Peachy Reads

This is sort of a modern take on Murder on the Orient Express .  The central storyteller is somewhat of an unreliable narrator.  She’s a travel correspondent preparing a feature on a luxury mini-cruise to the Norwegian fjords.  When she witnesses a body being thrown overboard in the wee hours, nobody believes her story about a mysterious woman in the neighboring cabin and some strange goings-on.  Of course things escalate in an exciting conclusion.

Another decades-long family saga is skillfully told by Ann Patchett.  The house of the title features as the focal point, and is almost as much of a character as the human actors.  A mother leaves her family because of the Dutch House, a step-mother (almost as evil as those in fairytales) is drawn to the house, by the end both women reside in the house together, and finally a granddaughter recaptures the house for the family members who were once driven out.  These are just the milestones, the in-between parts are filled with life and love.  Always compelling, Ann Patchett’s strength is her multifaceted characters.

Having read the last book in Sue Grafton’s alphabet mystery series, it became obvious that I had skipped over the previous installment, X.  This episode focuses on a serial killer who very nearly snuffs Kinsey.  Y put an end to that killer, so X shed a bit of light on that storyline!  Now I’m caught up.  Definitely would have made more sense to read them in sequence, alas.

This novel is a bit more cohesive than the last Anne Tyler I read.  It's a multi-generational family history.  And like many families, the reality behind the facade is a little different from what you first suppose.  There are secrets, and jealousies, and disappointments, and surprises.  It's like the proverbial onion, peel away once layer, and there's yet another layer concealing a difficult truth, a damaged relationship, an unexpected revelation.  It's like a typical family reunion, one which will strike a familiar chord for many readers.

Eleanor is a bit of a unique individual, to say the least.  We know early on in the novel that she's socially awkward, but it's only gradually that her backstory is revealed and we find out why she is the way she is.  Her naive, socially tone-deaf interactions with what would be common everyday experiences for most people are comical, but her dependence on vodka and her unhealthy relationship with her mother leave the reader wondering about her wellbeing.  She pairs up with a quirky IT guy and together they forge a surprising friendship that allows both of them to blossom as individuals and allows Eleanor to gain control of the demons of her past. This is a different novel that I really didn't know much about going into it, but quite enjoyed by the end.

Sue Grafton is another author I've read since the 1980s, and since her stories take place in that decade and time never advances much, it's always a bit nostalgic traveling back to the time before cellphones, internet, and many of the things that define the intervening decades.  This unfortunately is the last visit with detective Kinsey Millhone, since the author of the alphabet series "only" made it to Y before her recent passing. In Y is for Yesterday Kinsey is hired to find out the identity of a blackmailer who is trying to get a surprisingly paltry sum from a young man recently released from confinement after a tragic murder in high school.  The story ping pongs back and forth from 1979 to 1989 and includes as a sidestory a stalker (from a previous episode in the series) who is after Kinsey.  The whole book is a bit dark, and the usual lighter vignettes of Rosie's "offal" cooking in the neighborhood Hungarian restaurant and her octogenarian b...

Having recently read a couple books by Alexander McCall-Smith, his wonderful knack for character development reminded me of another skilled author who is adept at drawing well-rounded 3-dimensional characters, Anne Tyler.  I began reading Anne Tyler back in the 1980s with  The Accidental Tourist , but it had been many years since I had picked up one of her novels.  Clock Dance was available through the library's eBook service, so I reentered her world of quirky individuals, plotting their course through life. We first meet Willa as a young girl, trying to navigate a tricky childhood with a mother whose mood swings introduce a difficult dynamic into the home.  Willa holds things together, far too young to be doing so, trying to walk a tightrope and searching for that all important balance, which seems to be a recurring theme throughout her life.  We next meet Willa in college, with a promising career in linguistics ahead. ...