In Another Time by Jillian Cantor

In Another Time by Jillian Cantor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Another Time is both Historical Fiction and Sci Fi. The odd thing about the story is how long it takes to reveal it isn't exclusively Historical Fiction. It's the story of a romance between a German man, Max, of Christian descent, who doesn't care much about religion and a German woman, Hannah, who is Jewish and does. The book starts in Germany, during the years leading up to World War II. It speaks to the politics existing during that period of Germany's history and how so many of the German people reacted to the calls for hatred. At first Max isn't affected by the bigotry of the time and place, but his bookshop is near a bakery owned by a Jew. The baker is affected, especially during kristallnacht. This is important for Max, not only because of his sympathy for his neighbor, but also because it teaches him about the hatred Hannah will experience.

As I mentioned, it takes a while before the book's narrative makes it clear this is also a Sci Fi story. I think it helps to know there is something unexpected coming, but not to know what it is, so I won't get into the details.

Another aspect of In Another Time I enjoyed is that Max is not Hannah's first love. She is in love with her violin and was for years before she met Max. Fortunately, Max also love's Hannah's music. They would make a perfect pair, if it wasn't for government sponsored intolerance.

In Another Time is a page turner and very hard to put down.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.


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The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Last Days of Night is a wonderfully written novel about the battle between AC (Alternating Current advocated by George Westinghouse) and DC (Direct Current advocated by Thomas Edison) at the time in America's history when our country was moving from gas lighting to electric. There was more to this fight than the science behind it. The winner would end up with contracts to electrify the nation and with the fortune that followed those contracts.

Here's a quote about the differences in the business philosophies of Edison and Westinghouse:

“Westinghouse was responsible for tremendous feats of manufacturing—extremely well-built devices made by a factory of hundreds, each one supplying a part. A chain of construction. Edison, on the other hand, had built himself a factory that did not produce machines, but rather ideas.”

The novel is written from the point of view of Paul Cravath, a young attorney who represented George Westinghouse. Cravath is brilliant in his own field, but has a limited knowledge of technology. His need to know provides a non-obtrusive way for Moore to describe the basics to his readers without disrupting the flow of the story.

The Last Days of Night is historical fiction with characters such as Agnes Huntington, Nikola Tesla and Alexander Graham Bell in addition to the three main characters: Edison, Westinghouse, and Cravath. It's also a story of ruthless business practices, of the early days of patent law, and has a love story woven in as well. It is a hard book to put down.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross




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Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sadie is a YA book about child abuse and pedophilia. I believe it is important for books to cover difficult subjects, especially when the audience is young. Overall, I felt Courtney Summers handled the material well. There were moments of great tension and I loved the idea of Sadie as a young vigilante, although there could be some parents who think otherwise.

I had a couple of issues with the novel. First of all, it started fast, with a murder, but after that it began to drag until the pace picked up about a third into the story. Secondly, the male characters are mostly immoral, with the exception of Javi, a teenager who finds Sadie attractive. Javi steps up, does the right thing and pays the price. The main character of West McCray is a caring and dedicated person, but may or may not be male. This brings me to my third issue, the podcast personality who follows Sadie. Here is a line from the Goodreads description of the book:

“When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl.”

This description uses the word “he,” yet Summers is not so clear about West's gender. About three quarters of the way through the book West delivers the line: “I married him.” When I read that I wondered if West was a woman or a gay man. Like most readers, I picture the characters while I'm reading, so it bothered me and I looked back.

I could not find a clear answer to this main character's gender. In either case, Summers should have made West's gender clear. West spoke about his or her daughter a few times throughout the story, but not in a way that would answer my question.

Overall, I found the subject material and the tension in the latter part of the novel to make this a worthwhile read.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.


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The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass

The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The title of The Widower's Tale is a bit deceptive, because it is three stories rolled into one novel. As well as the widower's story, it is also the tale of Robert, the widower's grandson and the tale of Celestino, a gardener who works for the widower's next door neighbor. Other characters are also explored in the book, but it is primarily from the point of view of these three we see the world.

The widower is Percy Darling, a sixty-nine year old man who lost his wife when they were in their late thirties. He hasn't dated anyone since then, which might be due to a sense of guilt. Although he wasn't responsible for his wife's death there were some issues on the day she died. Percy starts seeing Sarah, a fifty-one year-old artist who works with stained-glass. The age difference isn't much of an issue, but the difference in the way they look at the world is.

Robert, Percy's grandson, has a roommate, Turo, who is involved in environmental activism, expressed through pranks some people see as vandalism. Robert gets sucked into Turo's activities and the story goes on from there.

