BOOK REVIEW: The Disappearance of Signora Giulia by Piero Chiara

Title: The Disappearance of Signora Giulia

Author: Piero Chiara

Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo 

Year published: 2015

ISBN: 9781782271048

Genre: fiction; mystery; Italian mystery; 1950s mystery

Pairs well with your favorite pasta dish,

crisp, white table linens,

and a strong Italian coffee.

Of all the unexpected places to find good reads, I found The Disappearance of Signora Giulia by Piero Chiara at The Dollar Tree (a deep discount store where nothing costs more than a dollar, for those not familiar). I'd purchased a few good books at The Dollar Tree previously, but had assumed maybe it was just a fluke. I guess not! 

The Disappearance of Signora Giulia by Piero Chiara is set in a small Italian town, near Milan, in the 1950s and is a mystery (as you might guess from the title). The volume is slim and a fairly quick and easy read, and perfect for a brief respite from reality. 

In the book, Signora Giulia is a wealthy woman married to a much older man who is an established lawyer. Their daughter, Emilia, attends school in Milan and Giulia went to visit every Thursday. Early in the novel, we learn that Giulia has also been visiting a lover in Milan. But, one day she appears to leave for her weekly visit and never returns home. Where did she go? Did she run away on her own? Did she run off with her lover? The clues lead towards the lover, but it's not that simple. There are many questions that come up and a few competing motives. 

Piero Chiara crafts a setting that you can easily see and place yourself into as you read -- you can feel the cobblestones of Italian streets and palazzos under your feet. You can picture big, heavy desks in the police and lawyers' offices. You can see the trees and lush landscaping of Signora Giulia's home. And, I greatly enjoyed the dialogue, carrying along the story. 

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this novel and found it just suspenseful enough to keep my interest without going overboard into convoluted tangents and false leads. At first, I was disappointed with the ending which is somewhat vague, but the more I sit with it, the more satisfied I am that the unclear ending was actually perfect. You are left to come to your own conclusions about a couple of suspects in Signora Giulia's disappearance, but at the same time, everything is tied together and makes sense, even without a definitive resolution. Normally, I would find this type of ending frustrating and I'd vow not to read another work by the author; however, in this case, Chiara put together his story in such a way that I think it works and I'm satisfied that I know what happened to our main character. I liked it enough, even with the ending, to look for further works by Chiara. 

As I write this, we are in the middle of libraries and bookstores being closed due to Covid-19 racing across the United States and other parts of the world. I'd love for you to find the novel at your local library, but if you can't find it at your library or through your library's digital offerings, please try a local, independent bookstore -- they need your purchases more than ever if they are survive the massive financial losses of this pandemic. However, you can also try to get it from Amazon. Take your pick:

Many independent bookstores in the USA are offering shipping or curbside pickup even if their shops are closed due to the virus. PLEASE check with your favorite local independent shop before ordering from elsewhere.

If you are in the United Kingdom, you can order directly from the publisher (Pushkin Vertigo) HERE.

In the US:
-- Buy from Abe Books HERE.
-- Buy from Penguin Random House HERE (not an independent, but still better to buy direct or somewhat direct than through Amazon).
-- Buy from other independents HERE.
-- Support independent bookstores by getting the audiobook HERE.

If you really feel a commitment to Amazon, you can get the book HERE.
***This is an affiliate link and I may receive a small commission should you purchase from Amazon, but at no extra cost to you. As much as I'd love that, I still would rather you consider shopping independent first.

Have you read The Disappearance of Signora Giulia by Piero Chiara? Have you read anything else by him? If so, leave a comment with your thoughts. 

QUESTION: How do you decide when to quit a book?

Are you a hardcore "If I start the book, I have to finish it" type of reader or do you allow yourself to quit as soon as you decide you don't want to go on? 

I participate in an online book club with members from around the world, and every now and then the idea of either quitting a book or reading to the end NO. MATTER. WHAT. comes up in discussion. 

I used to be firm about finishing every book NO. MATTER. WHAT.

Now, I shake my head when I think of how much time I wasted forcing myself through books that I truly did not enjoy -- and a couple that I truly hated. 

WHY?

I think part of my obsession with finishing books I started had its roots in a sense of needing to be a "good girl" and "perfect." I felt a false sense of obligation to each book -- the book didn't care if I finished it. The author and publisher wouldn't ever know. The librarian or book shop owner would never know. No one would know unless I told them.

