Ms. Hen reviews About Grace

 

About Grace

Anthony Doerr

Scribner

2004

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because earlier this year, she had read another one by this author, ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, and she thought it was fantastic. She had high hopes for this book, because the other one was so great. But not everything turns out the way we plan.

This novel is about David Winkler, a man from Anchorage, Alaska, who has dreams that come true. He discovers this at a young age, and it scares him. He dreams that he meets a woman at the supermarket, and he does. Sandy is married, and they start an affair. She gets pregnant, and she knows it is David's, since her husband is infertile. They run away together.

They get married in Ohio, even though she is already married, and have the baby. David dreams that his daughter dies in a flood, and wants to prevent it. A flood comes, and he cannot bring himself to go back to his house to see if the baby, Grace, is alive. He drives away, and goes to Pennsylvania, and then New York. He takes a ship to South America, and ends up on the island country of St. Vincent, in the Caribbean. He stays there for twenty-five years, and does not know what happened to his daughter.

This is a novel about families, which usually interest Ms. Hen, but this story seemed unbelievable to her. Her issue is with the character, David. It's never explicitly said that he has a mental illness, but he seems demented to Ms. Hen. He's sad and pathetic, and Ms. Hen wants to know why he waited so long to find his daughter, and why he stayed in St. Vincent for so long without going home.

Ms. Hen thinks that he might have undiagnosed autism, because during the era he was born, the 1940s, not a lot of diagnoses were made of that condition. It's difficult for Ms. Hen to have sympathy for this character because he is weak. He's a decent man, but she wants to tell him to get a grip on his life.

Sometimes Ms. Hen reads a novel, and she respects it, but it's not what she likes. The writing is beautiful in this book, and the idea that someone could have dreams about the future is exciting, but she thinks that what this novel lacks is drive, a reason to love this novel, which she cannot find. 

She is disgusted by David Winkler, and pities him. Even though this is a novel, Ms. Hen knows there are people in the world like this character. Nobody is perfect, but we should be inspired to be the best person we can be. This novel does not evoke this philosophy.

Ms. Hen reviews Moon of the Crusted Snow

 

Moon of the Crusted Snow

Waubgeshig Rice

ECW Press

2018

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she listened to a Halloween sci-fi books episode on a podcast from the website Bookriot. Sometimes, she listens to this, and she has always found good books to read. Ms. Hen has a tendency to read random books that fall into her lap, but she likes to seek out sci-fi books that she knows she will like.

This novel didn't seem like a Halloween novel to Ms. Hen. It felt more like a November novel, that's headed into winter. It's also fitting because the author is Indigenous, from Canada, and November is Native American Heritage Month in this country.

This novel is about a reservation community in northern Ontario. The people tend to stay there, even though not a lot of work is available; they like to stick to the area they know. The story centers around Evan and his young family, his partner, Nicole, and their two children. The satellite goes out with the Internet and the TV, and their cell phones don't work, and then the heat and electricity stop. The people try to figure out what's wrong.

Two members of the community who had been attending college in the South arrive on snowmobiles to tell everyone that the power stopped there as well, and chaos ensued. They were afraid for their lives, so they ran away. The group decides that they have to get through winter by helping each other. A strange white man comes to the village, and says he is a hunter and will help them. The tribe doesn't trust him. People are angry, and they suffer. They don't know what will happen.

This reminded Ms. Hen of a lot of books she has read about the end times, including THE ROAD, and STATION ELEVEN. This novel is different, however, because the story isn't completely hopeless, the tone of the novel throughout makes the reader think that everything will be okay in the end. Problems arise, but the community pulls together to solve them.

Ms. Hen read this novel very quickly, because she could not stop reading. It's a fantastic book to read to help a person feel better about the world: even though things seem bleak, there's always hope. The world can change, but it will still turn around, and people have to find a way to survive, and flourish, and even be happy.

Ms. Hen reviews The Dutch House

 

The Dutch House 

Ann Patchett

Harper Perennial

2019

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She had never read anything by this author, but she knew her name, because it's publicized a lot on social media, and book circles, so she picked it up. She has had some bad luck with books she has randomly picked up at Little Free Libraries lately, but this was not a disappointment. In fact, Ms. Hen is sure it's one of the best books she's read this year.

