I have been on a historical fiction kick lately, and I’m speeding through books with the use of Audible and regular reading. I have some books to review and a few of them are in the same vein as The Paris Wife and Rules of Civility. This next one is the audiobook version of The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty. It was performed by Elizabeth McGovern of Downton Abbey  fame.

image via bn; image via imdb

The Chaperone is the story of Cora Carlisle, an upper-class Wichita wife who volunteers to be chaperone to Louise Brooks as she attends dance class in New York City. Louise is a headstrong teenager, with an intellect that is shadowed by her sheer beauty. Chaperoning Louise is not an easy task for Cora, who goes to New York to find out some information about her past. That summer, she not only wrestles with Louise about impropriety, but she also wrestles with herself about what’s right and wrong, and how to carry on with life knowing what she knows.

Louise Brooks, you may know (I didn’t), was one of the golden girls of silent film. She is credited with popularizing the bob haircut. Her life in Hollywood was short-lived, mostly due to her extravagant spending, her tumultuous marriages, and the transition to “talkies.” Her success actually began in the summer she attended dance classes. She was picked up by the Denishawn Dance Company after taking their rigorous classes. She also performed in the Ziegfeld Follies. From Hollywood, she went on to make films in Europe. She also wrote, and I’m sure her memoir, Lulu in Hollywood, served as some inspiration for Moriarty.

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While there is someone famous in this book, the story is really about Cora. Cora, married to a kind prominent attorney, has recently become an empty-nester. And with the opportunity to go to New York, she jumps at the chance to explore her background. Cora doesn’t know much about herself, orphaned as a teenager by her farming family, but she seeks to find that out on her trip. She not only discovers mu ch about her family. She finds out more about herself, her desires, and her ideals. Louise tests her patience and drives her crazy so in the hours of Louise’s class, more of Cora’s story unfolds and it’s a doozie.

I really enjoyed this book! McGovern did a great job of giving the characters life without a visual. Moriarty made both characters interesting, but also dealt with the common themes of the era, such as Prohibition and the flapper generation while mixing in some issues that I didn’t even think were relevant to the time. I was surprised at some of the turns in Cora’s life, but I thought it was great to give a woman who seems completely “fine” multiple layers to draw from. I thought her transformation was vital to the story, and I like how Moriarty handled it. I also had fun looking up Louise Brooks and hope to one day read her memoir.

Is there any historical fiction that’s been catching you lately?

4/5

Recently, I’ve been dabbling a little more in audiobooks. With my 45-minute drive to and from work, and about 30 minutes of cardio three times a week, I’ve found myself more entertained with books rather than Top 40 (which actually feels a little more like top 4 right now). It helped me finish The Casual Vacancy when reading it just wasn’t working. So, armed with an Audible account, I added a couple of books I’ve been meaning to read. One of them was The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson.

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Caleb and Camille Fang are artists. Their medium is the living world, people in malls, airports, or public spaces with tons of strangers. They like to create chaos and record the chaos. And they are actually well-known within the art world for their work. To help them facilitate their pieces, they have their children, Annie and Buster, AKA “Child A” and “Child B,” contribute to the chaos. As a result, the word “family” and “parents” apply a little too loosely to this traveling troupe.

As adults, Annie and Buster try to move on from their eccentric childhood when their parents used them for their art. Buster is a struggling writer, and Annie is a successful actress. When they both end up back at home, nursing some quarter-life crisis type issues, they’re thrust back into the crazy way their parents live. Their ultimate goal is to get back out in the world and lead their own version of a normal life.

This book was interesting. I love to read about different family dynamics. It wasn’t necessarily an easy read, though. I really felt for Annie and Buster, especially Buster, who seemed lost from the very beginning of the story. He seemed to be lost without the direction of his parents, but also lost in the wake of Annie’s success. And as Annie also started to unravel, getting to the bottom of Caleb and Camille was pretty important to me. Caleb and Camille are one unit, and while they mostly agree on their art and lifestyle, I thought they diverged a little bit in terms of parenting and nurturing. I was happy with how the story ended. Families are weird, but isn’t it always a little more comforting when you read about one that’s weirder than yours?

I rate this book 3/5.

After reading The Giver, I just wanted to get my hands on another Lois Lowry book, and Gathering Blue is the second in The Giver Quartet.

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I can understand why it’s not called a series and merely a quartet. The expectation is that we would find out more about what happened to Jonas and Gabriel. It’s an entirely different story, though. It takes place in a different time. Everyone has their place and job, like The Giver, but it’s much less comfortable. People who are deformed or disabled in any way are not accepted. Kira, protected by her mother, survived being eliminated at birth because of her deformed leg. When her mother dies, Kira must prove that she is useful to their society. Her abilities with thread and weaving impress the Council enough to let her stay on as the seamstress of the Singer’s robe. The robe depicts all of their society’s history. Suddenly, Kira is well taken care of and has a respectable place in society.

As she lives in the Council’s building, Kira learns much about her craft, but also much about the society she lives in. With her helpful little friend, Matty, and the carver of the Singer’s staff, Thomas, Kira finds out that both art and freedom come at a high price.

All in all, I was disappointed in Gathering Blue. The last third of the book redeemed the story, but the pace was much slower than The Giver. Besides the fact that the story didn’t continue from The Giver, it also wasn’t as interesting. I will continue to read the rest of the quartet, but I will sneak them in between some of my heavier reads.

I rate this book a 2/5.

Did you read a book this year that left you craving more when it was over?

I think this prompt can be taken two ways. The positive take would be a book that you loved so much, you just didn’t want it to end. And the negative take would be the book that left you feeling unsatisfied, looking for more at the end. I experienced both this year, and reviewed them as well. I’ll start with the positive.

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With all the television, movies and fashion throwing back to the 1920s and 30s, this book could not have come at a better time. Rules of Civility  by Amor Towles was probably the best book I read this year. I wasn’t only captured by the story. I was captured by the setting of New York in the 30s, by an independent woman, and by the magnificent use of language and dialogue in this book. I think I raved about it to everyone I knew. It was just so good. And when it ended, I just wanted to stay there. I think the story wrapped up nicely, but I simply did not want it to end.

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On the other hand, there was The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. At first, I thought I hated this book. It was not the easiest read because I wasn’t happy with any of the characters. But I’ve come to realize that this book succeeded in one thing. It has made me think a lot. Sometimes, out of nowhere, I find myself thinking a lot about Mitchell. I wish his story was more complete, more fulfilling, and less about his devotion to Madeleine. But I rarely give a thought to Leonard. It catches me off guard and I think that Eugenides is successful in writing something that has left me thinking, even almost a year later. A friend of mine had a similar reaction. She wonders about Madeleine. I have recently borrowed Middlesex from a friend. I’m wondering what Eugenides has up his sleeve with that one, and I’m wondering if I ever pick up The Marriage Plot again, will I have a different reaction the second time around?

Did you have a similar reaction to a book this year? Positive or negative?