It is possible that someone said something along the way that supported this false sense of commitment and responsibility -- after all, my mom was a kindergarten teacher (with forays into grades up to third), her parents and her brother were teachers, various aunts and uncles were in or peripheral to education, and my grandmother was a librarian. 

Reading was basically in my skin, my blood, my bones. I identified myself as a reader from an incredibly young age, and I probably absorbed many false beliefs about what that means as well.

My friends, if you too feel compelled to finish every single book NO. MATTER. WHAT. -- free yourself! You don't need to waste your time and energy on books you truly don't like, don't connect to, or just want to put down for any number of other reasons. 

Right here, right now, I give you permisison to put down the book you don't want to finish and find something else to read. No one will know unless you tell them and most of them won't care anyhow.

Please note, friend, I am not talking about assigned reading for school -- those books should probably be read all the way through, even the ones you can't stand.

When I became a mom at 24, I found myself with a lot less time and energy for reading due to the obvious newborn in my arms, but also due to an unsupportive and abusive partner, needing to work too, and trying to finish my undergraduate degree despite my partner's multiple attempts to stop me. I was still committed to reading every book to the very last page. As a result, I read a lot less which wasn't great for my mental health.  

A few years later, I became a single mom and had even less time to read.

I can't pinpoint the moment or experience that changed my attitude, but somewhere in my late 20s or early 30s, I gave myself permission to quit a book after 20 if I just hated it or 40 pages if I sort of liked it but not enough to keep going if I wasn't hooked by that point. And, more recently, I've given myself to quit a book even when I'm almost finished -- I just set down a memoir that was OK and easy to read, but with less than 20 pages to the end, I was bored and fed up with what started to read like a flippant, unrealistic attitude on the part of the author. All I could think as I got further and further into the book was, "Why didn't the editor step in? Maybe this was the author's experience, but do most real women feel this way about life?" Ugh...I put it down, walked away, and feel no guilt!

If you aren't enjoying what you are reading, PUT THE BOOK DOWN!

Leave a comment and let me know how YOU decide to quit a book! OR if you are committed to finishing, even if you hate the book, let me know why!

BOOK REVIEW: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Folger Library edition

This post may contain affiliate links -- making a purchase through these links is at no additional cost to you, but may earn a much appreciated commission for my blog. Thank you.

As part of the Shakespeare 2020 reading challenge (see THIS post for more info), I started off 2020 by reading Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

Please note:

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

if you aren't familiar with the story line of Twelfth Night. 

I read Twelfth Night in high school, and frankly, I remember enjoying it a lot more. The play is one of Shakespeare's comedies and centers around deception and mistaken identities, as well as love triangles, with a bit of mischief thrown in. 

As one of my tutoring students put it, many of Shakespeare's plays -- especially the comedies -- start out and end with a lot of action and the middle is almost all explication and background. I found this particularly true of Twelfth Night. I loved the beginning and the ending, but the middle was just a slog. While I suppose some of the mischief and trickery involved was necessary to heighten the main comedic aspects of the love triangles set up earlier in the play, I found that these portions overshadowed the rest of the play and the main story: the separation of siblings who believe each other dead and the love triangles based on mistaken and disguised identities. 

I really wanted more at the end of the play -- more action surrounding the unmasking (of sorts) of Viola, more around the reunion with her brother, Sebastian, and more tension between Orsino and Olivia.

There are definitely comedic aspects to the play, but it really confirmed that I very much prefer Shakespeare's tragedies over his comedies. 

I am officially quite far behind in the reading plan for the challenge, but hope to eventually catch up. I started reading Henry VI, Part I last night, and I LOVE IT! This is my first time reading Henry VI, and I wish I'd picked it up sooner! 

A couple of notes about reading the plays of Shakespeare:

1. Although plays are meant to be watched, heard, read aloud, I find great enjoyment in reading them. There's quite a bit of controversy in one of the online reading groups I participate in with regard to reading plays in general. I love it.
2. I specifically chose to read the Folger Library editions of all of Shakespeare's work, unless I am unable to get my hands on a copy. While there are may editions available, I particularly like Folger's approach to the material. Each book starts with several explanatory sections, including a brief overview of the specific play in the book, and each also has a brief synopsis of each Act and Scene at the start of each part of the play. Additionally, on the left page, specific vocabulary and notes are listed by line to assist in understanding as you read. The right page contains the text as closely to the original as makes sense (the prefaces include notes about changes that may have been made to the texts and why).

