A Simple Favor: Darcey Bell

"A Simple Favor is a feverish and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense--a twisting free fall filled with betrayals and reversals, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge.  Darcey Bell exposes the dark underbelly of female friendship in this taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.


"It starts with a simple favor--an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another.  When glamorous Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son after school, Stephanie happily says yes.  Emily has a life that would make any woman jealous. She is the perfect mother with a dazzling career working for a famous fashion designer in Manhattan.  Stephanie, a widow with a son in kindergarten, lonely in their Connecticut suburb, turns to her daily blog for connection and validation.  Stephanie imagines Emily to be her new confidante and is shocked when Emily suddenly disappears without a trace, leaving her son and husband with no warning.


"Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong.  Unable to keep away from the grieving family, she soon finds herself entangled with Sean, Emily's handsome, reticent British husband.  But she can't ignore the nagging feeling that he's not being honest with her about Emily's disappearance.  Is Stephanie imagining things?  How well did she really know her 'best' friend?

"Stephanie begins to see that nothing--not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor--is as simple as it seems."

My friend and I wanted to see the film adaptation of this book when it came out a short while ago, but we never got around do it.  When I finally saw a copy of the original book on the shelf at my local library, I knew it was something I had to check out.  The promos made the book look deliciously twist and suspenseful.  After beginning my journey into this book, I was not disappointed.

We open with Stephanie's blog posts -- a blog she writes to reach out and connect with other moms out in the world, for kinship, validation, and friendship (whether or not she even truly realizes the last).  She and her son, Miles, make their lonely way through life after the death of Stephanie's husband, Davis, and her brother, Chris, in a tragic car accident.  Stephanie, perhaps, doesn't realize how lonely she really is until she finds what she believes to be a true and honest friend in Emily, the mother of her son's favorite playmate in school.  They bond over shared secrets and wine, as well as the challenges of raising sons in their Connecticut suburb after leaving the bustle of New York.  Stephanie is very quickly enamored of Emily and her lifestyle, her seeming perfection and elegance.  Having no one else to turn to, Stephanie quickly turns to her blog when Emily doesn't show to pick up her son from Stephanie's house after school one evening.  At first, Stephanie believes she may have misheard Emily or perhaps Emily's emergency had pulled her away for longer than anticipated.  It's only when Emily's continued unresponsiveness and days pass that Stephanie's concern blossoms into true fear.  She reaches out to Emily's husband, Sean, while he's on a business trip overseas.  At first, Sean's lack of concern and knowledge of Emily's hectic schedule makes Stephanie feel like a worrier.  It isn't until Sean returns to the States and Emily still hasn't returned that the two of them find a shared bond over their fear for Emily's safety.  Where had she gone?  Why had she left?  Was she still alive?  As more and more evidence is uncovered, more questions seem to pop up rather than answers.  What happened to Emily?  These questions seem to be answered...but there were far too many pages left in the book for this to be tied up in a nice, neat little package -- I always find this terrifying; when everything seems to work out, but then there is too much book left for this to actually be the case.  What on earth can the author have in store for me?!  This was absolutely the case with A Simple Favor.

The many twists and turns of this dark and suspenseful story kept me guessing.  I was so sure I knew what was coming right from the very beginning, but I admit that I changed my guess several times over until the truth was finally revealed.  The complex plot and multifaceted characters made for a psychological thriller that was difficult to put down; the tension never really abated.  The first lines of the book ring true throughout:  no one tells the truth and everyone has secrets.  Sometimes even the most innocuous of individuals have the deepest, darkest secrets of all.  Can you ever really, truly know someone?  This book definitely plays off of insecurities about opening up to one another, and the possibilities that people we hold dear are not actually who they seem to be.

At first the narration bounces back and forth between Stephanie's blog and her point of view (which is far more honest and revealing than her public online posts).  This is the first clue that there is a lot more to all of the characters than we see.  Gradually, more is revealed about Stephanie's past and she's not the perfect woman/mother she portrays on her blog -- then again, is anyone really as perfect as the profess to be on social media?  We realize the depth of her relationship with Emily and why Stephanie felt the two of them were so close.  This sets up the tension surrounding Emily's disappearance quite well.

Eventually, we become privy to the points of view of a couple of the other characters.  This adds even more depth and complexity to the plot.  What secrets have these characters kept?  Are they even telling us, the readers, the truth?  What are they choosing to omit and how much will it impact the story?

