Rachel Baack
Summary: This book traces the tale of the Roux family through four generations, detailing the devastating effects that romantic love (or something akin to it) has had on their lives. The youngest generation of Rouxs includes Ava, born inexplicably with a set of wings, and her twin brother Henry, who speaks rarely and without being often understood by those around him. This work of magical realism, despite detailing numerous tragedies that have befallen the Rouxs, beautifully portrays the sustaining effect that the love of a family—even a seemingly broken one—can have on its members.
Summary: Molly takes her job as a maid at a high-end hotel very seriously. She is thorough, organized, and hardworking, and she always does her best to do the right thing. She would never have expected to find herself, then, a suspect in the murder of a prominent hotel guest, but that is precisely what happens. In order to clear her name, Molly, alongside friends old and new, works to piece together clues that will demonstrate her innocence.
Summary: When reporter Felicity Staples is assigned to cover the murder of real estate agent Madison May, she can’t help but notice that there is something odd about this case. It isn’t until a run-in with two individuals she believes to be connected to the case—one of whom may even be the killer—that Felicity’s reality is turned upside down, and she learns that Madison has, in fact, been killed multiple times across as many different realities.
I found the book to be incredibly interesting and thought-provoking, but I didn't love the ending.
Summary: When a stranger misunderstands an overheard conversation between murder mystery writer Finlay Donovan and her agent, she attempts to hire Finlay, who she mistakes for a hitwoman, to kill her husband. Finlay is of course shocked, but she can’t help being curious, and she soon finds herself more deeply involved in the world of true crime than she ever intended to be.
Summary: In a dystopian future, low-level government worker Winston Smith lives under the authoritarian rule of the Party, which maintains control via constant surveillance of its citizenry and war with other nations, as well as regulation of the information its populous can access and the speech they can use. Winston, having grown dissatisfied with the restrictive life he and his fellow citizens must live, begins taking steps to break free from his oppressive reality.
Contains spoilers
Summary: This short story is told by an unnamed female narrator, who details the development of her relationship with her eventual husband from their meeting, through their courtship, marriage, and birth of their son, all the way to its end. Throughout the tale, the narrator has a mysterious green ribbon tied around her neck, and, as her relationship with her husband progresses, so does his fascination with the ribbon. This narrative is a feminist take on the urban-legend-turned-children’s-story “The Green Ribbon.”
Summary: The children of rather unconventional performance artists, Annie and Buster had, in their adult lives, succeeded in putting some distance between themselves and their parents. Now, however, they find themselves needing to return to their parents’ home, where they will have to lean on each other to navigate the absurdity of their family dynamics.
I found this book to be a touching portrayal of sibling relationships.
Summary: Years after her journey to Neverland, Wendy Darling’s life once again intersects with Peter Pan’s. This time, Peter has taken Wendy’s daughter Jane with him to his enchanted world, a world that Wendy knows is a much darker place than Peter would have anyone believe. This retelling follows two separate timelines, one that depicts the trials Wendy faced upon her return to London from Neverland and another that follows Jane’s trip to Neverland and Wendy’s pursuit of her. The book was compelling, but I was underwhelmed by the climax.
Summary: This novel depicts the slow, steady, inevitable movement of little-known author Kilgore Trout and mentally ill car salesman Dwayne Hoover toward a fateful meeting with one another.
The book is a study in absurdity that invites the reader to consider themes of free will, inequality, and mental health.
I have not read all of the works in this collection, but those that I have read are listed and rated below:
- “Come Down, O Maid” (from “The Princess”): A shepherd sings to a young lady to come down from the mountains into the valley to find love. Rating: 4/5
- “Crossing the Bar”: Tennyson uses the metaphor of “crossing the bar” to discuss his approaching death. Rating: 2/5
- “The Eagle” (fragment): The speaker describes the mighty eagle and surprises the reader with a turn of mood in the last line. Rating: 3.5/5
- “The Hesperides”: The guardians of a golden apple tree sing a song about their watch over the tree. Rating: 2.5/5
- “The Kraken”: The speaker surveys the mysterious and powerful creature of the deep. Rating: 2.5/5
- “The Lady of Shalott”: a young woman who lives alone in a castle cannot look toward Camelot under threat of a curse. Rating: 4/5
- “Locksley Hall”: The speaker laments a love who left him and contemplates the progress of society. In my personal opinion, the speaker is prejudiced and whiney. Rating: 1.5/5
- “The Lotos-Eaters”: the speaker recounts the effects of the lotus flower on the mental states of Odysseus’s men. Rating: 4/5
- “Lucretius”: Lucretius, an Epicurean philosopher, has been driven to insanity by a love potion given to him by his wife. He experiences troubling dreams and chooses to take his own life. In his final speech, he explains his dissatisfaction with life, his belief that the gods do not care about or interact with the world, and his desire to exert his will by killing himself. Rating: 3.5/5
- “Mariana”: A woman despairs over the absence of her lover. Rating: 3.5/5
- “Merlin and the Gleam”: Tennyson outlines his poetic career by comparing himself to Merlin. Rating: 1.5/5
- “Morte d’Arthur”: After being seriously wounded in battle, King Arthur calls upon the faithfulness of his last knight. Rating: 3/5
- “Saint Simeon Stylites”: Tennyson uses the voice of Simeon Stylites, an ascetic saint who sat atop a pillar for 30 years, to create a fictional discourse in which the saint alternates between professing his sinfulness and expressing his worthiness to be considered a saint while enumerating his sufferings. The poem is something of a satire. Rating: 2.5/5
- “The Splendor Falls” (from “The Princess”): The speaker calls for the bugles to blow, and he draws a connection between their echoes and the “echoes” of people in our lives. Rating: 1.5/5
- “Tears, Idle Tears” (from “The Princess”): The speaker uses powerful metaphors to express the depth of his sorrow over a loss. Rating: 4/5
- “Tithonus”: Tithonus recalls his youth, when he asked the goddess Aurora, who was in love with him, to give him eternal life. She granted his request but did not give him eternal youth, and now, an old man, he begs her to take back her gift. Rating: 3.5/5
- “Ulysses”: This poem shows a different side of Ulysses (a.k.a. Odysseus) than readers see in the Odyssey. It portrays an older Ulysses who has been stuck at home ruling for many years and is longing to experience adventure once more. Rating: 3.5/5
- “To Virgil”: Tennyson praises the ancient poet Virgil. Rating: 1.5/5
- “The Vision of Sin”: A man who lived a hedonistic lifestyle in his youth gives a bitter speech indicating the corruption of humankind and meaninglessness of much human action. Rating: 3/5
I have not read this entire collection. What follows are reviews for the poems from this collection that I have read:
- “Miniver Cheevy”: A short poem about a man who wastes his life wishing to have been born in a different time. Rating: 2.5/5
- “Richard Cory” (not in HC): A short poem with a shocking ending that comments on class division and the pervasiveness of unhappiness. It seems rather simplistic in its exploration of the issues it addresses. Rating: 2.5/5
