11/22/63

Note: This was originally posted February 8, 2018. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For years, I wouldn't read anything by Stephen King, as I had never been a fan of horror stories. But after devouring King's Dolores Claiborne one rainy day, I learned what Stephen King fans have known for years: King is a wickedly good writer.

While 11/22/63 is not King's longest novel, by far, its 849-page length might put off readers. However, the only thing about this novel that one needs to fear is the inability to put the book down once started; it captivates the reader, holding one through its final paragraphs.

Thirty-five year old high school English teacher Jake Epping earns extra money teaching GED classes in the evening. An essay by student Harry Dunning describing the night his father killed his mother and siblings, and nearly killing Harry, leaves its mark Jake.

Shortly after Harry receives his GED, Jake gets a call from his friend Al, who owns a nearby diner. Turns out Harry was not the only one with secrets: Al insists on showing Jake the diner's storage room which has a portal to 1958.

Jake has wondered how Al has aged so rapidly in such a short period of time, until he learns that no matter how long someone is in the past, when that person comes back through the portal to Al's diner, only a few minutes have passed in the present time.

Al, who is now dying, has one request: for Jake to stop the assassination of President John Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. Jake goes through the portal several times, sees how changing one or two lesser histories affect the present, then agrees to try to stop JFK's death.

The one thing that Al warns Jake about is that every time one goes through the portal to 1958, the previous changes are erased: a girl who was saved from a paralyzing gunshot in one trip is reinjured after Jake reenters 1958, as well as several other changes.

Jake spends five years in the past, manages to save JFK, but at a heavy cost to himself, as well as those around him. And the present he comes back to is drastically different from the one he left. Does he go back through the portal to reset history, or leave it as changed?

I highly recommend Stephen King's 11/22/63 to anyone looking for a good read. The book is sure to become one of King's fans' favorites; for those readers who have avoided King's works as I did for years, this book is sure to change one's mind into wanting to read more of King's work.

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The Art of Mending, by Elizabeth Berg

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are times when siblings growing up under the same roof experience very different family dynamics without realizing it until years later. That is the theme of The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg.

Every year, Laura Bartone and her siblings meet up at their parents' home in Minneapolis for their annual family reunion and the state fair. It's an event that is usually happy, until this year.

Upon her arrival, Laura realizes something is drastically wrong with her sister Caroline. Their brother, Steve, has trouble coming to terms with Caroline's changes, while Laura is, at least, willing to listen. The things that Caroline reveals about her past with their parents show a side of the family dynamics that rattle Laura to the core. As she tries coming to terms with her sister's truths, the siblings are thrown another curve when their father dies.

The siblings must come to terms with what they are learning; by the end of the book, Caroline's truths are proven true when their mother and aunt state how different things were for all three siblings.

The Art of Mending is written wonderfully, as is usual for books by Elizabeth Berg. This is worth the reader's time, especially if curious about family dynamics.

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Breakdown, by Sara Paretsky

Breakdown by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A group of tween girls, a ritual, an abandoned cemetery at night, and an actual corpse...what could possibly go wrong?

When V.I. Warshawski's cousin Petra contacts V.I. about several missing girls from a book group that Petra helps with, Vic finds the girls performing a ritual inside an abandoned cemetery, where a man has just been murdered in Breakdown, Sara Paretsky's 15th V.I. Warshawski mystery.

Several of the girls are members of powerful families, including someone running for Congress, and one of the world's richest men. The murdered man - another solo private investigator - was working for someone trying to keep secrets under wraps.

As Vic follows leads, she runs into an old law school friend, who ends up hospitalized before revealing info to Vic. Several deaths occur, including the friend; one of the girls from the book group almost dies, too, saved only because V.I. finds her.

As V.I. gets closer to finding the multiple layers of truth, she comes close to dying, saved only by someone looking for his stolen fishing boat. Murray Ryerson helps Vic out the person responsible for many of the deaths and near deaths.

If you're looking for a fast-pace read with a strong female lead, this is sure to please.

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Dolores Claiborne, by Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For years, I refused to read anything by Stephen King, as I was not into horror books. Then, I discovered Dolores Claiborne.