This is a book that will well and truly keep you on the edge of your seat.  I finished it in the matter of a few days and found it difficult to stop reading.  There are so many violent turns and rapid twists that I couldn't see what was coming at me around the next bend.  This is the mark of a good suspenseful psychological thriller, is it not?  The characters had layer upon layer of personality and secrets.  It was nearly impossible to trust any of them, even when you really wanted to do so.  I was captured right from the start and drawn into this mysterious world of secrets, lies, and questions.

I'm definitely even more interested in seeing the film adaptation of this book.  I wonder how true to its dark nature they will keep.  From what few previews I've seen, I think the casting was done well, given the descriptions in the book.

I recommend this for those of you who like darker psychological thrillers.  Fans of Gone Girl will really enjoy this one as it makes you question reality and the reliability of the very characters themselves.

Winter's Tale: Mark Helprin

“Mark Helprin’s masterpiece will transport you to New York of the Belle Epoque, to a city clarified by a siege of unprecedented snows.  One winter night, Peter Lake – master mechanic and second-story man – attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.  Though he thinks it is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins an affair between a middle-aged Irish burglar and Beverly Penn, a young girl dying of consumption. It is a love so powerful that Peter Lake, a simple and uneducated man, will be driven to stop time and bring back the dead.  His great struggle is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.”

I wanted to start off with a quote which really stuck out to me – I’ll come back at the end and explain why I feel like this was important:

“ ‘I think it would be vain to imagine that we could be favored without effort.  As I understand it, miracles come to those who risk defeat in seeking them.  They come to those who have exhausted themselves completely in a struggle to accomplish the impossible.

“ ‘I held back when my father died.  He said it was my duty, and that I was right.  His last wish was that I save myself for a battle I would not understand. Do you know what he said?  He said, ‘The greatest fight is when you are fighting in smoke and cannot see with your eyes’ ” (Helprin 615).

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while now and I finally got around to it.  I saw the movie version a few years ago shortly after it came out and I liked it well enough.  I did break my general rule of thumb and watched the film before reading the book; now I remember why I made that rule in the first place.  Books are so much grander and more spectacular than can ever be put into a movie.  (In my opinion, the only thing that comes close is the Harry Potterseries.)  Authors don’t typically write novels with the intention that they be transformed into a movie, and this certainly wasn’t the case with Winter’s Tale.  The person who thought everything would translate or that they could possibly do it justice was sorely mistaken.  That being said, this does not actually mean I loved the book.

I probably started off this book on the wrong foot.  I ended up really ill about a month-and-a-half ago (and this tells you how long it’s taken me to read it) and had picked it up from the library beforehand.  I decided to read it while I was recuperating, but that was a bad idea.  This is not an easy book (and this coming from someone with a Master’s Degree in English – with an emphasis on British Literature).  I’m no pansy and I like a good challenge.  This went well above and beyond my expectations.  It was vaguely deconstructionist and highly modernist in its styling.  I expected a piece of fiction, but what I found was something more abstract and complex than I ever anticipated.  Because of this (and likely because of my poor timing in choosing to try to tackle such a work), it took me a long time to get into it.  Even when I did, it was for relatively brief moments – little islands of clarity in an otherwise tumultuous world.  Since I was expecting a piece that was (mostly) realistic fiction – I knew there would be some magical and ethereal aspects because I’d seen the movie – I was really thrown by just how abstract some of the characters, settings, and situations were.  Some people lived for hundreds of years, characters and animals were capable of things that should not have been possible, and some of the situations were downright unrealistic or way over the top.  I am open to giving leeway for drama, but half the time I couldn’t tell if I was reading something that was actually happening, or a delirious dream or fantasy of one of the many characters.  As such, this piece of literature was very far out of my normal reading habits.  I was about to put it down for good when I decided to bring it to work and try reading it on my lunch breaks (I typically give a book three chapters to grab me and I’d given this one quite a bit longer, but I’d reached a point where I wasn’t really sure what I was even reading anymore).  The owner of the law firm at which I work saw this book on my desk and proceeded to gush about how it was his absolute favorite book.  There was no putting it down now.  I had to power through.  I have to admit that I’m glad I did – if only for the tremendous sense of accomplishment.

