Why This Title: Review and Discussion on The Nature of Fragile Things

 

 

The Nature of Fragile Things 

 

About the Book:

Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.

Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved.

The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear.

 

My Comments:

It's been a long time since I sat down after work and read a book cover-to-cover in one night (and early morning) but that's exactly what I did last night, and it was time well spent.  

 

Set in San Francisco in the early 1900's, just prior to and just after the great earthquake and fire, the book follows Sophie through the days of her marriage to Martin and through her relationship with Martin's daughter "Kat".  One of my secret vices is trashy Kindle Unlimited romances and a bunch of them are "mail order bride" books--the spunky (or fearful) woman from back east travels across the country to marry a man almost sight unseen and of course before the end of the book they fall in love.  This book is a reminder that the reason many of these women answered those ads was lack of other viable options.  While I'm sure many of those relationships were at least somewhat satisfactory to both parties, I'm also rather sure that some of the men weren't completely honest about their circumstances and that others were abusive in one way or another.  

 

I find the title of the book to be interesting:  The Nature of Fragile Things.  With most books I'm pretty sure how the title relates to the story before I start reading, or, if not then, by the time I'm done.  With this one, I'm pondering.  

What is the nature of fragile things?  Well, they break, that's practically the definition.  Usually if I think of something "fragile" I think of something with some value, even though it is easy to break.  I just googled "fragile" and it means easily broken or damaged, flimsy or unsubstantial, easily destroyed or (of a person) not strong or sturdy, delicate and vulnerable.  So how does the title relate to the book?  

While I'd never call Sophie "fragile", her marriage to Martin certainly was.  We don't consider buildings to be fragile, but the earthquake broke many of them.  Sophie develops a relationship with Kat that is anything but fragile.  Kat's mother has tuberculosis and is very fragile--but also very strong.  Sophie also develops a strong relationship with the woman mentioned above.  

 

Is this a book about being broken?  I don't think so.  Actually I found the women in the book to be strong, despite their circumstances.  The three main adult female characters were all fooled by Martin, so in some ways I suppose he broke all of them, though he didn't end up getting what he wanted from any of these three.  

 

If you read the book, why do you think it has the title it does?  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: A

 

Review: All That We Carried

 

All That We Carried

About the Book

Ten years ago, sisters Olivia and Melanie Greene were on a backcountry hiking trip when their parents were in a fatal car accident. Over the years, they grew apart, each coping with the loss in her own way. Olivia plunged herself into law school, work, and a materialist view of the world--what you see is what you get, and that's all you get. Melanie dropped out of college and developed an online life-coaching business around her cafeteria-style spirituality--a little of this, a little of that, whatever makes you happy.

Now, at Melanie's insistence (and against Olivia's better judgment), they are embarking on a hike in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In this remote wilderness they'll face their deepest fears, question their most dearly held beliefs, and begin to see that perhaps the best way to move forward is the one way they had never considered.

Michigan Notable Book Award winner Erin Bartels draws from personal experience hiking backcountry trails with her sister to bring you a story about the complexities of grief, faith, and sisterhood.

My Comments

I loved it. 

When an elderly parent dies, hopefully the children mourn, but then life goes back to normal.  There is a sense of loss, and sadness, but there is also the realization that death is a part of life and that it is going to happen to all of eventually.  However, when people die suddenly, well before old age, the loss can deeply upset family members, either pulling them apart or pushing them together in unhealthy ways.  

As noted above, after their parents died in a car accident, the older sister, Olivia, tried to remove as much random chance from her life as possible.  She was always prepared, she always planned.  Nothing bad was going to happen if she could help it.  Her younger sister tried to embrace everything--tarot and Catholicism, Islam and Buddhism.  As her sister noted, she avoided making the wrong choice by not making any choice.  Melanie is also an online persona who blogs, instagrams and vlogs, and makes money at it.  She's a life coach whose goal for her clients is happiness, though she hasn't been really happy since her parents died and her sister refused to speak to her.  She decides to try to repair the relationship with her sister through a back country hiking trip.

We follow the sisters as they follow Olivia's meticulously plotted plan--until they get lost and lose their map.  As things not on the agenda happen the sisters do eventually connect, with the help of a man they meet on the trail.  

The book is published by Revell, which is a Christian imprint.  Part of what each sister does during the incidents that take place in the book is to re-evaluate her religious beliefs.  I never got the impression that religion had been an important part of their childhood, but after the deaths of their parents, Olivia decided there couldn't be any loving God and Melanie had to believe there was something--she just wasn't ready to commit to any one belief.  There is no big "come to Jesus" moment, and, just out of curiosity, I ran a word search for "Jesus" and found the word only once, when Olivia was asking Melanie how Christians could be right about Jesus without other belief systems being wrong.  In short, while the book may be an invitation for you to consider  your religious beliefs, it is not a sermon encouraging you to adopt the author's beliefs.  

I enjoyed joining Olivia and Melanie on this journey of healing and am pleased to give the book an A. 

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.  

Review: The Innkeeper's Sister

The Innkeeper's Sister

About the Book:

Grayson Blake always has a purpose—and never a moment to lose. He's come home to Honey Ridge to convert a historic gristmill into a restaurant, but his plans crumble like Tennessee clay when the excavation of a skeleton unearths a Civil War mystery…and leads him back to a beautiful and familiar stranger. 

Once a ballet dancer, now co-owner of the Peach Orchard Inn, Valery Carter harbors pain as deep as the secrets buried beneath the mill. A bright facade can't erase her regrets any more than a glass of bourbon can restore what she's lost. But spending time with Grayson offers Valery a chance to let go of her past and imagine a happier future. And with the discovery of hidden messages in aged sheet music, both their hearts begin to open. Bound by attraction, and compelled to resolve an old crime that links the inn and the mill, Grayson and Valery encounter a song of hurt, truth…and hope.

My Comments:

One thing I like about romance novels is that they have happy endings.  Nevertheless, I like the endings to be realistic and sometimes, particularly with books that try to be more than just romance novels, I think the authors sometimes twist themselves (or the story) into knots to get the happy endings.  Things just don't add up, too many abnormal things happen and then voila, happy ending!

The Innkeeper's Sister is part of a series that introduced us to two missing boys--one from the Civil War era and one from the modern era. This story tells us what happened to one of them, and the author's note says that she didn't tell us about the other because it just didn't seem realistic.  I think that took courage on her part as it would be very easy, and very unrealistic, to write the story with both boys being found. 

In the other Honey Ridge books Valery is the drunken sister; the one who doesn't shoulder her share of the weight because she is always hung over.  In this book we learn about her demons and how she has not let them keep her from helping a sister she felt needed her.  We also watch her confront those demons and move past them into a promising future (its a romance novel after all).  

Like the other Honey Ridge books there is one story set in the modern day (Valery and Grayon's story of course) and one set in the Civil War era.  

I enjoyed the book and the series and based on the author's note, I suspect this will be the last Honey Ridge book, unfortunately.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  A.