Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

This book is not nearly as frightening as it is unbelievable. We learn what the main subject of the book is very quickly; a perfect murder. It’s supposed to be the perfect crime; you kill my father and I will kill your wife. We are strangers, so we have no link to each other’s victims except this meeting. This is what Charles Bruno suggests to Guy Haines on the train where they meet for the first time, and improbably, they quickly get into a conversation about murdering each other’s burdens. The way Bruno injects himself into Guy’s life after this is sly, but is also unconvincing. We are told that the murder of Miriam (Guy’s wife from which he is seeking a divorce) is Bruno’s first murder. However, Bruno does it with such ease and eagerness that he seems more like a seasoned killer than an amateur. While some read this book to be a deep look at the criminal mind, to me it is more a light skim of human guilt and it’s reactions. The reader is given more description about the superficial things like food and appearances than deep emotional and personal experiences. Later on in the book, when we find out how successful Guy is in his career, it’s surprising because Guy’s life is never described with much depth. There is also a lot we never learn about Bruno or his past, but this doesn’t seem necessarily intentional. While I do see the allusions of incest, specifically in Bruno’s descriptions of his own mother, I never see the homosexual references that everyone seems to describe when talking about Highsmith’s writing. Bruno’s descriptions of Guy seem to be more about envy than attraction. Bruno is fascinated and jealous of Guy’s world, and Bruno lives in that world through his platonic but obsessive relationship with Guy. Also, Bruno’s death is simpler than it should be and seems like an easy way to get rid of a character to allow the book to end the way Highsmith intended. This book is the original, male, and most importantly, less frightening, version of Single White Female. Not the story I expected it to be and certainly not as much depth as a lot of people seem to give it credit for.

Rating 3/5

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This was an enjoyable read. It says on the back cover of the book that it is a love letter to reading, and I whole heartedly agree. The story is simple and its beauty lies in the emotion Setterfield gives her characters for the reader to experience. The story is more felt than simply understood. This novel has gothic elements, which I enjoy very much, and the story keeps you guessing until the very end like a good mystery (minus the cheese). The main character, Margaret Lea, is the quiet and reserved daughter of a bookshop owner. She also has a hobby of writing biographies about select people, preferably deceased. Miss Vida Winter is an internationally loved author on her death bed looking to finally tell her life story to someone worthy and capable of properly recording it. The two characters come together to once and for all go through the true life of Vida Winter, something many people before Margaret had attempted but failed. By mixing the present with the past in a way that makes the reader experience both, this novel is a true example of great storytelling. While I don't personally relate to the experiences of twin life (I may have had I been a twin myself), I do appreciate the way in which Setterfield reflects the good and bad found in all families. She brings to light the fact that every family has skeletons and coming to terms with ones own family secrets allows a person to understand more about themselves. I would love to see a film adaptation of this book and look forward to reading more novels by this Setterfield. A fabulous debut!

Rating 4/5

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

I found this book to be extremely disappointing in the end. I read Mystic River a few years ago and loved it, so I was surprised when I read “Shutter Island” and found it to be the complete opposite. This book was a definite let down. The book was well written, well plotted, and full of guessing and suspense up to the last 50 pages or so. Lehane takes the easy way out and ends on something similar to the old “and then he woke up for that really bad dream and lived happily ever after” which I feel is the ultimate slap in the face to the reader. The worst part was, it wasn’t even that surprising because about halfway through you realize something isn’t right and the back of the book even alludes to it. Even though it was only the ending that did the damage, it reflects poorly on the book as a whole because the reader walks away unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Anyone can create the beginning of a great plot, it’s tying up the ends and delivering the end that is the real trick, and Lehane fails to do this. I know the movie is coming out in the fall and I am hoping it isn’t a let down as well. I would not recommend this book to anyone because there is nothing more disappointing than putting time into reading a book only to realize the author didn’t put that same time into writing it. Thumbs down.

Rating 1/5

The City of Ember (First Book of Ember) by Jeanne DuPrau

The idea of a place like Ember is frightening. From the beginning of the book, the reader is aware of the physical seclusion and isolation of the city of Ember and its citizens. Seclusion from what, however, the reader does not know. The “Builders” of Ember manufactured the city a long time ago, but the reader doesn’t learn why until the end of the book by reading a journal left by one of the first citizens of Ember. The reader also learns immediately about the important instructions the “Builders” have left for when the city expires, that is, the calculated amount of time when Ember’s citizens are supposed to exit the city. This is because of the calculation of when supplies will run out and also how long it will take for the “new world” to be safe. Through the adventures of the books two main characters, Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet, “The City of Ember” is a prelude to something more. It details the discovery of the accidentally lost instructions and how two 12 year olds put the pieces back together to find out how to exit the city and hopefully save the people they know and love, as planned out by their ancestors. This book also addresses issues of conservation, minimalistic living, and is very much about appreciating the abundance that the world we live in has to offer. This book also ended on a great note, leaving the reader wanting answers but not feeling unsatisfied. While the writing and dialogue is simple, it doesn’t lack good storytelling. This book may have been better if written for an older audience, but is entertaining nonetheless.

Rating 4/5

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I loved the first book so much I managed to get my hands on an ARC for Catching Fire. I finished the book in one sitting and it is just as extraordinary as the first. It picks up almost right where the first book leaves off with Katniss and Peeta's return home to District 12. This book focuses less on the Games and more on the unrest that Peeta and Katniss' defiance of the Capitol has created throughout most of the Districts. It is just as gut wrenching and heart breaking as the first. The story is chilling and draws the reader into the harsh yet frighteningly realistic dystopian society of Panem. Collins is a magnificent writer and I can't wait to read the third and final book!

Rating 5/5