The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliot

Thought provoking. witty and grotesque novel, jam-packed with rich language and dark humor.

“I felt a prickle in my phantom pinkie finger, a keening of imaginary blood. I felt a pain deep in the bone. As I ached for this lost part of myself, my missing finger became a synecdoche for all lost things in my life—women and mothers, youth and full-scalp coverage, soberness, and the bliss of solid sleep. Most of all, I ached for the future as a shimmering, distant thing.”

Romie Futch is a South Carolina taxidermist and total slacker who is down on his luck and still pining for his ex-wife. While surfing the web one evening, he spots an ad from the Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience that might be a solution to all of his problems. They are providing monetary compensation to test subjects who are willing to “undergo a series of pedagogical downloads via direct brain-computer interface.” Romie and other ne’er-do-wells agree to be part of this human experimentation, in hopes of financial reward and maybe a better life.

Romie returns home with an extensive knowledge of the humanities and a motivation to delve into taxidermy art, a creative outlet he abandoned after high school. He becomes obsessed with mutant animals, especially an enigmatic boar nicknamed Hogzilla. These results of animal experimentation are grotesque and a little revolting, as are Romie’s dioramas!

Armed with new knowledge and a drive to create, will the new and improved Romie Futch be able to get his life together and win back his ex-wife? Do artificial intellectual or physical enhancements change who we are or our deepest motivations? Not really. (Right now, I am thinking of the scene in the bar with enhanced humans; Ned received a 21-year old’s heart and a month later decided to celebrate his new heart “by eating a pound of fried bacon.”) Think of impact of the Internet, all of human knowledge available at our fingertips.

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…I’d picked my lot voluntarily, while the men surrounding me had fought battles against tobacco and diabetes, the Southern diet and alcoholism, carcinogenic pollutants and Vietnam-era hand grenades, not to mention the inevitable entropy of the mortal body–the slow smokeless burning of decay. Yet we all dragged our cyborgian carcasses across the trashed planet every day. We all chased various forms of intoxication, hoping to soothe our savage souls. I could see myself some twenty years hence, a gray-haired troll slumped on a barstool, my nose a bulbous mess of clotted capillaries.”

Julia Elliot constructed a strange, complex and somewhat nauseating world steeped in weirdness. A thick layer of grit and grease hangs over every scene. I pictured the setting and people as somewhere between Deliverance and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.

It did take me longer to read this book than Anna Karenina! The pages would fly by while I was reading it, but the writing is so dense and punchy that I was mentally exhausted after each session. Julia Elliot uses such rich language and the story is jam-packed with macabre descriptions, strong action verbs and witty, darkly humorous word play. It may have been overwrought if by another author’s pen, but the writing style suits this “southern gothic tall tale.”

Random excerpt as an example of the writing style:

Trippy was troubled but still witty somehow, still rattling off streams of purple verbiage that was wine to my parched ears. We compared notes on blackouts, and dreams, hallucinations and synesthetic episodes, uncanny sensations and acute deja vu. Trippy, too, had suffered bouts of feverish, visionary creativity. He’d spent most of his post experiment time in his sister’s Atlanta basement, sawing at his cello, noodling on a thrift-store Casio, composing experimental pieces that he recorded on an eight-track analog Tascam.

“Started off sober,” he said, “sipping home-brewed kombacha, an ancient Chinese elixir concocted from fermented green tea. Then I upped the ante with bhang tea and goji wine, which had my ass tripping old school, heat in my flow, game in my tunes. Spent the wee hours grooving to the likes of Alfred Schnittke, Lindsay Cooper, and Sun Ra, constellations exploding inside my soul, white dwarves collapsing into pulsars, black holes evaginating into white-hot universes, dog. I was on a fucking roll.”

The Best of Enemies by Jen Lancaster

Jack Jordan, a somewhat smug foreign correspondent, shares her best friend Sarabeth with the somewhat shallow stay-at-home supermom Kitty Carricoe. Jack and Kitty have been sworn enemies since a misunderstanding during college and the rivalry has escalated out of control over the last couple of decades. When Sarabeth’s husband in involved in a fatal plane crash, Jack and Kitty rush to Sarabeth’s side. They become suspicious of the circumstances of the husband’s death and team up to investigate.

The chapters alternate between Jack’s and Kitty’s points of view. The main story takes place in 2014, but there are also lots of flashbacks. Before the story starts there is a series of invitations and hotel letters, which I think was a really fun way to start the book. The Best of Enemies really illustrates the importance of communication and how the littlest misunderstandings and assumptions can drive the biggest wedges between people. All of Kitty’s and Jack’s drama could have been avoided with a little communication and empathy.

I chose this book because of the comparison to Bridesmaids (which I loved) and Big Little Lies (which I liked). The Best of Enemies is this the deepest I have gone down the chick lit rabbit hole and the book was a little bit of a mismatch for me as a reader. I have to say, this is the first time I have come across the terms “amazeballs,” “totes legitamittens,” and “faboo” in a book! There is a lot of (tongue-in-cheek) modern lifestyle blogger lingo, texting speak, pop culture references and brand name/celebrity name dropping. I have never seen Top Gun or Risky Business (I know, I know!), so many of the references were lost on me. Those who were teenagers or young adults in the 1980s will probably get the maximum enjoyment from this book.

It is better to leave the ego and to get viagra pharmacy prices on the web. Insomnia is most often professional viagra cheap defined by an individual’s eating habits. It is also available in buy viagra unica-web.com 100mg strength. Very similar to viagra generico 5mg , this drug has huge and unnecessary risk when brought from offshore websites. The alternating chapters technique is really effective for this story, because you get to read Jack’s and Kitty’s hilariously different interpretations of the same event! My favorite part of the entire book was when Jack and Kitty teamed up. The back and forth of their dialogue was really fun to read. I wished they could have partnered up earlier, because the introductions and set-up seemed to take ages. The first 200 pages seemed so slow and then a lot happened in the last 100 pages.