What is your favorite work by Shakespeare? Is there a particular edition that you like over others? Drop a note and let me know!

BOOK REVIEW: The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani

Title: The Storyteller's Secret

Author: Sejal Badani

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Year published: 2018

ISBN: 9781542048279

Genre: contemporary fiction; cross-cultural and cross-generational fiction set in India and the United States

Pairs well with strong chai,

the laughter of children,

and a side of devoted friendship.

Wow.

That's the first word that comes to mind after finishing The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani. I just loved this book so much. I read it as an e-book via Amazon Prime Reading, but loved it so much that I'd like to buy a paperback copy. 

The Storyteller's Secret follows the path of a young woman in the United States, daughter of parents from India, who returns to her mother's childhood home in India after a third miscarriage. She is mired in the unfathomable loss and sadness, and with it the sadness and potential loss of her marriage. She escapes to India where she meets Ravi, the confidant and best friend of her grandmother -- a woman of strength and conviction who was trapped in tradition and had to make many hard choices. The story follows the main character, Jaya, as she learns the hard truths about her mother's childhood, her grandmother's sacrifices, and worlds of hurt. But, Jaya also learns the true value and meaning of friendship, love, sacrifice, and forgiveness throughout her journey.

The novel crosses cultures and generations. Although it starts in the United States, the book eventually is set primarily in India -- both modern day and colonial India under British rule. The reader is transported back and forth between the present and two generations past through dual storytelling. Jaya is telling her story and her experience as she flees a potentially broken marriage and three miscarriages, but she also hears the story of her grandmother, Amisha as told by her grandmother's best friend and servant, Ravi. Amisha's story is told in present tense, but because the author has taken great care with her story, it is quite easy to keep the timelines and stories clear. 

Jaya is young but brilliant and an incredible writer. However, her relationship with her mother is strained and she does not really understand why. When she flees her personal tragedies by traveling to India, she learns the tragic truth about her mother's childhood and a secret that led to her mother's own losses and fears. 

Ultimately, this is a story of homecoming for Jaya, Ravi, and Jaya's mother. 

The Storyteller's Secret is absolutely tied for my favorite book of my 2019 reading with Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I hope you will read and love both novels!

Find The Storyteller's Secret on Amazon HERE.

Find Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine on Amazon HERE.

I found The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani as a free e-book via Prime Reading, a membership perk of Amazon Prime. If you aren't a Prime member, you can get a free 30 day trial HERE. With Prime Reading (not to be confused with Kindle Unlimited), you may borrow up to 10 free e-books (the selection changes periodically) from the current selection. There are NO due dates as there would be with e-books from your library. Instead, you get to keep them until you return them (but if you have borrowed 10, you can't get another until you return one). As long as you haven't returned a book, you will also keep your access to the book even if it is no longer a Prime Reading offering!

***Links may be affiliate in nature. Purchases through these links may result in a small commission for me at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance!

2019 reading wrap up

As 2019 comes to a close, I wanted to finish off the year with an overview of the books I have in progress and hope to finish. Even though the start of a new year is somewhat arbitrary, I like to go into the new year having finished all of my in progress reading. 

This year, five days until the New Year as I write this, I have five books in progress. I'll edit the post on January 1st with whether or not I've actually completed each book.

In the next five days (now to New Year's Eve), I hope to finish reading:

• The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani
• How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
• Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
• The Reckoning by John Grisham
• It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden

The Reckoning by John Grisham

To be honest, I'm struggling with The Reckoning. After enjoying the first half, I'm at a point that I find tedious. I normally give myself 40 pages to decide if I'll keep reading a book or give it up. I'm so far beyond that...I found this novel decent enough to keep reading until the halfway point and now I'm just not into it. If there's one book I likely won't finish, it's this one. And, I (probably) won't feel bad about it.

• Edited to add: I decided to give up on The Reckoning. It just hasn't been holding my interest and I have many other books I'd rather be reading. I'll put my copy in the my apartment building's laundry room for someone else to read.
• Because I'm not finishing The Reckoning, I am not including a link to buy it.

The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani

As I write this blog post, I have about 9 hours left before 2020 officially starts, and I will most definitely finish The Storyteller's Secret even if it means not finishing others on my "currently reading" list. 

