I tweeted this list out in response to a question on the #TSBC Book Chat, so here it is again! My Top 10 Books of 2020 – some have been reviewed here and some will appear in the following months!
Wordless Wednesdays #110
Written By: amodini
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Dec•
30•20
Audiobook Review : The Body Double by Emily Beyda
Written By: amodini
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Dec•
16•20
Author : Emily Beyda
Narrators : Emily Rankin
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Random House Audio
Listening Length : 12 hours 26 minutes
Rating : 1/5
Narrator Rating : 3/5
The book blurb for The Body Double compares it to Hitchcock’s Vertigo, a comparison this book does not deserve because it is not even in the same league. Read on to find out more.
Our unnamed narrator is a movie theater concession stand attendant, short on money. When she is offered a lucrative gig – that of a stand-in or double for famous celebrity Rosanna Feld, she takes it without a second thought. Rosanna’s operative Max explains that Rosanna has had a breakdown and needs help keeping up public appearances. The narrator must move to Los Angeles where she will learn Rosanna’s mannerisms and then make appearances as her. This is all hush-hush and for doing as specified she will be handsomely compensated. As she goes through the grooming process though, she realizes that all is not as it seems . . .
This is a very interesting premise, and why I got sucked into listening to this book. It starts off well, with measured descriptions, where we get a sense of the narrator’s life and the decision she must make to steer it to a hopefully better course. However soon the descriptions got repetitive and there wasn’t much going on. The narrator spends much of her time holed up in an apartment, undergoing her transformation (which includes plastic surgery). Her only point of contact is Max, and it never seems odd to her that she never gets to meet Rosanna. She seems extraordinarily gullible and naive, even if for a person escaping a previous miserable life.
As time passes (very slowly) she also becomes increasingly delusional, convinced that the hallowed Rosanna will come visit her and be very pleased with her. Her common sense, in evidence at the beginning of the book, is completely gone, and she doesn’t see any logical holes in her situation. She doesn’t ask any questions or get suspicious. We are never sure if this is because of low self-esteem/difficult childhood, her suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or that she is beginning to lose it. It became very difficult to sympathize with her because she displays no resentment for her poor treatment and makes no plan to escape what is essentially forced captivity. Her deluded ramblings where she strives to “please” Rosanna, convinced that she is the perfect “vessel” for her, got very annoying to listen to.
The Body Double was extremely boring. I kept at it (although I did start skimming, which I normally never do with an audiobook) because I wanted to get to “the twist”. It came at the very end, and was predictable and weak. Narrator Rankin does a passable job, although I suspect she’d do better with a finer book.
Book Review : Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Written By: amodini
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Nov•
18•20
Author : Kazoo Ishiguro
Genre : Dystopian
Publisher : Vintage
Pages : 288
Rating : 3.5/5
Remains Of the Day remains one of my all-time favorites. And since Ishiguro is a master story-teller I had high hopes from Never Let Me Go. It is very different from Remains; where that was old-worldly, this is contemporarily dystopian. Both depict human emotion, but Remains of the Day is the better book.
Kathy is one of the many students at the boarding school of Hailsham. She, along with close friends Ruth and Tommy, is given a good education, but there is something mysterious about Hailsham and its students. There is talk of their future lives, which seem to be pre-ordained as Carers and Donors, although we are never quite sure what that entails. Little nuggets of information come our way, adding to the creepiness and portending a horror that only humans can concoct and implement.
The book is narrated by Kathy in the first person. At the time of narration Kathy is already a Carer, and she recounts her life at Hailsham, the good times with her friends, and the slow realization and acceptance of their pre-ordained future. Ishiguro with his lovely word-smithing and detailed situations and dialogues, beautifully captures the mental makeup of Kathy and her friends. What is truly horrifying is their acceptance of their fates – and they are not the only ones, there are many, many “students” – going along calmly, like lambs to a slaughter.
There is a love triangle between the three main protagonists, and there are descriptions of laughter and good times – the push and pull of emotions, the waxing and waning of friendships. The book is as interesting as it is because it is delicate and emotional, even as it frames the larger story in a more brutal context. Ishiguro maintains this exquisite balance perfectly.
While this is a well-written book and a thought-provoking page-turner (I read it in 4 quick sittings, taking huge gulps of it in each), I didn’t quite feel for the three protagonists. Yes there is the universal refrain of lost time, opportunity and love, but that is as far as it goes. Despite the first person narrative and the detailed descriptions of their situations, Kathy and her friends felt distant. Ruth’s character verges on the unlikeable and even Kathy is so ordinary. She displays no protagonist like characteristics – there is no fire, no rebellion, only dissatisfaction, sadness and then acceptance. Despite the very clear injustice of the unfolding horror, it is very hard to root for the three – and the cause of my not being able to recommend this book.