I first read this more than a decade ago, and figured it was time to reread Dolores Claiborne, and am glad I did. This well-written book is done from Dolores's point-of-view, telling what happened both when her late-husband died and the events leading up to the death of her employer, Vera Donovan. While the book is not within the horror genre, it does have a certain grittiness and tells of several deaths that were within Dolores's inner-circle.

For those who have seen the movie on which this was based, you know the book's basic premise. Whether you've viewed the movie or not, though, this is one book that is well worth the read.

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Body Work, by Sara Paretsky

Body Work by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When V.I. "Vic" Warshawski decides to take an evening off to go clubbing, a woman is shot and dies in Vic's arms in a back alley in Sara Paretsky's Body Work.

V.I. has decided that if "Doctors take days off, why not PIs?" Her cousin Petra (introduced in Hardball) has started working at Club Gouge, an edgy new nightclub. A new act at the club, the Body Artist, a woman who allows people to paint on her naked body, has created quite a stir, increasing the crowd at Club Gouge. When one painter's drawings on the Body Artist cause anger in an Iraqi war vet with PTSD, and the painter is subsequently murdered, the police figure it's an open-and-shut case. The vet's parents, however, don't think their son did it, and hire Vic to prove his innocence.

At first, Vic isn't sure what to make of the murder; she had seen the vet's anger. But she agrees to sort out the facts of the case.

As she gets closer to finding out who really shot Nadia Guaman, and the threads connecting the vet, Ukrainian mobsters, an angry off-duty cop, and others, V.I.'s life is in jeopardy.

While this 14th book in the Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawsky series might be a little difficult to get into, it is well worth the reader's time, and won't disappoint.

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Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Alison

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While some people are fortunate enough to live "the good life," with enough money, food, and housing, others live a hard-scrapple life. Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison shows us the hard life of Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright.

Bone was born to Anney, an unwed teen who gives birth after being involved in a car accident that renders her comatose for a short period of time, and who, therefore, can't lie about her marital status (or lack thereof). Anney spends the next couple of years trying to get an updated birth certificate for Bone, hoping to have the term "illegitimate" is removed.

Narrated by Bone, the book briefly mentions Lyle, her first step-father; Anney's marriage to Lyle produces Bone's sister. When Lyle dies, Anney takes up with Glen Waddell, eventually marrying him. The primary conflict throughout the book is between the abusive Glen and Bone.

The family - Anney, Bone, her sister Reese, and Glen - are forced to move from place to place, due to finances. They never seem to move up or down, simply to another ramshackle place. Jobs come and go, adding to the family's stress, which is also exacerbated by Glen's abuse.

By the end of the book, Bone has sustained broken bones, and more from Glen. Anney leaves Glen several times because of the abuse, but in the end, disappears, most likely with Glen. Anney's final act towards Bone is to bring her a new birth certificate with the word "illegitimate" removed, before disappearing again.

This semi-autobiographical novel is not the easiest book to read, but it is insightful, giving the reader an idea of how choices can make or break a person. Bastard Out of Carolina is a must read, while Dorothy Allison has much to say about the struggles of too many who are struggling to survive.

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Hardball, by Sara Paretsky

Hardball by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Several years ago, I made a concerted effort to start reading Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series in the order that they were written. I'd already read quite a few books in the series, but really wanted more of a sense of time-flow: When someone is mentioned in one book as an ex-lover, or a reference is made from an earlier book, I wanted to be able to relate.

In Hardball, by Sara Paretsky, V.I. reluctantly takes a case to find Lamont Gadsden, an African-American man who's been missing for 40 years, a case that unearths the seamy side of Chicago politics.

In 1966, a nail-studded baseball kills Harmony Newsome as she attends a civil rights gathering. Gang member Steve Sawyer is wrongly convicted, after being tortured to confess.

During his trial, Sawyer states that Lamont Gadsden has photos of who really killed Harmony. However, Gadsden has disappeared.

Fast forward to the present: Vic's cousin Petra, a recent college grad, is in town to help with a local political campaign. However, the campaign involves people who were instrumental in the death of Harmony Newsome, in the torture of Steve Sawyer, and the death and disappearance of Lamont Gadsden, and the death of a nun who marched with Harmony. Vic must unravel the threads in this case before both she and her cousin are killed in an effort to keep the truth secret.

While I've been a fan of Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series for years, I am partial to Hardball, and feel that is is one of Paretsky's best that I have read thus far. This is definitely worth reading (and rereading). I highly recommend it.

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