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

The Storyteller's Secret is cross-generational and cross-cultural, spanning a US-born and raised young woman, her Indian born and raised mother, and her Indian born and raised grandmother, as well as an assortment of other characters. It also includes a British soldier and an Indian Untouchable. The story is steeped in the mysteries of womanhood, mother-daughter relationships, unlikely friendships, and forbidden loves. However, as much as it is partially a love story, I believe the bulk of the story is really about relationships and perceptions. Badani does a masterful job of writing about a very American young woman dealing with American customs and norms while grieving a marriage and miscarriage, while also writing about her mother who had to straddle two cultures and nations, and a grandmother who was rooted in a traditional Indian upbringing but longed for more. 

I found Badani's novel via Prime Reading, a perk of being an Amazon Prime member -- you have access to borrow up to 10 e-books at a time with NO due date, and you keep access to the books even after they are no longer Prime Reading offerings. Essentially, you have the e-book until you are ready to return it. Please note -- Prime Reading is NOT the same as Kindle Unlimited.

• To access Prime Reading, you do need to be an Amazon Prime member -- you can get a free 30 day trial of Prime HERE.
• Or, buy the novel HERE, via Amazon.

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

I really wanted to finish How Children Succeed  before 2020 begins, but that won't likely happen. I began reading the book in order to glean insight into how better to help my extremely intelligent tutoring students. Many of the students I work with are quite smart, but they lack grit -- they lack determination and endurance in the face of challenges or adversity. So far, I'm greatly enjoying Tough's book and have gained some insights into how to better serve my students, but overall, I'm just enjoying learning about other educators and methods around the United States. 

Very interesting and worth reading if you are a professional in education.

• You can buy How Children Succeed via Amazon HERE.

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee

I started reading Joyful for an online book club, but it took me a while to get into it. I won't finish it before the end of today, but I am enjoying it enough to continue. Fetell Lee's book is a great look at how the environment around us shapes our interaction with it and with ourselves, as well as how that environment (natural and man-made) impacts our mental and emotional well being. I've made some changes to how I have my home and office organized and decorated based on what I've gleaned from Joyful, and those changes have indeed made a positive impact. 

If you've dabbled in Feng Shui but not really stuck with it, Joyful might be a good read for you!

• You can buy Joyful on Amazon HERE.

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden

I have read It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be several times. It is my favorite self-help book, although it is written as a sort of business advice book through the lens of advertising. I first encountered Arden's book in my 20s (at the time of writing this post, I'm 45). It has helped me overcome both personal and professional slumps by allowing me to change my mindset from doing what is expected to doing what is expected to a degree -- Let's say 80% what is expected and 20% for myself. 

• Edited to add: I finished Arden's book while flying home from a two and a half day trip that devolved into me staying holed up in my hotel room with food poisoning. It's a fast, easy read and, in the end, how you apply the principles of the book is entirely up to you.  
• You can find Arden's book HERE on Amazon.

What books rounded out the end of 2019 for you? Would you recommend them or suggest a fellow reader take a pass? Drop a comment and let me know!

Please note: Any links may be affiliate links. Making purchases through these links does not impact your purchases, but I may receive a small commission as a result of your purchase. Any such commissions are greatly appreciated!

My favorite three books about dogs

Big City, Small Chickens – BOOK REVIEW: City Chickens by Christine Heppermann

Please note: This book review is cross posted at Mom2MomEd.

Title: City Chickens

Author: Christine Heppermann

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Year published: 2012

ISBN: 978-0-547-51830-5

Genre: non-fiction; children’s literature; agriculture; lifestyle

Pairs well with a vegan meal on the back porch, overlooking a garden and free roaming chickens.

Cluck, cluck, cluck!!!! That’s the sound of the lady chickens in that urban backyard you just walked past.

Wait, what? Chickens in the city?

YES! Urban chickens and urban homesteading are becoming more and more common, but that doesn’t mean life is always clucks and feathers for chickens. City Chickens by Christine Heppermann is all about the plight of many chickens in urban areas, but more specifically in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She traces the story of a husband and wife in the city who have devoted their lives to rescuing chickens (among other animals) and finding them new homes.

The book is part biography, part fun and informative story, and part social awareness.

This is a great, but very honest and real, look at what happens to many chickens and how their lives are improved by kind rescuers. I highly encourage you to read this book with your kids or in your classroom, but be forewarned that there are a couple of disturbing photos of chickens who have been used in cockfighting and who are kept in chicken cages. These disturbing situations are described as well, but not in too much detail, in order to bring awareness to how chickens are abused and how they should be treated instead. The book is mostly about how great chickens are and how fun they can be to keep and care for when rescued and taken care of properly.

