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Babylon, South Dakota, by Tom Lin*****

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Babylon, South Dakota is the sophomore novel by Tom Lin, and it blew me away. It’s the story of couple Hsiu Keng and Lee Mei, a Chinese couple in their thirties that comes to the U.S. when they inherit land from a distant relative. Hsiu adopts the American name Saul, and so Saul and Mei move into their new home, such as it is, and make plans for the future.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

The story begins straightforward enough, and then it gradually becomes stranger. Our enterprising couple are completely new to the United States, with very little English and not much in terms of cultural knowledge or awareness of the environment into which they have so bravely immigrated. Mao has recently come to power in China, so the time period would be the 1960s, but their home has no indoor toilet or heat, and so they must earn money for the improvements they will need. They intend to farm, and Saul is determined that their crop will be chrysanthemums, because this is what his family grew in China. They come to the States without a lot of money, but they have a good-sized supply of seeds as well as a little gold, which is the only currency Mei trusts. They have a baby girl and name her Mara.

And then the U.S. military knocks on their door.

Project Babylon is top secret, and it requires small parcels of land in a sparsely populated area; South Dakota fits the bill. They bring paperwork to be signed, and in return, the couple must sign over a small portion of their land. The price is non-negotiable; so is the sale. They are to stay away from the area once the fence is erected.

As well they should. Once the program unfolds, all sorts of other strange things begin to happen.

I am completely spellbound a short way into the story, and not merely because of the plot points, fascinating though they will become. Rather, the word smithery is so powerful and the sense of intimacy so strong that I am forever bonded to this little family. The imagery is potent, and the vocabulary is highly literate. In fact, I would suggest that recent immigrants with limited English not attempt to read this novel.

I have dozens of notes and quotes selected, but instead, I will keep them to myself, because everything here is better when you come to it without much advance preparation. At the outset, the story is interesting, but not unusually so; a bit further in, it appears to be a stronger-than-average book; and by the 67%, my notes to myself say, “I am so in love with this strange little book!” It’s the sort of tale that takes the reader through every possible emotion; at one point, the tension is so thick that I genuinely consider peeking ahead—which I nearly never do—because I just can’t stand not knowing how it’s going to come out! I refrained, and am glad I did so.

Finishing a book is usually good news for me, because I can go write my review and move onto the next one, but this is one of those rare instances in which I feel bereaved when it’s over. This sensation lasted into the next couple of days, when I wanted to read it, then realized it was done.

For those that love stories with strong character development, resonant settings, and quirky plot twists, I wholeheartedly recommend this novel. Likewise, I recommend it to those that love historical fiction, immigrant stories, and magical realism. There’s nothing else like it!

The Astral Library, by Kate Quinn*****

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“Here there be dragons.”

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn is not to be missed. My thanks go to NetGalley and William Morrow for the review copy; this book is for sale now.

Kate Quinn is a well-established author, but I didn’t encounter her work until 2024, when I read and reviewed The Briar Club. I loved that novel so hard that I was dismayed to see that this new one was not historical fiction. Fantasy? (Heavy sigh!) Oh, all right. Fine. I’ll read it anyway.

My initial impression was that this was a lazy way to build a plot. Place 1, place 2, place 3 and so on. Ho hum. But like Quinn’s version of Boston Public Library, this book is not what it seems to be on the surface. There’s also an important social message about censorship and book burning that’s built into the plot, and I don’t care how much others may hate seeing “politics” in a novel; this is a message thoughtful readers can get behind. The librarian in charge of the special section is a magnificent character, as is the fashion designer that befriends Alix. As for Alix, I love that she is plus-size!

It was a good decision.

Our protagonist is Alix Watson, a young woman that’s recently aged out of the foster care system. Her mother abandoned her when she was still small because her new boyfriend “wasn’t into the whole kid thing.” She left Alix with a couple of frozen meals and went to California.