Meanwhile, Celestino's life is also explored. He is an immigrant from Guatemala who came to America when a professor at Harvard noticed his potential. But a mixture of bad luck, bad decisions, and a romantic nature forced Celestino to run off and turn to manual labor for his income.

All three of these stories read well. I love the way the narratives touch each other throughout the book. I was also impressed with the way Julia Glass changes her style depending on whose point of view she's writing. Percy is a retired librarian and thinks in an scholarly style. The language in the Robert and Celestino sections is straight forward and reads faster.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.


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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Fine Balance tells the story of India in 1975, during the state of emergency, when the opponents of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (who is never mentioned by name) are jailed and Gandhi’s son, Sanjay Gandhi, spearheads a forced sterilization campaign in an attempt to deal with overpopulation.

The story looks at cultural sexism, religious prejudice, the caste system, and police corruption from the perspective of the poor and lower middle class. It touches on the lives of some wealthier individuals, but only briefly, looking primarily at their opinions of the poor.

The publisher's description states that the novel has “a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens.” Like Dickens, Rohinton Mistry focuses on the underprivileged and like Dickens, his style includes numerous minor characters who keep reappearing throughout his story and plot twists that depend on coincidence.

The title comes from a character referred to as “the proofreader.” He states, “You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.” The scales seem to weigh heavier on the latter of those two choices, but the book is well worth reading. The ending is particularly engrossing. I couldn't put it down.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.





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The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“The White Queen” by Philippa Gregory is the story of Elizabeth Woodville who married Edward IV in 1464 and became the Queen of England. She is the daughter of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the woman who was featured in Gregory's novel “The Lady of the Rivers”.

Edward IV was a descendant of Edward I, who I believe was also one my ancestors. One of these days I will have my DNA analyzed to find out for sure, but that is the story that has been passed down through generations of my family and part of my motivation to read Gregory's “The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels”. Regardless of what I discover, I'm glad I read the first two and I'm certain I will enjoy the others.

I liked “The White Queen”, but didn't feel it was as exciting as “The Lady of the Rivers”, partially because some major sections were presented from Elizabeth Woodville's point of view while she was locked in Westminster Abbey where she'd gone seeking sanctuary from her political rivals. This meant that some battles were described through second and third hand rumors told to her rather than by characters who had been in the fights.

Gregory's books are historical fiction and the fiction portions contain some magic. This aspect adheres to the beliefs of the time and gives “The White Queen” a sense of reality it would lack if the author had ignored everything supernatural. It's also fun.

The novel brings out the self importance felt by the royalty, but also the burdens. Here's a quote from Elizabeth as she thinks of one of her sons:

“Perhaps he will be an ordinary boy and I will become an ordinary woman again. Perhaps we will not be great people, chosen by God, but just happy.”

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.



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A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Gentleman in Moscow works on many different levels.

It is the story of “Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt,” who had the misfortune of being a member of the upper class following the Bolshevik (later called Communist Party) revolution of 1917. He probably would have been executed except for a poem attributed to him written prior to the “failed revolt of 1905.” This literary “call to action” saves him from the firing squad. Instead he is sentenced to house arrest. However, Rostov's home is in the Metropol, a first class hotel in Moscow. There is a massive lobby with restaurants, a seamstress, and a barber. There are also people who come and go, along with many people who stay for a long time. Rostov finds he is capable of adapting to his new situation and making friends. Here's a quote:

“It is a well-known fact that of all the species on earth Homo sapiens is among the most adaptable. Settle a tribe of them in a desert and they will wrap themselves in cotton, sleep in tents, and travel on the backs of camels; settle them in the Arctic and they will wrap themselves in sealskin, sleep in igloos, and travel by dog-drawn sled. And if you settle them in a Soviet climate? They will learn to make friendly conversation with strangers while waiting in line; they will learn to neatly stack their clothing in their half of the bureau drawer; and they will learn to draw imaginary buildings in their sketchbooks”

So on the first level this is about a man adjusting to what life has sent his way and of that man observing the changes happening to his country from a place of seclusion. Here are some of the other ways this novel works.

1. It is the story of a man who treats people well, when they deserve it, and has those small niceties returned from friends when he needs help. I suppose this is a story of a man's Karma, but all within a single lifetime.
2. It is the story of what a man gains when he befriends a young girl and, years later, raises another. He explains it like this: “To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka – and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me the most.”
3. It is the story of a man whose seclusion helps him observe and understand life. These observations occur in the novel as very quotable lines such as: “For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.”

There are a number of coincidences in the plot and an ending I had to research in order to understand, but the strength of the character, Rostov, the subject matter of post revolution Soviet Union, and the quality of the writing make this a wonderful book and an easy novel to recommend.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.


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