ever seen; Mosscap. Mosscap is wise and very human like and explains to Dex that they are on a journey to learn about humans. While Dex is confused and not too friendly at first, the two go on a journey while talking about life, destiny and fulfillment. This is not a plot heavy novel, it is more an exploration of philosophy and the age old question: What is our purpose in this world?

I enjoyed the descriptions of the cozy, eco-friendly world and liked the idea of a tea monk. I did think the philosophy contradicts itself at times and I generally dislike the idea that we are only here to survive and return to the earth while no real purpose. I will read the next in the series because I enjoyed the Panga world and the nature descriptions and particularly enjoyed Mosscap and their desire to learn about humanity.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward reviewed by Diane Dachota – October 5, 2023

(5 Star Rating)

Beautiful, creepy and multi-layered are only a few of the adjectives I could use to describe this very unusual horror book. Ward’s books are always complex, eerie and require concentration to read. This is not the type of story that you put down for a few days or weeks; you will fall out of its spell. It is also difficult to give a synopsis because it is really about a book within a book within a book. It starts out with a group of three teenagers who have fallen in together one summer in Maine. The main character is Wilder, a sensitive teen with unusual features. He is vacationing at the cottage his parents have inherited from a late uncle. Next is Harper, a pretty redhead who is rich but suffers from numerous issues causing her to be evicted from every school she attends, and Nat, a young man whose father is a local fisherman.

The teens have a close if tense relationship with each other and learn that there is a possible serial killer in their midst as well as someone dubbed “The Dagger Man” because he takes pictures of sleeping children while holding a dagger near their faces. This summer ends in a tragedy which will continue to affect the teens in the years to come.

The second part of the book follows Wilder in college and we meet other characters who are connected to both Wilder and Whistler Sound in Maine where the teens met. The second and third parts of the book require close attention as there are multiple narrators with multiple viewpoints. Overall, this book is about many things: grief and how we carry it with us forever, the process of writing and what it takes to be a writer, friendship and betrayal and horror. Go into this with an open mind as Catriona Ward always takes her readers on a wild ride. I flew through this book in 24 hours and the very vivid picture I have of the cottage and visions of  the whistling stones and the dark waves of the water will stay with me for some time.

The Puzzle Master By Danielle Trussoni reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 27, 2023

Wow! This was a fun book to read. It combines puzzles, religious symbols, killer dolls, egotistical billionaires and a great lead character and his dog. Mike Brink suffered a brain injury while playing high school football. This injury caused him to acquire savant syndrome, which in his case made him able to create and solve all manner of complex puzzles. Mike leads a quiet life with his best friend and dog Connie and makes his living creating puzzles for the NYT and his own books. Mike is an MIT graduate and still has contacts with the university but didn’t want to become an academic himself. The story starts when Mike is asked to visit a prisoner named Jess Price who is being held in a secluded prison in the Adirondacks Jess was accused of the brutal murder of her boyfriend and has not spoken a word in many years. One day she presents her doctor with a puzzle, one in which Mike’s name is written on the bottom.

Told in multiple time periods, viewpoints and locations, this book is about an egomaniac trying to solve the “God’s Puzzle” which he believes will lead to immortality and lots of other symbols, religious iconography and computer programs. I particularly liked the journals of the French doll maker in the early 1900’s who went to Prague to learn to perfect his abilities and who was obsessed with his dead daughter Violaine. The story becomes a race to find a way to help Jess, save Mike and his dog from evil fiends, and there are puzzles to solve along with way. I would love to see Mike and Connie in future books.

The Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 27, 2023

It’s been several years since I read a Joyce Maynard book and I was happy to find she still writes books with interesting characters, cultural touchstones and most of all heart. The Bird House is about a woman named Irene who was raised in the 1960’s by her grandmother after her mother disappears. Her mother was a hippie, nomad type and became involved with a group of terrorists called “The Weathermen”. Irene never found her true home until she met the love of her life and became a mother. But fate struck again in the form of tragedy and when Irene feels she cannot go on living, fate brings her to a Central American country and to a hotel called La Llarona.

La Llarona is almost a magical place and amid the beautiful flowers, birds and most of all people, Irene finds her place in the world. As the years go by, we meet the many visitors to the hotel, all told in short chapters. Some visits are good, some are bad and nature is always there to give its own verdict on the happenings. At times the novel reminded me of the TV series The White Lotus and there is perhaps just a touch of magical realism in the stories, many of which are parable like.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim reviewed by Diane Dachota – September 21, 2023

Mia tends to veer off into scientific explanations complete with footnotes and that sometimes slows down the story.  As the family tried to help the police find their missing father, they also began discovering things about their father and brother that they didn’t know. It seemed Adam was conducting secret family experiments on happiness and also working with Eugene in secret on communication. I found it appalling that the father would conduct experiments on his children and in general the family came across as often robotic in their ways of reacting to everything in a scientific manner. The police seem convinced that Eugene harmed his father and the twins and their mother have to look to finding their missing family member but also protect Eugene.

I would have liked a bit more of the mystery but I appreciated the information the author provided on Angelman syndrome and the close relationship of this Korean American family.