Foster kids tend to be shuffled from place to place, seldom bonding or sticking, and so the Boston Public Library became Alix’s happy place. Now here she is, a grown woman—barely—and the library has become one of her parttime employers. She is nonplussed one day when she receives a written invitation to visit a little-known part of the library, a secret place where the books are alive and patrons may step into them—literally! Choose a story whose time and place appeals to you, and off you go.

Those looking for a coming of age story with feminist roots could hardly do better; those just looking for a darn good story will find it here. The outstanding ending pushed this one out of four-star territory and into five.  Highly recommended.

12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas, by Natasha Bache****

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“All is not calm, all is not bright.”

Natasha Bache has written a rip-roaring killer of a mystery, and you should read it if you know what’s good for you. My thanks go to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the review copy. This book is available to the public now.

Miles and Olivia are moving to Australia soon with their two children. The move will take them far, far away from his horrible family, so this will be the last blessed Christmas they’ll be forced to spend with them. If they survive this trip, they’ll be home free.

Of course, soon after they arrive, people start dying, no two of them in the same way. The first death looks like an accident, and that’s what the cops call it. The second seems like it could be a fluke, too; given the family’s wealth and social standing in the area, nobody in authority is eager to drag them through the muck, so…okay. But then the third death occurs and well, come on now. And the bodies keep dropping, one here, one there.

This book is hysterically funny, and it moves at a rapid clip, so I neglected the other excellent books I was reading while I finished it. What makes it work, apart from Bache’s gift for word smithery in all the right places, is the unlovableness of the victims—all but one, anyway—and the fact that none of the deceased is developed enough to feel very real. Usually I want a lot of character development and a realistic degree of nuance, but in this case, I like it exactly as it is written. There are some tropes here that I ordinarily wouldn’t want to see; for example, of course they all get snowed in! Of course they do! But in this case, the author’s tongue is so firmly planted inside her cheek that I snicker and nod when I encounter such devices.

The one thing that I considered a tiny bit disappointing was that I knew who the killer was before the halfway point; or I *thought* I did! Turns out I was absolutely, wildly, and completely wrong, and what’s more, the actual solution made more sense than the one I had dreamed up.

This is the perfect December read. If you don’t celebrate Christmas and are sick, sick, sick of it, this is your book. If you do celebrate it and occasionally dread certain family members at the celebration, this is your book. If you love the holiday and need a reminder that other peoples’ families are so much worse than your own, then here you go.

“Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.”

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride*****

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I am late to the party, not having been alert enough to request a galley of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride. McBride is the author of The Color of Water and Good Lord Bird, but I haven’t read those either yet, so the whole thing blew by me, until I read the rave reviews by my fellow reviewers, and saw that it had climbed to the top of the charts.

Whoops.

So, my thanks go to Seattle Bibliocommons for the loan of the audiobook. Dominic Hoffman is the narrator, and he does an outstanding job with a somewhat difficult narration, what with various dialects and a plethora of characters. After all, a grocery store draws an awful lot of people, even in a relatively small community such as Chicken Hill.

At the outset, our protagonists are Moshe and Chona Ludlow, owners of the grocery store. Moshe also runs a theater, and integrates it before other communities are doing so. In fact, the beauty of the story lies largely in the intersection and mutual support of the Jewish and African-American (“Negro” during this time period) residents. Later, a disabled child nicknamed “Dodo” moves to the forefront; yes, this is a horrible nickname, but those using it simply regard it as his name, and it doesn’t seem all that remarkable, given that others have names like Big Soap, Fatty, and Monkeypants. Dodo is orphaned and because he is hearing impaired, the state decides to send him to the nuthouse. The community bands together to raise him and, when the state comes sniffing around, to conceal him.

I do love the convenience of an audiobook, but I don’t retain information as well this way as I would have if I’d also had (or only had) a digital copy. With text, I can highlight areas for reminders when writing a review, and I can choose meaty quotes as well. However, I had what I had, and I did enjoy this story. There are too many characters to keep track of, and my advice to other listeners is to let most of it wash over you, and just pay attention to the key players. This is not a story to rush through, in any case; like most outstanding literary fiction, it’s a story to lean into and absorb in a leisurely fashion.

