I’ve always found it interesting how siblings who grew up in the same home, with the same parents, can experience completely different childhoods. Parents, despite their best intentions, cannot possibly treat all of their wonderful, unique, frustrating, children in exactly the same way. The result is that everyone in a family ends up with memories of events that don’t quite match up. I think this concept is a good place to start from when you read The Condition.
Paulette and Frank got married, and had children, in the 1970’s. The book stars with Paulette and her sister Martine who are driving to to Cape Cod to spend some time in a cottage by the beach. It is the traditional vacation for this extended family. Paulette’s children, Billy (age 14), Gwen (age 12), are in the backseat. The youngest sibling, Scotty (age 9), has been relegated to the rear of the vehicle because he is so energetic and excited that he is impossible to sit next to.
Imagine feeling a deep and unending loneliness, one that is so strong that it compels you to leave everything you’ve ever known. This is where the main character, Alia, is at – emotionally speaking – at the start of Broken. The loss of a loved one, a person she was deeply connected to, is what started her extreme loneliness. This painful experience has caused her to question why God permits atrocities to happen. One might say she has lost her faith, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate.
Skinny, at first glance, looks like a “beach read”. The cover shows two young women/teenagers wearing swimsuits. Their arms are linked, and they are at the beach.
The book 1984, by George Orwell, is an incredibly depressing dystopia about what it is like to live under a totalitarian government that wants to control absolutely everything – including people’s thoughts. Written in 1949, the book describes a bleak, hopeless, future.
Haweswater starts with a violent birth, includes a flood, and ends not long after an explosion. Yet, it is not a book that fits into the adventure genre. The story takes place in, and around, the town of Mardale, which really did exist. So did the Haweswater dam, a structure that takes on epic proportions in the story. Yet, this book could not truly be described as historical fiction.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a book that my brother recommended I read. There are very few books that he likes enough to recommend them to me. So far, each of the books he has suggested to me, over the years, have been incredibly compelling.
The Gun Seller is a novel written by Hugh Laurie. The cover describes him as “star of the FOX-TV series House.” Those who have watched the show would recognize Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, the disgruntled, dysfunctional, yet brilliant, man that the other characters both loved and hated.
Three very strong main characters live what appears to be completely separate lives. Over the course of this story, their lives become intertwined in dramatic and tragic ways. What’s the connection? In short, it has something to do with organ donation.
In general, I make an effort to read a book before I watch the movie that is based upon it. Often, this makes the movie more interesting, as I already have become familiar with who the main characters are and how they are connected to each other.
The Cove starts with a mystery. A man has been hired by the government to drive out and notify residents that the area they live in was going to be intentionally flooded, and also to evict them. He goes into a place called “the cove”, happy that there is no one living there anymore.