BAD ANIMALS by Sarah Braunstein

I have given BAD ANIMALS a couple days to "sit with me" before writing this review. I'm still not sure how I feel about the book. It was well written, the story was mostly engaging; but I didn't like any of the main characters. I can't decide if Maeve was just a total innocent caught up in circumstances beyond her control or she was a jaded and cynical psychopath who attempted to destroy a child. Or maybe the child was the psychopath who attempted to destroy the adult Maeve. I am certain Harrison was a cynical "user" of people for his own enjoyment and financial gain. Poor Jack was caught in the middle of Harrison and Maeve's shenanigan's and the ultimate loser. The other librarians were simply there for the author's ability to tell the story. So, would I recommend this book to another reader? Maybe? Maybe not? Would I have finished the book if I wasn't writing a review? NO, I would have given it maybe 100 pages instead of my usual 50 before dropping it, but I wouldn't have finished it. But maybe would I have, if only to find out what ultimately happened to Libby, the only character I cared about. SO…. 4 stars for writing . 2 stars for story. 3 stars for the total book.

THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE by Richard Osman

How can a book about 4 murders be a tender love story? And yet, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE is a tender love story. Our four senior sleuths, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, are caught up in a drug war, an art forgery, a “love for money” fraud and the murder of one of Stephen’s friends along with three other murders. Osman, who has written three other novels starring the four members of the Thursday Murder Club is back again with a delightful, charming and intriguing mystery. His characters are true to form and fine companions for a chill autumn evening or two with a hot cup of tea. Who will be the “last devil to die” and, therefore, the murderer will keep you guessing to the last pages. The main characters are clearly the focus, but Osman makes even minor characters, like the fox, a fully developed personality. A delightful story well told. Buy it! 5 of 5 stars

DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG by Eve J Chung

“Girls are nothing more than wives for other people’s sons.” And so begins the story of Hai, her mother and her sisters. When the communist revolution comes to their area, the girls and their mom are left behind by their wealthy landowning family with only a vague promise to return for them. Enemies of the communists because of the family’s wealth and importance, the girls and their mother are evicted with no money or food as enemies of the people. Hai, the eldest daughter not yet a teen, narrates this compelling, barely fictionalized account of the journey by foot through China toward Taiwan. The girls come alive on the pages as their harrowing tale is told. Chung relates the story of her grandmother with deftness and empathy. Although filled with danger, poverty, and continuing disasters, the story offers hope, resilience, love and the power of faith and kindness. Readers will learn much about the Communist takeover of China and the ravages war brings to a peasant population. Book groups will have many topics for discussion from foot binding to the importance of education. I highly recommend this book 5 of 5 stars

DEVIL MAKES THREE by Ben Fountain

I very much disliked this book. It was too long by at least 100 pages. It was too disjointed as time, place, and characters jumped from page to page, even paragraph to paragraph with not even a line break to give the reader a clue to the jump. There was too much incomprehensible talk among the characters about Haitian politics and too many untranslated French words, phrases and sentences for this German speaking American. I knew little about Haitian politics before I read this book and I am still in the dark. I often felt I needed to stop reading and consult Wikipedia’s version of Haitian history. Parts of the book were interesting and well written. One blurb writer called this book “a fast, riveting read. A gripping thriller…” he must have read a different book. This book was a struggle to get through the first hundred pages before the characters and plot started to become clear. I would have enjoyed a 300 page book of Matt and Alix’s treasure hunting adventures much more. I found Audrey/Shelly simply too confusing to like or dislike or to follow her part in the story. Matt had an interesting ethical dilemma. Alix apparently had no problems in the ethical field at all. His sister chose and was in that way my favorite character. 4 stars for the writing: 3 stars for the plot and length.

ABOVE THE SALT by Katherine Vaz

ABOVE THE SALT by Katherine Vaz After a slow start, due primarily to the detailed, short and apparently unconnected vignettes, I got into the rhythm of this detailed tale of one family persecuted for beliefs and forced to leave their homeland for America. John, the main character, starves with his mother for her religious beliefs when she is jailed. Although soon released, John is forever scarred by this episode. John, continues to America where he continues to grow successful gardens (beautiful writing here) meet various people, including Abraham Lincoln, and reconnects with Mary, a former neighbor, in the enduring and endearing love story. Although a bit too long (where have all the editors gone?) this is a well written, engaging story with real events and persons seamlessly woven in. Well worth the time spent wading through the initial disconnectedness to a classic tale of family, endurance, pride, hard work, serendipity and love. 4 ½ stars

PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING by Melissa Fu

The turmoil in China from 1938 to 1998 is the background for this family tale. Meilin, a young wife and mother, loses her husband to the Japanese invasion and then must flee with her 4 year-old son when the marauding Japanese attack her family’s village. The book continues with mother and son as World War Two, the communist uprising, the Nationalist movement and other calamities affect them. Renshu, the son, quickly becomes the focal character in this richly descriptive and harrowing tale. Fu’s character study of Renshu as he progresses through life, first in China and then the United States, education, then marriage and a family of his own, makes the book believable and engrossing. A scroll depicting various folk tales is the link for each episode in his life. After a slow start the book is compelling reading. The scholarship is impeccable. China comes alive as Renshu and his mother contend with the vicissitudes of life in a country racked by turmoil. 4 of 5 stars

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES BY Shelby VanPelt

I was prepared to dismiss this book as entirely ridiculous after my self-appointed requirement of 75 pages; however, what I discovered was a perfectly delightful, well written and tender character study. The story concerns a 70-year-old woman stuck in grief for a teenaged son lost to an early death, a 30-year-old man-child stuck in anger at a mother who abandoned him at age 9 and an aging octopus stuck in a too small “prison” longing for the vast ocean he can hear outside the aquarium. One supporting character I enjoyed was the busybody owner of the grocery store who inserts himself into everyone else’s business. To tell you more would spoil this novel. Read it for yourself and be delighted. I hope the author writes another tale for us to enjoy. 5 of 5 stars for a surprisingly good novel with an unusual collection of characters and a first-time author.