My one reservation about this book was the title. I have no use for religious stories, and for awhile it appeared this actually might be one. But just as my enthusiasm was waning, the action picked up and God went back up in the clouds where he belongs. Far more salient is the theme of brotherhood and solidarity between the two marginalized peoples, and when an emergency situation involving little Dodo occurred, I knew I had to see this thing through if I wanted to sleep at night.  

Highly recommended.

Brothers in Arms, by Damien Lewis***

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My thanks go to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio for the review copy of Band of Brothers, the history of one unit of Churchill’s Special Forces during World War II. This book is for sale now.

I was initially attracted to this nonfiction work by Lewis’s reputation—a list of awards as long as your arm—and the fact that I knew nothing about the Special Forces. I enjoy military history and although I can’t learn about every aspect of the history of everything during my lifetime, I like to at least skim the surface of noteworthy people, organizations and events that affected contemporary history in some meaningful way. In short, I came to this book to shore up a gap in my education.

Had I been a bit more cautious, I would have noted the bit of the promotional blurb that says I will learn about “one close-knit band of warriors.” Sadly, I didn’t.

Worth noting, though, is that narrator Peter Noble does an outstanding job, providing an engaging performance without distracting us from the text.

Lewis is a solid researcher, and I don’t doubt that any fact within these pages will fail to pass the sniff test. He knows his stuff. I became impatient, however, because I genuinely didn’t—and don’t—care about the personal lives of the men that served in this unit; their families; their interests; nor their camaraderie with one another. Perhaps it is just as well, since there are too many people introduced up front for me to keep track of using an audiobook. However, I came to this story in search of hardcore military history, and so I found myself chafing every time the action paused to detail some personal tidbit about one of these men or another.

Ultimately, it comes down to the author’s purpose. I’ve had this happen before, where there’s so much personal information about a service member that I wonder whether the book was commissioned by a family member. I don’t think that’s the case here, but it’s a problem I have run across more than once, where I want more of a documentary vibe than what I have found. And of course, there may be many others out there that enjoy this book, including its format and extensive personal references. But I can only tell you what one reader has experienced, and that reader is me, and so as much as I respect the abilities of this author, I can’t recommend this book to those that love military history. If you choose to read it, I recommend getting it free or cheap. Don’t spend big bucks on this one.

Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth****

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Sally Hepworth writes creepy, spooky stories involving families, and I have friends that swear by her, but this is the first of her books that I’ve read. My thanks go to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the invitation to read and review. This book will be available to the public April 23, 2024.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are closer than most sisters, even though they are not biologically related. All three spent most of their formative years at an Australian foster home called Wild Meadows, under the gimlet eye of Miss Fairchild, an abusive foster parent. Miss Fairchild was adept at keeping up appearances, but once a visitor—an infrequent occurrence—was gone, the place got dark. The woman was cruel and unpredictable, dreaming up horrifying punishments for even slight perceived infractions. Open rebellion was unthinkable. But it was when she began accepting babies that they resolved to turn her in.

Now all are grown, but they remain tightly bonded, and the call comes in: bones have been found under the foundation of the razed house. They must all report to the local police, which in turn means returning to the vicinity of Wild Meadows.

I can see why this author has such a loyal following. The way the narrative flows is flawless, and although we transition often from the past to the present as well as between the three girls’ stories, there’s never even momentary confusion. The list of characters is kept manageable, and all of them are believable. I begin reading via audiobook because that’s the version that was offered me, but once I began, I asked for and received the digital galley also. Usually this is a necessity in order to keep up with what I am hearing, but I scarcely needed it. Narrator Jessica Clarke provides the perfect listening experience.

For me, the joy of this well written novel is somewhat dampened by the horrors of the girls’ experiences. The child abuse is so cruel, and so specific that I sometimes stopped listening early and went away with a ball of lead in my gut. I suspect that this is something most likely to be experienced either by those that were themselves abused as children, or—like me—those that have worked with such children. Although part of me still wanted to know what came next, another part of my thought that if I wanted this kind of nightmare, I should just go back to work!