In addition to profiling the owners of Chicken Run Rescue in Minneapolis, the author also profiles a adolescent Abigail and her rescued chicken, Billiam, as well as other chickens and their rescuers. I think young readers in particular will like that there is a profile of a young person and that other children are also featured in the book. The very back of the book also offers a list of resources for learning more about chickens, including how to include lessons about chickens and life cycles without hatching chicks in the classroom – a large reason why many chicks are abandoned.

City Chickens also talks about keeping chickens healthy and some of the health problems that abandoned chicks often suffer. The author notes that if you keep urban chickens, it is important to find a veterinarian that is able to provide proper chicken care which may not always be easy to find in an urban area.

I loved this little book, and I think you should pick it up to read with your kids or in your classroom. My son and I are planning our own little homestead and urban oasis (we’re moving from the country back to the city!) and want to raise chickens for their eggs, as pets, and also as insect control in our garden (all of which are noted as options in City Chickens), so I headed to the library to find books about chickens. Most of what I was found was far beyond what I was looking for which brought me to the children’s section and City Chickens!

As with many of the books I review, I found City Chickens Christine Heppermann at my local library. However, you can also find it on Amazon HERE.

Do you raise chickens? Have your kids participated in chicken hatching projects at school? Drop a comment and let me know!

Please note: links may be affiliate links and I may receive a small commission from purchases made via links at no extra cost to you.

Grammar Nerd BOOK REVIEW: Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog – The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey

Title: Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog – The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences

Author: Kitty Burns Florey

Publisher: Melville House Publishing

Year published: 2006

ISBN: 978-1-933633-10-7

Genre: non-fiction; grammar; English language

Pairs well with your favorite pen or pencil,

a notebook, and a teacher’s red correction pen!

Grammar nerds, UNITE!

If you are a true grammar nerd, I believe you will find Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog to be a joy of a read! The book, written by Kitty Burns Florey, is all about diagramming sentences.

Wait, wait, wait! Don’t click away yet!

This is NOT a book about diagramming sentences, but rather a book about diagramming sentences. The book traces the history of the practice of sentence of diagramming from it’s early beginnings in the 1870s through its heyday in the mid-1900s through to today when it is a bit more of a quirky classroom treat that may or may not have actual value in terms of learning the ins and outs of the English language.

As is often my habit, I judged this book by its cover, and I was not disappointed. The book is actually quite funny and includes quite a lot of history regarding the evolution of how the English is taught in the United States. Throughout the book, the author also includes a number of stories from her own childhood and education. And, she includes numerous diagrams to show both simple and complex sentence diagramming.

Kitty Burns Florey took what could have been a dull slog through grammar and turned it into a fun, non-fiction romp. I loved it!

To be fair, I did not grow up diagramming sentences, nor did my son. And, after reading Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog, I’m glad! Although simple sentences could be satisfying to diagram, more complex sentences look like a headache! 

That said, when I started homeschooling my son, halfway through his 4^th grade year, I realized how little grammar instruction he had received in school. We ended up using a great grammar curriculum that brushes up against diagramming, but utilizes many more useful methods of teaching usage with the English language. We loved the Easy Grammar series – if you are homeschooling and need a grammar curriculum, this is a must! It’s also great if you’ve been out of school for a while and need to brush up on your own writing and grammar skills. Check it out on Amazon HERE.

If you want to read Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey, you might find it at your local library, as I did, or you can pick it up at Amazon HERE.

Did you grow up learning to diagram sentences? If so, do you have fond memories of it or was it a task you dreaded?

A dog person reviews a book about cats ~*~ BOOK REVIEW: Distillery Cats by Brad Thomas Parsons

Title: Distillery Cats – Profiles in Courage of the World’s Most Spirited Mousers

Author: Brad Thomas Parsons

Illustrator: Julia Kuo

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC

Year published: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-60774-897-7

Genre: non-fiction; cats; alcohol

Pairs well with: 

your favorite adult beverage

and a cat in your lap.

When stressed, find an easy book with lots of pictures. Distillery Cats: Profiles in Courage of the World's Most Spirited Mousers, written by Brad Thomas Parsons and illustrated by Julia Kuo, fits the bill almost perfectly.

Why almost?

Because it’s about cats and I’m a dog person. But, that little issue aside, this is a terrific little easy, fast read that’s highly entertaining.

