The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (but perhaps, should)

Posted on by Jan tramontano

To say that I am a faithful admirer of Elizabeth Strout’s novels is an understatement. There is something about the way she tells her stories that has appealed to me from her very first novel. With her direct prose and her subtle piecing together the broken pieces of lives of her characters, I think about them long after I’ve read them or as the case may be, reread them.  Along with her many other awards, including a Pulitzer, this book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It’s not so much that I want to review this book but want to talk about it for the way it calls out a subject that we are superficially obsessed with— in the press, social media, in the ether. Loneliness. The new epidemic social condition.

Can a Mother’s One Small Act of Courage Create a Ripple of Change?

Posted on by Jan tramontano

I was initially intrigued by the idea of a life being driven by a name. It made me think of names I would have preferred instead of my own and how they might have affected my personality and relationships differently. But alas, this book is about so much more than this. This is the story of violent, sustained domestic abuse and the ripple effect it has on the entire sphere of those affected by it. While the names each have their own connotation, they are the vehicle upon which to drive the story. The central question of the book is: how can a single change made on a whim on a single day change the dynamics of a life in ways we could never imagine?

The Haunting Toll of a Missing Child

Posted on by Jan tramontano

When a child goes missing, an unfathomable nightmare begins for a family, the community and the police. Yet, we have a bizarre fascination with these events as evidenced by the upsurge in true crime media. It seems people can’t get enough of podcasts, TV shows, movies and books. Although some of this story has the feel of a whodunnit and what happened, at its core it's about the forever toll a child gone missing takes on families and neighbors. It weakens faith in home as a place of safety. What piqued my interest in this novel is how characters with different kinds of involvement weathered the loss.

The Complex Dynamics of Friendship

Posted on by Jan tramontano

A truth that none of us think much about (or we’d go crazy) is how precarious our lives are or how they could be upended without warning. A tragedy and its blowback on everyone involved is the through line of this beautifully wrought book.

The Pearl Thief by Fiona McIntosh

Posted on by Jan tramontano

There have been many novels recently written about the Holocaust—its devastation, its unimaginable cruelty, its heroes, its far-reaching effects into the future. And unfortunately, many of the tropes of those times resonate in our world right now. I try not to read them. Family members who survived are each heroes to me in their own way and their lives were forever shaped by what they experienced. In its way, this novel demonstrates this.

The Long Reach into the Past

Posted on by Jan tramontano

The narrative explores the haunting legacy of the Holocaust through Anne Berest's discovery of an ancestral postcard, initiating her search for family history. The text reflects on personal trauma, societal complicity in atrocities, and contemporary parallels of inhumanity, urging remembrance to prevent repeating the past while confronting present-day prejudices.

Cape Cod’s Literary Gems: ‘The House on Oyster Street’ Review

Posted on by Jan tramontano

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Cape Cod. I’ve been going there for summer vacations since I was a child. For years, my husband and I have made the trek to Provincetown, the excuse being the Tennessee Williams Festival. True we love the festival but it is only a solid reason not … Continue reading Cape Cod’s Literary Gems: ‘The House on Oyster Street’ Review

Predicting Death: A Review of Moriarty’s Latest Novel

Posted on by Jan tramontano

n Liane Moriarty’s tenth novel, she once again throws her characters into spontaneous crisis. The book opens with a scene we are all familiar with. A flight delay. The cause doesn’t really matter. It sets the reader up to relate to what starts out as a very common day we’ve all experienced and then abruptly becomes a life changer.

Cork O’Connor’s Latest Mystery: Ojibwe Culture Explored

Posted on by Jan tramontano

This is the 20th book in the series featuring Cork O’Connor. Set in northern Minnesota, these mysteries highlight issues facing the interplay of the white population and the Ojibwe. Cork O'Connor, half Irish and half Ojibwe, always finds himself negotiating the two worlds. I have read about ten of these books and although I missed many … Continue reading Cork O’Connor’s Latest Mystery: Ojibwe Culture Explored

Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover

Posted on by Jan tramontano

If ever there was a timely novel, this is the one. Since banning books has become a strategic weapon in our national culture wars, here comes an entertaining satire set in a quintessential southern town. Framed as a battle over books and a free-standing little library, it is about the influence books have in its residents’ lives and the town’s cultural norms.