Reader, you probably know what you can read and what you should stay away from. If this sort of novel is unlikely to haunt you, go for it. I doubt there are many that can do this thing better. With that caveat, this book is recommended to those that enjoy the genre.

A Personal Note

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Faithful readers, forgive the lack of new content. I have had surgery on my dominant hand, and so although I am still reading, typing is nearly impossible. (I am typing this note hunt-and-peck style, one letter at a time using the wrong hand,) If you like, feel free to peruse my archives, where you’ll find over 1,000 reviews. I will return soon with my customary candor. Till then, keep on reading!

Now Is Not the Time to Panic! by Kevin Wilson****-*****

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Now is Not the Time to Panic is, according to its author, Kevin Wilson, “a book about friendship, about memory, and about what it means to hold on to the person who we were, even as we become someone else. It’s about the ways in which art is the door that lets us walk into a new life, one that never seemed possible.”

Frankie is kind of a quirky kid, friendless and grieving her parents’ divorce and her father’s abandonment of his kids. She has nothing but time this summer, and so when Zeke, an even quirkier new kid, moves into the tiny town of Coalfield, Tennessee, the two are drawn together.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Ecco Publishing for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Frankie invites Zeke over one day; her dad has flown the coop, and her mom is at work, so in order to make it clear that she hasn’t invited him over for carnal purposes, Frankie talks to him about her love of writing. Zeke says that he likes to draw, and so together, they make a poster. The words are Frankie’s, and they are indeed well written for a kid of sixteen years: “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” Zeke fills in the rest of the page with his artwork, and for good measure, they prick their fingers and comingle their blood on the poster. Then they dig out an old photocopy machine in Frankie’s garage, and make copies with which to furtively festoon the whole town. (After all, Coalfield isn’t a big place.) They don’t tell anyone it’s theirs, and enjoy the reactions to their guerilla art as sly observers.

The two teens share a lot in common. Both are outsiders; both are creatives; and both are living through the implosions of their families, with fathers that cheat and then leave, and mothers that are beside themselves with anger and shame.

Once the posters become noticed around town, rumors begin, and then copycats come along and make improvements, sometimes. There’s a hysterical piece in the local paper suggesting that their work is Satanic. Frankie and Zeke don’t say one word to anyone. They watch and they listen; they talk about it only with each other.

The crafting of these two characters, and their relationship, is well done, and I ache for both of these kids. The only time I see character slip is with regard to Frankie’s attitude toward sex. Her dispassionate take on it—she isn’t sure she really wants to, but maybe she should just do it and get it over with? Is not a mindset I’ve ever seen in a teenage girl, and believe me, I’ve known plenty of quirky ones. No, that’s a male attitude, and I suspect that Wilson would do better to use male protagonists, or else run his female ones by several very honest females in his chosen field, prior to publication.

As the summer goes on, I keep expecting the two to launch another joint project, but they don’t. She does some writing, and he draws, but there is no sequel, no follow-up. The poster is the poster. Shantytown, gold seekers, fugitives, hunger. Boom. That’s it. But years into the future, Frankie is still putting these damn things up. The heck…? I believe this of her; she is one strange person. Zeke’s mental health deteriorates that summer, and where that goes is completely credible. Those that work in the field will recognize Zeke, who is by far the better drawn of the two main characters.

This fascinating novel can be enjoyed by young adult audiences, because both of the protagonists are teenagers; however, this is also fiction that can be enjoyed by anybody. If you don’t read YA—and the truth is, I don’t, not anymore—you can still appreciate this one, and I recommend it to you.

The Last Hill, by Tom Clavin and Bob Drury***-****

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In 2021, Clavin and Drury published Blood and Treasure, an outstanding biography of Daniel Boone, several American Indian tribes, and their relationship to the American Revolution. When I saw a chance to hear their new audiobook titled The Last Hill, I jumped on it. And the early portion of it convinced me that I was missing too much by listening but not seeing, so then I went back and requested the digital version as well. My thanks go to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and Net Galley for the review copies. This book is for sale now.