Read about different distillery cats and their unique personalities (and owners) in one sitting, over several days, or just dip in for one cat’s story at a time here and there. Doesn’t really matter – the book is terrific no matter how you read it!

I love the idea of distillery cats – kitties chasing mice, rats, and other pests by nightfall and socializing with patrons by day. The cats described all seem to have their own unique personalities and habits as any cat owner will tell you is pretty common among our feline friends.

Each cat biography is accompanied by lovely artwork with illustrations by Julia Kuo that further capture the spirit of each cat. And, each also is accompanied by a little break out set of facts, including the cat’s breed, age, gender, and special qualities. 

Several biographies are also accompanied by recipes for drinks from some of the bars, breweries, and distilleries where the cats make their homes. I’m looking forward to trying the Watermelon Punch recipe from Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, New York – I think it will be a perfect afternoon refresher for a pot luck I’ll be hosting outdoors this summer on my farm in the Pacific Northwest. Watermelon, basil, lemon, simple syrup and “moonshine”. YUM! The recipe is in the book if you want to check it out!

The book also features several famous quotes and song lyrics about cats, my favorite of which is:

Now, I just need someone to publish a similar book about dogs – but would it be set in breweries and the like? Maybe it should be something like Firehouse Dogs or Mountain Lodge Dogs?

I found Distillery Cats at my local library, but you can find it on Amazon HERE.

Quick poll – comment if you are a cat person or a dog person!

BOOK REVIEW: The Year She Left Us by Kathryn Ma

Title: The Year She Left Us

Author: Kathryn Ma

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Year published: 2014

ISBN: 978-0-06-227334-5

Genre: contemporary fiction

My Rating: 5/5 -- must read!

Pairs well with a comfortable couch,

long and rainy afternoon, 

and your favorite tea and blanket.

Once again, I fully judged a book by its cover and was not disappointed.

Kathryn Ma’s novel, The Year She Left Us, is a stunning, multi-generational, multi-cultural masterpiece, following a Ari – Ariadne Bettina Yun-li Rose Kong; her mother, Charlie; aunt, Les; and her grandmother. It is a story of a family of women, lost amongst themselves and to themselves, finding each other, finding themselves, and finding what really matters.

Each family member has experience loss in their own ways – some more deeply than others, but all losses. Ari, however, is at the center of the story, pulling the others both apart and together, as she navigates childhood and adolescence until a breakdown drives her away from everything and everyone that matter most in her life. I think she would agree that she disappears, even from herself.

Early in the novel, Ari takes an action that is unbelievably shocking and graphic – you are warned – but that also sets up the entire rest of the novel. The action is so disturbing that I became nauseous reading it. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out what she did and about the resulting fallout.

If you’ve read The Joy Luck Club or any other work by Amy Tan, I think you will appreciate The Year She Left Us. Ma masterfully weaves the divide between being both Chinese and American and the pull to both cling to and abandon traditions of both sides. She also carefully treads the pains and joys that come with adoption – the joy that a parent feels at becoming a mother and how it spreads to others in the family, but also the pull of feeling abandoned or thrown away that some adopted children may feel. Through it all, it is clear that the three generations of women need each other and love each other, even if they aren’t always aware of it – sometimes they flat out reject one another.

The terrain of the book physically traverses San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area in Northern California, including Clement Street (where one of my best friends comes from), up to Alaska and across to Pennsylvania. And, it spreads to the other side of the world to metropolises in China and the countryside. In Ma’s description of Lushan Mountain, I could practically smell the air, feel the breeze, feel the paths around the lake and into the mountains. It felt so close. I wanted to go there.

The Year She Left Us is also unique in that chapters alternate between all four women, but the story is told in the first person by only two – Ari and her grandmother. It did take me a few chapters to get into the rhythm, but by the midpoint of the novel, the structure made perfect sense and even felt necessary. By the last chapter, it was obvious that this was the only format for the story of these four women ranging from 18 years old to 80. At some point, the novel references an assisted living facility called Four Winds. The characters themselves are like the four winds all blowing against and away from each other, only to finally come together in a cohesive manner.

I loved this novel and know I will read it again. I hope you’ll give it a try and won’t be turned off by the grotesque scene I mentioned – that’s really the best word for it, but it is only truly described in detail once.

I’ll leave you to make up your own mind about which of the women the “she” in the title refers to.

I found The Year She Left Us by Kathryn Ma at the library, but you can find it on Amazon HERE.

***Links may be affiliate in nature. Purchases made through these links may result in a small commission to me at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance!