The Broken Girls: Simone St. James

"Vermont, 1950.  There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good.  It's called Idlewild Hall.  And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted.  Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears....

"Vermont, 2014.  As much as she's tried, Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her elder sister's death.  Twenty years ago, her body was found dumped in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall.  And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

"When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it.  But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced...."


I thought I would change things up a bit with this book.  And BOY DID I!  I pulled this reading choice from a list I pinned on Pinterest:  Books you won't be able to put down.  That was certainly the case with this one.  I simply could not wait to see what happened next.


This story strayed VERY far from my usual reading material.  I can't recall a time when I read a book of this genre; it had elements of mystery, horror, and a great deal of suspense.  I can admit that, prior to reading this book, I used to think it was silly whenever someone told me that a book terrified them.  I should have known better than to criticize this.  Logic says if we lose track of the outside world and fall into the realm of our characters when we read a particularly good book (we see, hear, feel, taste, smell, etc. everything that they do), then the same thing would happen when we read a "scary" book.  I am not usually a fan of "scary" movies, but I thought a book would be relatively harmless.  This story definitely changed my mind.  It proved to me that books can give us nightmares and make us feel as if we aren't alone in a room; they already make our imaginations run wild, so books in this genre really take advantage of that.  I made the mistake of reading this while home alone at night...not a great idea.


The way in which St. James plays with time and perspective -- jumping back and forth from 1950 to 2014 and switching from various points of view of Fiona and the girls attending Idlewild Hall -- was a superb technique to keep the tension high, the story moving, and make me want to keep reading.  The threads of the stories seemed to run parallel to one another, but it was only as I forged ahead that I realized just how complex a story this was and how those threads were actually complex intersections, like a spider's web.


I'm not usually one for a ghost story, but I found Mary Hand to be particularly chilling.  Everyone's experiences with her were different and this was, perhaps, the most chilling aspect.  What is more terrifying than a ghost who learns and adapts?


The shocking discovery during the renovations at Idlewild Hall threw such an unexpected twist into the story and really brought all of the worlds into a collision course.  There were many twists and turns such as this and the pacing was excellent.  The reading list was correct:  I really could not put this book down!


What really sold this book for me was the descriptions of Idlewild Hall.  I would be lying if I said I didn't get the chills a few times.  It seemed like such a miserable place to reside, let alone be forced to attend boarding school.  The writing style was eloquent and very readable.


The school and the characters are all haunted by their pasts in this chilling, thrilling story by St. James.  I found it incredible well-written and fast-paced.  The terrifying echoes of the past collide with the tumultuous future and make for a must-read book.  Honestly, I really was not expecting to like this book as much as I did -- if only because it is not my usual cup of tea.  I was pleasantly surprised with how enthralled I became with this story.  I simply had to know what was waiting around the next corner.


If you're not one for scary or chilling, this isn't for you.  It's not a happy read in any sense of the word.  If you want something thrilling and bone-chilling, then this is right up your alley.  I promise I'm not exaggerating when I say that this book kept me on the edge of my seat pretty much the entire time.  It started off thrilling and continued along with the same pacing throughout.  The twists and turns kept me guessing, the mystery and ghosts gave me chills.  If you're looking for an exciting escape, then look no further.

Bastard Out of Carolina: Dorothy Allison

"Greenville County, South Carolina, a wild, lush place, is home to the Boatwright family--rough-hewn men who drink hard and shoot up each other's trucks, and indomitable women who marry young and age all too quickly.  At the heart of this astonishing novel is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a South Carolina bastard with an annotated birth certificate to tell the tale.  Bone finds herself caught in the family triangle that will test the loyalty of her mother, Anney.  Her stepfather, Daddy Glen, calls Bone "cold as death, mean as a snake, and twice as twisty," yet Anney needs Glen.  At first gentle with Bone, Daddy Glen becomes steadily colder and more furious--until their final, harrowing encounter, from which there can be no turning back."