This meaty yet readable book details the fight for Castle Hill, a strategically essential location that leads into the core of Nazi Germany. Several entire American divisions had tried and failed to take it, and so General Eisenhower ordered the Rangers to go in. Rudder’s were the most elite, battle-hardened unit of the already elite group known as the Rangers. Led by Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder, they were ordered to fight to the last man, if necessary, and they very nearly did; 130 special operatives, as they were known, ascended the hill, and only 16 were left standing when it was over. Nobody there knew that Hitler’s Wehrmacht had been given nearly identical instructions, as it was through here that a massive number of German troops were slated to descend through the gateway and conclude the Battle of the Bulge for the Axis powers.

The most interesting and enjoyable part of this book, for me, was in the first chapters, where we see the contrast between the misleadership early on, when the Rangers were being trained in rural Tennessee, and that which Rudder provided. The troops were sent on marathon marches without canteens, and their superior officer would be driven alongside them, where they could see him relaxing in his seat and drinking as much water (or whatever?) as he chose. Some men quit; others died.  There were also war games, including “…the pit fighting competitions” that took place in a three foot deep, forty foot square hole in which “…entire platoons jumped in to attack each other like ancient Spear-Danes, screaming lusty war cries that echoed throughout the camp…by the ordeal’s conclusion, the sawdust looked as if it had been coated with red paint and the pit itself smelled like the inside of a leper. Afterward, the medical team—whose members were not spared the crucible—found themselves treating gashes, sprains, dislocations, and a no-inconsiderable number of broken bones, sometimes their own. At the end of these long days the Rangers returned to their tent city too exhausted to make the two-mile, round-trip walk to the barracks showers.” Angry servicemen, when they finally scored passes to the nearest town named Tullahoma, brawled with the locals and left the bars and taverns with splintered wood and broken glass. Lieutenant Colonel Saffarans had to go.

When “Big Jim” Rudder came in, the pit fights vanished and he marched alongside his own men, not for just a portion of the hike, but for the whole thing. When his feet became blistered, he waved away the medics and took care of himself. Soon morale improved, and so did the quality of the troops.

As we move from training to the European theater, I see less information that I didn’t already know. It’s not badly done, but I was so inspired by the earlier portion that I felt a little let down. I am also chagrined—though this is not the authors’ faults—at the casual way that the US Army threw its soldiers into the line of fire. Why could they not soften the area up before sending these poor men to the slaughterhouse? There were 260,000 grave markers in the hold of their transport ship. Whereas I have never been a proponent of nuclear war, it does seem to me that if someone was going to be hit with the bomb, Hitler’s minions were likely very strong candidates; the Japanese that were nuked at Nagasaki and Hiroshima were nearly beaten already, and the bomb was nearly superfluous. And I’ve said it in earlier reviews but I’ll say it again: it’s too bad that the U.S. Military treated white enemies gently, and its nonwhite ones ruthlessly.

Do I recommend this book to you?  If you are looking for just one book about American forces in World War II, this is probably not the one you’re looking for. It’s specific to just one part of Germany and just one hill, so it’s better suited to those that already have the basics mastered.

I might not recommend it at all, as I personally was offended by some of the remarks intended as humorous in reference to local women, as well as women in the service. Whereas I have no doubt that the misogynistic jokes told here are legitimately jokes that were told back then, there are some things that don’t bear repeating, and surely not in detail. I also wasn’t crazy about the clipped bro-speech of the narrator in the audio version.

For this reason, I recommend the printed version over the audio, for those that are interested.

Twelve Months of Reading

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Seattle Book Mama’s Favorite Books for 2021

So many books to choose from! This is the cream of my collection of five star books for this year. So many of these crosses into multiple genres that it makes no sense to break them into categories. Whether you crave mystery, historical fiction, military fiction, suspense, humor, Southern fiction, literary fiction, nonfiction, history, or just a fantastic read, I’ve got you covered. What better way to wrap up 2021?