Audiobook Review : The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
Written By: amodini
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Oct•
21•20
Author : Beth O’Leary
Narrators : Carrie Hope Fletcher, Kwaku Fortune
Genre : Romance
Publisher : Macmillan Audio
Listening Length : 9 hours 58 minutes
Rating : 3.8/5
Narrator Rating : 4.5/5
Tiffany Rose Moore needs a place to live. The budget is small, and on the edge of desperation Tiffy decides to answer an advertisement for a flatshare. Leon Twome, a palliative care nurse, will use the flat in the daytime and she’ll use it in the evenings and night. Their paths will not across; they need not even ever meet.
As time passes, necessary communication is through little hand-written notes. Despite all the settling-in adjustments, all is going smoothly until one day when Tiffy is late to work and they both are in the apartment at the same time.
The Flatshare is a quirky romance. Tiffy and Leon are two very different people – she’s an excitable extrovert with eccentric fashion tastes and he’s a quiet, reticent introvert. They’re both kind and funny in their own way and very easy to like, so you’re rooting for them to get-together.
The book was a quick, easy read – very sweet and endearing. The one nit I do have is about the glib dialogues and the onslaught of witty repartee – who is that witty all the time? I really enjoyed the narration – Carrie Hope Fletcher is near perfection as the tremulously brave Tiffy, and Kwaku Fortune’s Irish Brogue nicely fleshes out Leon’s character in my mind’s eye.
Audiobook Review : A Spark Of Light by Jodi Picoult
Written By: amodini
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Sep•
23•20
Author : Jodi Picoult
Narrators : Bahni Turpin
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Random House Audio
Listening Length : 13 hours 3 minutes
Rating : 4/5
Narrator Rating : 3.5/5
A Spark Of Light is about the The Center in Mississippi, the only clinic that can provide abortions services to women in the state, and the people in it when a gunman storms in and starts shooting. The police is called to the scene, but there has already been bloodshed and the gunman is holding hostages. Police negotiator Hugh McElroy is surprised to learn that his 15-year old daughter Wren is inside the clinic with his sister Bex, and that Bex has already been hurt. He vows to get everyone out but for that he will have to get through to gunman George Goddard. And George isn’t listening.
A Spark of Light is about a controversial topic, and very timely, as reproductive heath centers are being forced shut across the United States. Picoult doesn’t take sides, she only lays out both sides of the argument via the people in the Center. There is Dr. Louie Ward, who travels to different states to deliver his services, because he, a religious man, believes that:
When you say you can’t do something because your religion forbids it, that’s a good thing. When you say I can’t do something because your religion forbids it, that’s a problem.
There is nurse Izzy, from impoverished roots and in love with her rich boyfriend, whom she hasn’t told about her pregnancy. Joy is still grieving after her recent procedure, but remains firm in her decision. Also, there’s young Beth who’s getting treated after attempting an abortion at home. Elderly Olive is at the clinic to confirm a cancer diagnosis. And Janine, an anti-abortion activist in the Center under false pretenses finds herself at the receiving end of the ire she helped stoke.
The book does a deep dive on each of the characters, narrating their life stories and presenting the motivations for their choices. Much of Picoult’s description is visceral and moving, and must have necessitated extensive research – she describes the difficult circumstances of a woman’s life and the hard choices she must make. She also describes the real-life steps lawmakers have taken to shut down abortion-providing clinics making it difficult for women to act on their right to chose.
Piccolo is a magnificent writer and describes her characters warmly and with sympathetic concern – whether it be Dr. Ward or George Goddard. I was in awe of Dr. Ward’s character who so selflessly gives of himself. I did find the backwards narration – the book starts at the ending of the shooting and works its way backwards – confusing, especially because I was listening to it and not reading it. I did not find Turpin’s narration as effective – she sounds nasally here when attempting to narrate male dialogs. In spite of all this, this book merits nothing less than 4 stars because it is an important story and deserves to be told this well.
Book Review : The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
Written By: amodini
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Aug•
26•20
Author : Stacey Lee
Genre : Historical
Publisher : Putnam
Pages : 384
Rating : 1.5/5
The Downstairs Girl seemed interesting because of its historical time period (1890s/segregation laws) and because its protagonist is a young Chinese American girl who survives with her wits. Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid at a rich home in Atlanta, a job she has been lucky to get given that Chinese aren’t even considered citizens during the time. Her only well-wisher is Old Gin, a grandfatherly type who looks after her, and the only person who probably knows about her mysterious parentage. Jo’s existence is nether-worldish because she lives in a secret set of rooms under a print shop. When she starts writing an Agony Aunt column for the newspaper (and the print shop) run by the Bell family, she finds herself becoming friends with their son Nathan.
This book had so much promise, and it did start well. After a while though the writing got choppier, the plot went in several different directions and the ending required a leap of imagination I could not take. I knew going in that this was YA (and I keep away away from those because of aforementioned problems), but I had hoped for the best considering that the protagonist was a non-white female in the days of racial inequality in the South. Hoping wasn’t enough though.
While Jo did have some admirable qualities, gumption chief among them, her character wasn’t consistent. And while I could make some considerations for the fact that she is only 17, although a worldly wise 17, her directionless dithering made for unsatisfying reading. The book brought up several issues and tried to resolve all of them. I wish the author had picked one and given it serious consideration instead of giving into an ending requiring such a flight of fancy.
Skip this one.