I liked Peter Lake quite a bit.  He was so much more complicated than a traditional “thief” archetype.  Beverly was very captivating as well, with her feverish behavior and very unique (short) life.  We’re introduced to a plethora of other characters and points of view as the story moves on.  One of the things I struggled with the most is that I had no freaking clue as to why I was reading about them or what they had to do with the overarching plot. What did I care about the Coherries people or Hardesty?  How did all of the little windows into these people’s lives and experiences impact the story?  I admit that it doesall come together in the end.  It doesn’t seem like it, but I promiseyou that it does.  Helprin has a grand plan (“grand” being an understatement).  The intricacies and invisible threads connecting the different stories on numerous levels were astounding.  Now that I’m out of the maze, I can step back and appreciate it in its entirety, for the complexity of the whole rather than individual parts.  This, I believe, is the beauty of this book; why it’s received so much acclaim.  I cannot fathom the amount of planning and work that went into all of it.  This is also why I think the person (or people) who believed they could well and truly capture of the soul of this book in a film was sorely mistaken.  There was no way on earth that it was going to translate well or do it justice.  I’m sorry, but it was an impossibility.  I’m going to have to go back and watch the movie again since it’s been several years since my one and only experience with it, but I have a feeling I’m going to find it much more lacking than my first go around.  This is a love story, but not in the traditional sense.  There are much higher, much darker powers at work in this story.  The impossible will be accomplished and the incredible will happen.  The story is ambitious and so very, very unique and otherworldly.

This was part of the reason it took me so long to finish; I had to figure out how to attack it from another angle.  I’m not oppose to fantasy, but I don’t believe I have everexperienced anything quite like this combination of fantasy, fiction, and realism (with strong, if well-disguised, religious undertones).  As I mentioned before, I initially began reading this with the anticipation and expectation that I would be reading a work of realistic fiction with fantastical aspects.  When I encountered so much more than I expected, I wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. I had to take a step back, breathe, and try something else.  My mind resisted this book; that’s the only way I can describe my personal experience. I had to release all of my preconceived notions and “detach” myself from reality in order to fully comprehend what I was witnessing in my mind’s eye.  (I realize this sounds like a terribly dramatic way for me to describe reading a book, but it’s the truth.  If describing my technique can help just one other reader tackle this oft-intimidating piece of literature, then I will count it well worth it.)  One excellent example of this was the cloud wall. We know this doesn’t exist in reality. What was it?  Was it a metaphor; if so, for what?  Could only some people see it?  Was this reality or fantasy?  I learned to take it for what it was and just think:  Well, this is a relatively realistic New York and there’s a cloud wall that moves on the outskirts like some sort of blob, taking with it whatever it touches.  Okay.  I may not like it, but I can do my best to accept it as fact, like some of the characters.  The oddities in this book just are.  You have to accept them as the characters do or this book is going to fight you every step of the way.

If you’re as determined to read this book as I was, don’t get discouraged by the seemingly-unrelated stories and characters, the complexities and nuances of the plot. Take a deep breath and dive deep, because that’s the only way you’re going to get through this.  I promise it makes more sense in the end and it’ll be worth the work.

This book was a challenge and, I’m not going to lie to you or sugarcoat it, there were times when I struggled.  A lot. I'm not proud of it, nor is it something I’m used to – I’ve easily tackled works that are typically considered daunting by most literary standards.  But I will say that the struggle ended up worthy of the spoils.  The book was powerful; it made me think.  It was complex and intricate.  Helprin is a unique and extremely talented author.

Now, going back to the quote I provided at the very beginning of this review.  These words are spoken by Hardesty in the last few hundred pages of the story.  Without giving too much away, the major conflict is finally coming to a head and most of the characters’ stories have now converged.  I found this poignant because I think, so often, people believe miracles just happen – they’re gifts to those who some higher power believes are worthy.  I believe miracles come to those who have well and truly exhausted all of their own efforts.  They have to really experience the darkness of failure in order to truly appreciate the miracle for what it is.  Even if something seems impossible, to not even attempt to try to accomplish the impossible is to sabotage the miracle.  You may not see who or what you’re fighting, but you must continue to do so.  I found all of this powerful and one of the biggest messages in this book.  There are things in this world that we cannot prevent, things over which we have no control (and, especially in this day and age of technology and instant gratification, this can be disheartening and defeating).  There are things that we cannot fathom within our finite world and time.  All of this is the amalgamation of living.  Live like Beverly, love like Peter Lake, believe like Hardesty, persevere like Virginia, know the importance of knowledge and the power of words like Mrs. Gamely, imagine like Abby and Martin, believe in the power of change like Praeger de Pinto.  All or some of this may feel impossible at times, but do your damndest to accomplish it regardless.  Sometimes it might feel like the entire world is conspiring against you at every turn, but seek out every avenue and possibility in your search to achieve your greatest aims.  Perhaps you’ll even find your own miracle.