Ah, yes, the joy of being a college student -- summer classes...  This was one of the books assigned for my American Souths (yes, that "s" is supposed to be there) class.  We read a novel each week (no exaggeration) that is supposed to help us gain some sort of appreciation for the history and literature surrounding different parts of the oft-difficult-to-concretely-define American South.  This book happened to be the one for which I signed up to lead the discussion and write a context essay (i.e. I have to find some major theme, locate articles on said topic, and relate everything back to how an understanding of those outside sources will better our understanding/appreciation of that part of the South).  You might be wondering why -- if we read a novel each week -- we're already into July and I haven't reviewed another book yet.  To be completely honest (don't tell my professor!) I haven't read any of the other books and have made it through with flying colors thus far!  My professor even sent out an email naming me as one of the best and most thorough contributors this semester!  How do I do it?  I've developed an excellent talent:  I'm a brilliant skimmer.  I absorb a lot of information in a short space of time and am able to apply it in a cohesive and eloquent manner.  I promise I'm not a student who normally does this, but I was very put-off by the fact that the professor expected us to have a novel read by the third day of the semester and hadn't even sent out an email telling us that we should be sure to order it early, let alone that it should be done by almost the first day of class!  I wouldn't be complaining if she'd just sent out an email like every other professor I've had, giving the students fair warning.  I don't think it's ethical to expect students to be able to do such a thing in three days -- we all take online classes for a reason!  Her response when I told her that I'd not yet received my book and (politely!) asked if there was an email I'd missed telling us that we needed to have this book read by the third day of class?  "I'm not going to change the syllabus because you didn't order your books early enough."  Nice.  Needless to say -- as someone who wants to become a college professor -- two things happened.  1) I learned how NOT to treat my students.  It's fine if you want your students to have a book read by even the first day of class, just let them know!  2) Being a jerk only discourages normally enthusiastic students to find ways around your system -- they know they're smart and they're only going to try to find ways to outsmart you.

Moving onto the actual review!  This was the first book I received when I ordered my books for this semester.  I figured I would try to be proactive and just pick up each book and read as it arrived.  Having lived in an area of the South very near to the one that Allison writes about, I took an interest in the setting.  A lot of the characters were lively and fun to read -- others were dark and made me rather uncomfortable.  I enjoyed a lot of the uncles -- especially Earl.  Daddy Glen, on the other hand, was disturbingly complex.  I still cannot quite put my finger on why he does what he does to Bone.  Does it get him off?  Does he hate Bone?  What did she ever do to him?  Why does he do it when he does?  Why does he seem to do it out of love for Anney?  What started it all?  What made him focus on Bone?  I think the disturbing thing is that, even after finishing this book, I can't answer a lot of these questions.

I had a difficult time getting through the chunk of the book where Bone becomes obsessed with religion and gospel music.  Whether that was simply because I'm not that religious, myself, or because it took up too large a chunk of the story to keep the flow, it's difficult to tell.

A couple of things bothered me about the last few chapters of the book:  1)  What happened to Reese, Bone's younger half-sister?  She seemed to disappear from the last part altogether.  I don't want to give away what happens, but part of me can see how people are so absorbed in what happened to Bone that they don't have time to ponder Reese, but Bone was close with Reese.  I'd wonder what happened to my sister after a few days.  I'd expect my aunts to know where she'd gone and for her location to at least be mentioned somewhere.  She's under twelve-years-old for crying out loud!  2) Bone's grandmother also seems to disappear from the last few chapters.  For a woman who played such a huge role in Bone's early life, I would have expected that she would have at least been there for Bone.  Looking back, I think Allison was trying to hint at the fact that Bone's grandmother was getting older and wasn't quite "all there" anymore, but it's one thing to explain the absence, it's another thing to ignore it -- it makes it all the more obvious.

I went through phases of loving (I loved the beginning with Anney's quest to amend Bone's birth certificate -- it's what really drew me into the book in the first place), feeling sympathy for, hating, and loathing Anney Boatwright, Bone's mother.  As someone who has never had such a life (as I'm sure a lot of the readers of this book have not) it was difficult to appreciate her tough choices and some of her actions.  I think one of the most important things to remember is that Anney is still only in her early-to-mid-twenties!  She's a mother of two girls, has had two husbands -- one of whom died tragically young while she was pregnant -- and has worked extremely hard to provide for her little family.  Taking a step back helped me to realize that she's grasping onto Daddy Glen because he's been there.  He might not have been reliable or stable or kind, but he hadn't up and left her.  Her age absolutely has to be taken into account.  She's not some stable-minded adult -- she was a baby who had babies.  This all adds depth and complexity to her character.  I'm not going to say that I liked her at the end of the book, but understanding all of this helped me to see what might have made her make such a decision.

This is probably minor (and I hope I'm not the only one), but I had a hard time pinpointing when in time this story happened.  There were a few hints, but not many until much later in the story.  It would have been really easy for this to just be backwoods, outdated lost-to-time and have taken place even recently.  A simple way to give the readers a sense of time would have been to talk about the model of car Anney drove.  One word would have solved this.  Instead, I spent most of the book flipflopping back and forth between believing this poor (in more ways than one) family was stuck without modern conveniences, and that this book took place in the '50s and '60s.

Overall, the book was deep, dark, and parts of it were difficult to get through.  I liked bits and parts of it and appreciated the depth of Bone's character.  Would I read it again?  Nope.  Would I recommend it?  Not to many -- unless I think they can take the weight of the story.  Allison's writing was interesting and she took this subject to a different place than I'd read before.