The Fates Will Find Their Way

The Fates Will Find Their Way: A Novel by Hannah Pittard

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I won this book as part of The Saavy Reader Book Club and I am very grateful. While it is not my usual reading material, The Fates Will Find Their Way was an interesting experience.

Told by the boys who were left behind without closure, The Fates Will Find Their Way is the story of a young girl who mysteriously disappears. There seem to be few clues to her disappearance and its weight hangs over the community. The boys in her class gather the fleeting clues and weave them this way and that to create answers. Over the course of twenty years these boys, now men, ponder, and sometimes obsess over, what became of her. They hold the hope of her escape alive even as they marry and raise daughters of their own.

This storyline had the potential to be the kind of disturbing that keeps me up at night. However, it wasn't and it didn't. Somehow, as preposterous as it sounds, the boys' imaginings kept the underlying subject matter at bay. Maybe that it why they did it, to help themselves sleep at night.

I kept thinking to myself as I read this book, "but, it is written by a woman". In many ways, it is such a guy book, with male mentality and ridiculousness. For me, though, the parts of the story that really came alive were the images of what this girl's life might be. What might she be doing now? Answering that question and vividly protraying it as Pittard does, takes the eyes and wisdom of a woman.

The Fates Will Find Their Way is an interesting read that seems, at least for me, to battle the male and female voices and experiences.



View all my reviews

A Medley of Reading

I started this year and this blog with excellent intentions.  My goal was to blog review each of the 50 books I would, ideally, read in 2011.  As is often the case, I began with great gusto - and then I fell behind.  This morning I realized that I have read 15 books but only reviewed 9!  In an effort to catch up, and to allow you to see what I have been reading, I have compiled the following very, very brief reviews.  Enjoy - I did!


Love, Magic, and Mudpies: Raising Your Kids to Feel Loved, Be Kind, and Make a Difference by Bernie Seigel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Easy to digest short pieces of parenting advice given with stories and a good dose of humour.



View all my reviews

Arranged by Catherine McKenzie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


McKenzie gives us a fun light romantic comedy. An adventure into the realm of finding a marriage partner in the most unlikely of places.



View all my reviews

Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Rise of the Eveeing Star is somewhat darker than the first Fablehaven book, as is often the case in a series. But still magical and full of hope.



View all my reviews

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I cannot believe I read this. I was hoping for some ocean magic and fantasy. I got a teen romance! Not that I didn't like it, it was just not what I was expecting, nor what I normally read.



View all my reviews

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Lessons in Life

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I would love to say that Cindrella Ate My Daughter is a must-read for every parent. I really enjoyed the book but I do have a special interest in "girl/media" issues. Even so, I found my brain going in circles. Orenstein kept going back and forth through her arguments and investigations. I must say, I was thoroughly confused at points, as was she. In the end, and the reason why parents should be aware of the issues raised in the book, Orenstein concludes that we should be thinking parents. Each parent will make decisions base on his/her own perspective, but they should be informed and educated decisions. Above all, parents need to know their child and keep the lines of communication open.

Discussing everything girl from dolls to beauty pageants, Orenstein gets a close up look at girl culture. Orenstein speaks to experts, to parents and to girls themselves. She probes into their thoughts, habits and opinions. And though we would like to have some black and white irrefutable answers and stances, this is an impossible request. Every single girl is an individual with individual needs. Therefore, what might be right and clear for one girl, will not necessarily be so for another.

Due to my passion for issues surrounding girls and the media, I have sent time in the past thinking about, reading about and discussing many of the issues Orenstein tackles. One issue, however, had completely escaped my radar. The internet. Orenstein shows us how girls and boys use the internet and technology differently. How it affects the way they interact with each other, even when they are face-to-face! I was distressed to hear of a young girl sitting at the computer upstairs while her friend sat at the one downstairs. Their interaction consisting of playing the same game online against each other. I was shocked when Orenstein reported that girls prefer to play "dolls" online through the doll website games to playing with actual dolls. Online, for safety reasons, the dolls have very limited creative play options as all dialogue, etc. is canned. My children emjoyed hours and hours of imaginative, creative, hands-on play. This type of play gave them outlets for role playing a huge variety of situations but also gave them thinking and social skills. I would not trade it for anything.

Cinderella Ate Mt Daughter is a fascinating and informative read. Orenstein really covers the gamut of issues faced by young girls today. She reminds us that we cannot navigate this path of parenthood blindly. We MUST be thinking and involved parents.



View all my reviews

Still Alice - Read and Be Changed

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I sat in on an author chat with Lisa Genova a while ago and knew I wanted to read her work. I also knew that I wanted to start with Still Alice. And, further, I knew that it would upset me.



I started reading Still Alice a week or so ago and put it down after two pages. I just couldn't read it yet. Already, I was getting that tight, apprehensive feeling. A few days later, I tried again. I got further into the story and was hooked. Every page hurt, and almost every chapter had me crying but I needed to know what would happen, how Alice would cope.



Genova's language is clear and real and engaging. You feel that you are there, right inside Alice's mind with her. When Alice is disoriented, you are too. It is so scary, so agonizing.



Aside from the incredible depiction and sensitivity she pays to the Alzheimer's patient, Genova creates relationships that resonate. What initially upset me, in those first two pages, was the relationship between Alice and John. The tension and emotion felt so true, so present. She had me thinking of my own marriage, how we drift closer and farther apart and closer again, almost like the tides. Throughout the book, I mourned that relationship and so wanted my husband to read the book, just to see the dynamic. It was also fascinating and empowering to watch the relationships between Alice and her adult children develop.



As a story told from the perspective of the Alzheimer's patient, Still Alice is a true character study. I knew this story would affect me; and it did. It reminded me that we must celebrate and enjoy the relationships with which we are blessed. We need to take the time to really see, to really hear, to really feel. We need to respect each person's uniqueness and choose paths that strengthen more frequently than those that destroy.



I am so happy that I read this book, even though, the tears flowed freely throughout.





View all my reviews