As I’ve mentioned, this book was a struggle; in the end, however, I felt it was worth it.  This is by no means a book for a casual reader or someone faint of heart.  This book will take work.  It will confuse you, it will push you, but it’s a powerful story eloquently and elaborately told.  The style and plot can present a number of challenges, but I can say that I appreciate it all the more having seen it all come together.

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies, Book One): Isaac Marion

"R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie.  He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains.  He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing.  He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.

"After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend.  Julie is a blast of color in the dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R.  His decision to protect her will transform not only R but also his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

"Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between."

Okay.  I devoured this book (pun intended because, yes, I am just that corny).  It's not terribly long - I read the hardcover version which comes in at a little under 250 pages - but that is beside the point.  I simply could not put this book down.  I am thrilled with Marion's writing style, incredible storytelling, and knack for creating characters who, even though not all of them were living and breathing, really felt very...well...alive!

I convinced my now-husband to watch the movie version of Warm Bodies after it came out a few years ago.  Simply put:  I loved it.  I thought it was funny, well-done, great casting, and just enough zombie gore to keep my then-boyfriend interested (especially because he's such a fan of "The Walking Dead").  Now I am certainly not a person who normally cares for apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic movies, shows, and/or books.  I refuse to watch "The Walking Dead," "2012," "The Day After Tomorrow," and anything else that has to do with the end of the world as we know it - probably all stemming from my recurring childhood nightmares of all the terrible ways the world was going to end.  I was sold on Warm Bodies as soon as I saw the trailer because it genuinely looked like it had a great sense of humor.

I have to rewatch the movie since it's been a few years since I've seen it, but - if my memory serves me right - there is definitely more to the book than they were able to capture in the movie (doesn't that always happen, though?).  I feel like the portrayal of R in the book was highly existential, yet he retained the same humor I remember from the movie.  I am thoroughly impressed with how deep this book goes.  I had an inkling when it began with references to "Gilgamesh," but I am extremely thrilled with how much this book made me think and ponder my own existence.  It was lighthearted enough to be an enjoyable read, gory enough to be scary and exciting, eloquent enough to reach the level of reading to which I am accustomed, and fresh enough to be a very interesting read.  Marion is a brilliant author and I am so happy to have stumbled upon this book!  To be honest, I didn't even know that the movie had been based off of Marion's book!  I was at my local library on my way home from work on Valentine's Day and was walking past an end-cap with a sign that read, "If you love 'Walking Dead,' you should try these!" and Warm Bodies was on prominent display.  I think I even did a happy little jump when I saw it because it reminded me of how much I enjoyed the movie.

For those of you who have already seen the movie, this won't be a spoiler.  It miiiight be a little bit of a spoiler for you if you haven't.  I think the whole "zombie Romeo and Juliet" aspect of the story was played up a heck of a lot more in the film than it actually was in the book.  In fact, other than the balcony scene, I don't think I would have necessarily noticed it had I not known to look for it because of the movie.  (I am a little bit sad that the movie did away with R's button-down and tie; I liked the thought of him being a dapper zombie.)

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved the film adaptation.  The book is a little bit heavier on the existentialism and pondering of one's purpose than the film, but I hope that doesn't turn anyone off; it really is honestly worth the read.  If you have a queasy stomach or you're grossed out really easily, then this might not be the book for you.  R is a very descriptive narrator and Marion is an excellent writer...I could practically smell the rotting corpses...

Now I can't wait to go and watch the movie again!

*Aaaaand...my night is made.  Just saw that Marion has written a couple of other books that go along with this story.  I'm curious to see if they have the same depth and sense of humor that Warm Bodies did.

The Fault in Our Stars: John Green

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis.  But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten."

I think it's pretty hard to find someone who hasn't read (or at least heard of) this story or seen its film adaptation that came out in theaters fairly recently.  It's created quite the buzz!  (Now I can see why "Okay?  Okay." is posted everywhere online!  Insanely sweet.)  Initially, I'd discovered this title on a list of book-to-film adaptations that would be coming out in 2014 (I found the list late in 2013).  Honestly, I skipped right over this one.  Cancer kids?  Someone's going to die.  I don't need to bawl like a baby while reading a book (though there are several times I can name where that has happened before).  The movie came out and I was a bit tempted to pick up the book, but none more so when my boyfriend shocked my by saying -- out of the blue -- that he wanted to see this movie.  I was flabbergasted.  This was probably the one movie that I didn't even attempt to ask him to accompany me to.  (Backstory:  His father passed away from cancer a few years before I met my boyfriend.  I never knew his dad, but the two of them were extremely close.)  I didn't think asking him to see a cancer movie was the kind thing to do.  I will add, however, that the movie only came up because my boyfriend told me he might want to go to the $5 movie night at our local theater alone.  I asked why and what movie.  He responded with this film and that he wanted to go alone because he might cry (because a twenty-something man sitting alone in a theater, crying, is a lot less sad than a guy doing it sitting next to his girlfriend?).  I told him that I would love to go with him and that I'd never thought to ask him because of the subject matter.  We still haven't gone, but I was kind of waiting to read the book before I saw the film.  Now that that has been accomplished, I suppose we're going to the movie soon!

