Is This Tomorrow
5.23.2013
Author: Caroline Leavitt
Publisher: Algonquin
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Book Description:
What does it mean to be an outsider in a community? How do we keep the ones we love safe? in 1950s suburbia, everything is meant to be perfect, even as paranoia about Communism and nuclear bombs winds its way through the supposed paradise. But when divorced, sensual-without-meaning-to-be, Jewish single mother Ava rents a house with her 12-year-old son, Lewis, she struggles to fit in and find her place in the neighborhood. Lewis finds solace with the only other two fatherless kids on the block, his best friends Jimmy and Rose, but when Jimmy vanishes one day, Ava is suddenly suspect and Lewis and Rose's life will be changed forever. A novel about people trying desperately to uncover secrets about the past--and about themselves.
Idgie Says:
This is story with so many little stories wrapped up in it. Many layers of anger, fright, racism, and abandonment are all entwined within this story of Ava and her son Lewis.
It's the 1950s and Ava is struggling with her life. She has a huge hurdle to overcome - the stigma slapped on her as not only a divorced woman (automatic threat to every marriage on the block) but she's also Jewish. Thereby totally not trusted by most of the people she deals with on a day to day basis. Her son, Lewis, also has to overcome the struggles that come with this preconceived stigma.
Lewis has two friends in the school, Jimmy and Rose. One day Jimmy disappears and no trace of him is found. Jimmy had a childlike crush on Ava and immediately she finds herself once more in the crosshairs of neighborhood suspicion.
The novel then segues into the aftermath, the fallout you might say, of life after a friend and child mysteriously vanishes. It of course affects Jimmy's mother and sister, his best friend Lewis and also Ava. It delves into the struggles they all face to move on in life and come to peace with their current existence.
Jimmy's body is eventually found, years later, and when the truth comes out as to what actually happened to him - I can't help but say I was completely taken off guard and shocked.
Good writing with a gripping story line.
Read an excerpt HERE.
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The Art Forger - now in paperback
5.21.2013
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The Art Forger
Author: B. A. Shapiro
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books; First Edition edition (October 23, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616201320
ISBN-13: 978-1616201326
Book Description:
On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art worth today over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there’s more to this crime than meets the eye.
Idgie Says:
Claire finds herself as a struggling artist living in her loft creating reproductions of famous paintings after she is betrayed by her ex and since then blackballed by the art community.
Suddenly a very handsome man from her past pops in and offers her a deal she knows she should refuse.....but doesn't. Create a forgery of a famous painting that's been lost to the public so that it can be "found". Totally against the law of course. But, what if the painting isn't so lost at all?
It all comes to a violent and scary end result when thugs, collectors and the police try to find out just which painting is real, what's a forgery.... and who should pay for it all.
A nice crime mystery novel embracing the art world. Plenty of detail about painting, art and art collection surround the story.
Love, lust and betrayal...........what more do you need?
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The Love Wars
5.17.2013
Author: L. Alison Heller
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (May 7, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451416236
ISBN-13: 978-0451416230
Book Description:
Even though Molly Grant has only a handful of relationships behind her, she’s already been through more divorces than she can count.
At the premier Manhattan law firm where she’s a matrimonial attorney, the hours are long, the bosses tyrannical, and the bonuses stratospheric. Her clients are rich, famous, and used to getting their way. Molly’s job—and primary concern in life—is to work as hard as possible to make sure they do. Until she meets the client who changes everything….
Fern Walker is the desperate former wife of a ruthless media mogul. Her powerful ex is slowly pushing her out of her young children’s lives, and she fears losing them forever. Molly—haunted by an incident from her own past—finds herself unable to walk away from Fern and sets out to help her. She just needs to do it without her bosses finding out.
Now, as complications both professional and personal stack up, Molly can only hope that her own wits, heart, and instincts are enough—both in and out of court.
Idgie Says:
The book description states that it's in the vein of The Devil Wears Prada and that's very true. It's the same type of corporate hell climbing to get to where you "think" you want to be until one day you remember your humanity and decide maybe there's more to life than the corporate office.
Some of the divorce scenes are in your face making fun of the rich and their ridiculous demands, and other scenes are truly sad reflections of marriages gone wrong.
Molly spends a good part of the book kissing butt to her superiors in an attempt to make that climb to the top, but slowly the thrill of becoming a rising star in the firm fades as she realizes real lives are at stake.
A good look at the inside shenanigans of a corporate law firm and the serious side of "Bridget Jones".
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