This novel is about a family, told through the point of view of the son, Danny. He lives with his father and sister in a house called the Dutch House, which is a unique mansion in a suburb of Philadelphia. His father bought the house with everything inside, because the previous owner of the house had passed away. His father marries a woman named Andrea, who has two girls, and they move in to the house. Danny is close to his sister Maeve. She is seven years older than him.

Maeve and Danny's father dies suddenly, and Andrea kicks Danny out of the house, and cuts them off financially. Maeve has a job at a frozen vegetables company, but Danny is still in high school. The siblings hate Andrea for taking all their money, and everything they have. The sit outside the house at times for years, to see if they can see the family. Maeve and Danny's mother had left when they were young because she couldn't stand living in such a magnificent house.

This novel surround the house, it starts and ends with the house. The Dutch House is a character in the novel. It's unique because the previous owners worked in cigarette manufacturing during World War I, and made millions, and the outside of the house is glass, and anyone who walks by can see straight through to the backyard. Treasures fill the house, since the previous owner did not have any descendants. It's called The Dutch House because the owners were Dutch, and the street where it's located is named after the family, VanHoebeeks Street.

Complicated family relationships abound here. Danny and Maeve have nobody but each other for a long time. Danny goes to medical school because Maeve insists, but he does not want to be a doctor. He wants to work in real estate like his father. Their father left a trust for the children's education, and Maeve thinks Danny should bilk it, to get as much money as he can.

Most of the women who surround Danny are saints: they're good women who want to help the less fortunate in the world. Andrea is not like that, and neither is his wife, Celeste, but Maeve and all the other women sacrifice their lives and happiness to serve others. Danny is just like his father, always thinking of money and the future.

Ms. Hen read this novel faster than any she has read recently. The writing is so good, she could not put it down. It's about a dysfunctional family, but how they try to make things work, and live their lives. This is a beautiful novel, and Ms. Hen cannot say how much she enjoyed it, but it grabbed her, and swallowed her whole. 

Ms. Hen reviews The Once and Future Witches

 

The Once and Future Witches

Alix E. Harrow

Redhook Books/ Orbit

2021

Ms. Hen decided to read this book because she was at a bookstore in Concord Massachusetts, and saw it, and decided to buy it because she had read two other books by this author, THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY, and A SPINDLE SPLINTERED, and enjoyed them. She also indulged in this because she likes books about witches, and needed another Halloween book to round out her October.

This novel is about three sisters who are witches: Juniper, Agnes, and Bella, who believe they are the embodiment of the maiden, the mother, and the crone. Agnes and Bella left Juniper alone with their abusive father, and Juniper is resentful of that. Juniper goes to New Salem to find her sisters, but she is caught up in witchcraft during a suffragette demonstration in the town square.

This is historical fantasy that takes place in 1893. The sisters find each other, but they all harbor ill feelings toward one another. Agnes works at a mill, and Bella is a librarian. Agnes is pregnant, and fears for her unborn daughter. The sisters try to bring the women of the town together through witchcraft, with the spells and the stories that their mothers and aunts and grandmothers have taught them through the ages.

Ms. Hen liked this book, but at times it seemed to drag. Magic appears, but things don't seem to be magical enough, and it's like the witches are striving for magic, but never quite get to make it work correctly. And there are so many obstacles that get in their way. It took Ms. Hen a long time to read this book, possibly because she had a lot of things going on, but it seemed interminable.

One aspect of this novel that Ms. Hen found strange is that there are hardly any positive male characters. Some men are nice, but even the decent ones seem like sniveling idiots to Ms. Hen. She understands this is a feminist novel, but she thinks that doesn't have to mean it's a man-hating novel. This is historical fiction, and maybe the women in this era didn't know any sympathetic men, but she believes the attitude of the women towards the men is skewed.

Ms. Hen likes this, but it wasn't her favorite book by the author. She wants to believe in magic, but a novel like this doesn't help her dreams of becoming a witch, it only makes her think that witchcraft is something that is painful and difficult, which it shouldn't be. Ms. Hen could be a familiar to the right witch, better than a real chicken, because she doesn't complain or make a mess. Ms. Hen is ready and willing to participate in magic, but she thinks this book isn't the place to find the way.