I borrowed this book from a coworker who had to read it for her book club.  I had no idea when I'd get to it.  I'm so swamped with work and school.  It feels like forever since I've read a book for pleasure (looking back on the amount of book reviews I've done since this blog started, there's a very interesting trend of a decrease in the amount of reading as college started and I got more absorbed with my studies).  She said I could have the book as long as it took me to read it, which, I thought, would take months, if I didn't get to read it on my upcoming girls' trip to NOLA.  However, we happened to have NO plans for the 4th of July this year (yesterday), and I was able to sit on the deck and read (thanks to my awesome Walmart find:  Bistro patio set for $25!).  The dogs chilled on the deck with me and I got to soak up some sun while enjoying the first book-for-pleasure I'd enjoyed in a really long time.  Needless to say, the last thing I expected to do was FINISH THE BOOK!  Even with endless interruptions (i.e. I had a sick puppy, preparing our shish kabobs and grilling them for lunch/dinner, etc.) I still managed to finish the book in about 12 hours!  I cannot tell you how awesome it felt to do a reading marathon.  That's not something I've done in years!  I think this book was a perfect one to do that with.  I loved the characters.  They were witty and wry and cynical (not to the point of annoying, though).  It was difficult not to fall for Augustus (Gus) and the literary nerd in me really enjoyed his obsession with metaphors.  Hazel was intelligent and interesting as well.  I thought I might not like her at first -- she's portrayed almost abrasively in the first chapter or so -- but she definitely grew on me.  I have to say that I predicted the plot twist even a few chapters into reading about Gus and Hazel's budding romance.  This, however, didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.  This really is a true love story and I have not read as good a romance as this in a very long time.  (I will say that I didn't bawl like so many other readers have.  The story was beautiful and so lovingly, eloquently written, but I just didn't sob.  I did tear up a bit, but nothing drastic.  Maybe I have become a bit too jaded!)

As far as readability goes, the words flowed extremely well and the dialogue was interesting.  There's quite a bit of vocabulary that I think will be over the heads of most of this book's intended teen audience, but I appreciated it.  I can see why it's appealed to such a broad range of readers.  Now, as far as the maturity level of the audience, I think this book is definitely for a high school audience.  My friend is a middle school teacher and I'm fairly certain this was one of the books she saw her students reading.  Also, my cousin just turned 12 in May and she read this book around that time.  While she loved it (she said she cried at the end of their end-of-year tests while she finished the book) and she is an excellent reader with a broad vocabulary for her age, I think some of this material is just not something she should have been exposed to just yet.  There's sex (implied, but they do mention a condom and getting naked), and a lot of very deep discussion about death and dying.  While I feel like today's kids are a lot more exposed to all of this than even I was in the '90s, a line should be drawn.  Yes, it's a very good book, but there's a reason that so many people sob while reading it -- there's a reason it's so tragically touching.  I'm not yet a parent of a pre-teen so don't think I'm trying to tell you what to do, I'm just trying to be honest when I say, "If you have a pre-teen who wants to read this book, be prepared for one of several things.  Either tell them 'no' and wait a few years until they're in high school (they'll be better able to understand the vocabulary used and they probably would have already had 'the talk' and be a bit more mature and better able to handle such subject matter), or read it with them/before they do (which will help you decide whether or not it's appropriate for your child) and then at least you'll know exactly what they're reading and can prepare some answers for some questions I'm sure they'll have."  I know I fully intend on being the kind of parent who will pre-read books for her kids -- not to censure them, but to prepare myself to answer questions they might have.

I recommend this book for adults and (appropriately prepared and mature) young-adults alike.  Green's writing is vivid and alive.  I've not had to live with cancer (knock on wood), but from having my own serious medical issues, I can say that Green's descriptions of who chronic patients feel are spot on.  I highly recommend this book (for the right readers).  Now I suppose I've got to see the movie -- maybe my boyfriend and I can cry together!