The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a great book to read with your book club! I was hesitant to read it. The synopsis didn't really grab my attention. But I kept seeing good things about it over and over—on blogs, in library newsletters, etc. So when it came my turn to make the selection for our book club, I chose it and hoped for the best. I am so glad that I did! Nearly everyone in our group rated it a 4.5 and we had a great discussion.

The book does get off to a slow start, so be prepared to hang in there. But once the story gets going, it is hard to put the book down! There are a lot of characters in this story, and it takes awhile to get them all straight. If you are a reader who needs to have a 'good guy' character that you can relate to, you are not going to find it in this book. There are many 'villains' in this book, and most of those who aren't don't have much of a story line. And there are SO.MANY.TWISTS! I'm not sure I've read a book with more twists than this one. It will keep you guessing.

While I enjoyed the book a lot, I wasn't very happy with the ending. It wasn't as clear as I'd like, and I had to go back and re-read the last few chapters a few times to satisfy myself that I understood what had happened. Even worse, it is an 'open' ending. One of the characters has to make a decision, and you don't know what they will decide. I like my ending neatly tied up, and would have appreciated an epilogue that let me know what happened next. As the same time, I'm sure the author's intent was to make us decide what happened next, and the story probably has more impact with the open ending. It definitely makes for better discussion material!

The book should be a hit with book clubs. There are some great discussion points. You can start with 'who did you think did it?' and veer off into the moral and ethics questions and 'what would you have done?' You can find a reading guide on the publisher's website.

I read a copy borrowed from my library.
My rating: 4½ stars - ✭✭✭✭½


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Review: The Third Mrs. Galway

The Third Mrs. Galway by Deirdre Sinnott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first chapter or two in, I was pretty well convinced I would not like this book. Helen was a very young bride, immature and flighty, and making a series of bad choices. But it didn’t take long before the book hooked me. I came to like most of the characters very much. And Helen showed a remarkable amount of growth.

I learned a little about the period before the Civil War from a northern point of view. I’d known that come people had suggested colonizing the slaves back to Africa, but hadn’t realized how concrete that plan was, with a colony already in place. It was also interesting to read the points of view of the ‘colonists’ vs. the ‘abolitionists’. They both had the same goal—to end slavery—but favored different paths to reach this goal. They let their differences divide them to the point they attacked each other and forgot about their common goal. I think that has some lessons for us today, and would make a great topic for book clubs to discuss.

One thing I didn’t like so much was the ending. Overall I was happy with it; it had the ‘happy ending’ I wanted for most of the characters. But I also felt some of it was a little unrealistic. Without giving spoilers, I can only say that there seemed to be no consequences for the actions at the end, and I don’t think that was realistic.

This wasn’t the type of historical fiction that sent me rushing to Google to learn more, and the only real people in the story had minor roles, but it was a book that I enjoyed, and a story that will keep me thinking about it for quite some time.

I received this book as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.

My rating: ✭✭✭✭

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Review: Sunflower Sisters

Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly


Sunflower Sisters is the third book in a trilogy by Martha Hall Kelly which includes Lilac Girls and Lost Roses. But it is not a sequel to these books and is only loosely related. It is a stand-alone novel that takes place decades before the others, during the time of the Civil War. The connection is very loose—the main character, Georgy Woolsey, is an ancestor to the main characters of the other books. You can read these in any order, or even read only this one.

This book got off to a slow start for me. There were three storylines going, from three points of view, and I think I expected the storylines to merge much sooner than they actually did. While I enjoyed all the storylines, I felt like I was in a tv series where every time a story got going, the commercial came and we switched gears. I did like many of the characters. Georgy was a woman with a sense of purpose who has the strength to stand up to the norms of the time, insisting on a place for women in nursing. Jemma was also a strong, brave woman who survived cruelty and oppression, and took great risks to help others. Anne-Mae, on the other hand, was not a likable character. Not only was she cruel and demeaning, but she was also a spoiled brat, and a ditz, who was led into a spying scheme by a man who knew how to flatter her. The men in the story were really secondary characters, some good and some bad, and some stereotypical (Lebaron Carothers, the plantation overseer). For all her strengths, Georgy was a frustrating character at times, particularly in her relationship to Dr. Frank Bacon. There were times I just wanted to give her a shove, and yell “Tell him, already!” (as did her sisters!)

While the book started slow, and it is my least favorite of the three, I did enjoy the book. Though it took about at third of the book to get going, it did read the point that I didn’t want to put it down. However, it wasn’t a historical fiction book that inspired me to read more, one of my criteria for good historical fiction. I think a book club would enjoy discussing this, with the discussions of the obvious—slavery and the laws regarding runaways, women’s place in nursing and society in general, etc.—but also specific discussions about the characters—Georgy’s treatment of Frank, decisions Anne-Mae made, risks Jemma took. There is a book club kit available on the author’s website, which includes discussion questions, recipes, a family tree, and more.

I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
My rating: ✭✭✭½


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Review: White Chrysanthemum

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I chose to read this book for my library’s AAPI challenge. I enjoyed the book very much.One thing I really appreciated is that unlike a lot of books that take several chapters to begin the story, this one dove right in, with a lot of action even in the first chapter! I found it hard to put the book down!

The story is told in alternating points of view, a technique that work really well for me in this book. Hana, the older sister, tells her story as current in 1943, when Japan occupied Korea and was in the midst of WWII. Emi, the little sister, tells her story in present day (almost) 2011, but much of the story she tells takes place in the past, and fills in the blanks of Hana’s story. As the story is about kidnapping and the forced sexual slavery of the ‘comfort women’, there is a lot of physical cruelty and it gets intense at times. I appreciated the breaks provided by alternating to Emi’s story, though it was not without cruelty of its own.

I liked most of the characters in the book, but was especially drawn to Hana. I particularly enjoyed reading of her days in Mongolia. Many of the events related in the story were new to me. I may have heard of the Japanese comfort women, but I hadn’t realized it wasn’t usually a voluntary ‘contribution’ and that the women weren’t always Japanese. I didn’t know much of the history of Korea either before or after WWII, so this was interesting to me. And I was fascinated with the details of the haenyeo women, the Korean women who dive the ocean to provide food and income for their families. I also did not realize that there was a movement for the plight former comfort women to be recognized and apologies made, and that this movement still is going on today.

I think this would make a good book club selection for groups who are not overly squeamish. There are scenes of sexual violence as well as physical violence that some readers may not want to read. For those that are not opposed, there is plenty to discuss, from the obvious sex slave trade to war in general and the consequences of war to even those who are not direct participants. There is a book club kit available on the publisher website that includes discussion questions and background information.

I read an ebook copy borrowed from my local library.

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