I think the author did a great job of making Kitty seem really unlikable in the beginning and then slowly making the reader want to be her friend! Jack was an interesting character as well and I really liked her close relationship with her family. All the other characters were a bit one dimensional. There is a lot of fun, snarky dialogue. Sometimes when the subjects got more serious, the dialogue was more stilted (a conversation between Kitty and Bobby discussing raising kids in the internet age and a scene at John-John’s house). Things got totes ridic at the end! [spoiler]I was a little disappointed when Jack reveals that she wants to quit her badass job and decides what she wants more than anything is a husband and a family. It was a weird turn for the character. I wonder if the dynamic between Jack and Kitty would be as interesting in a sequel. The two villainous monologues were a little bit too much for me too. [/spoiler]

Even though this was just an okay read for me, I think it will be enjoyable for fans of the genre. I think it would make a really fun movie!

The Martian by Andy Weir

“I can’t wait till I have grandchildren. When I was younger, I had to walk to the rim of a crater. Uphill! In an EVA suit! On Mars, ya little shit! Ya hear me? Mars!”

This audiobook was the second selection in the “Taryn and Elias Summer Road Trip Series.” 🙂 The Martian is such a funny and entertaining read. The Martian is hard science fiction novel (i.e. no fantastical elements) about Mark Watney, a sarcastic, slightly immature astronaut who is left for dead on the planet Mars. He wakes up alone and injured on the Red Planet and has to use his scientific knowledge to prolong his chances for survival.

“If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do.”

The story alternates between Mark Watney’s logs, NASA, the Ares 3 crew and an omniscient narrator who you will learn to dread! The book starts out with Mark’s logs and I was unsure what all the fuss was about at first, but I was hooked after the first section back at NASA. So if you aren’t quite feeling the first few pages, I recommend sticking it out until that point! There are many scientific explanations, but it is not so overly technical or complicated that it is difficult to comprehend. Even when I didn’t have a complete grasp on a concept, I was able to understand the main point. At heart, this book is about the will to survive and the deep-rooted need humans have to help others…and the inherent magic of duct tape.

“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”

I really liked the use of the [spoiler]news media in the book. It is so weird that this man is stranded on Mars and it has become an almost reality show spectacle back on Earth! [/spoiler]. Mark remains cheerful and maintains his sarcastic sense of humor during his horrifying ordeal. It is impossible not to root for him! That he was able to maintain his enthusiastically positive outlook during the entire duration of being marooned on a planet 140,000,000 miles from Earth is a little unrealistic, but I was able to convince myself that it was possible to extend his psychological well-being by maintaining a work routine. I did think was starting to show a few signs of cracking. The book has also been criticized for being predictable, but the anticipation of seeing how he overcomes each new problem really keeps the book interesting. It would be interesting to read [spoiler]how the rest of the Ares 3 mission goes and any lasting effects of the ordeal on Mark and the crew back on earth. [/spoiler] When the end audio credits started, I felt as if I had also survived an epic journey!
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This book was so perfect for the audiobook format. R.C. Bray was a great choice for Mark Watney’s voice and he really was able to bring the other characters to life. Mark’s logs are written very conversationally and I think some of his phrasing and humor comes off better with the spoken word. I just pretended that he was recording audio logs. I am really excited to see the movie, because I am many of the pictures in my head were completely inaccurate! Though something in the crew introduction teaser makes me worried that they are going to shoehorn in a romance that wasn’t there! Update: The movie was awesome! Great adaptation!

Highly recommended as an entertaining read, especially the audiobook!

“The screen went black before I was out of the airlock. Turns out the “L” in “LCD” stands for “Liquid.” I guess it either froze or boiled off. Maybe I’ll post a consumer review. “Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.”

Disclaimer by Renée Knight

She looks at it lying there facedown and still open where she left it. The book she trusted. Its first few chapters had lulled her into complacency, made her feel at ease with just the hint of a mild thrill to come, a little something to keep her reading, but no clue to what was lying in wait. It beckoned her on, lured her into its pages, further and further until she realised she was trapped. Then words ricocheted around her brain and slammed into her chest, one after another. It was as if a queue of people had jumped in front of a train and she, the helpless driver, was powerless to prevent the fatal collision. It was too late to put the brakes on. There was no going back. Catherine had unwittingly stumbled across herself tucked into the pages of the book.

Documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft finds a mysterious book in her house. As she reads it, she realizes that she is the main character and the plot is based off an tragic event that she thought was hidden in the past. How did this book come into her possession? Who wrote it? Catherine’s perfect life begins to crash down around her as she struggles to confront her darkest secret.

There is something extremely satisfying in that idea. A fish out of water. A fish rudely introduced to a hostile environment. Will it survive? Unlikely. The sudden exposure will probably kill it. They drown, don’t. they, fish. If they’re left too long out of water. Exposure first, and then perhaps I’ll put it out of its misery.

The title refers to the all persons fictitious disclaimer, which has been neatly marked out in the book Catherine has found. I really love the premise. The story alternates between the perspectives of Stephen and Catherine. The character of Stephen, a grieving husband, is so delightfully crazy with vengeance. The description of his appearance and living quarters was really well done and gave great insight to the character’s mental state. He reminded me a little bit of the father from The Dinner. Catherine is distant and difficult to get a full grasp of, but her compartmentalization is understandable given the circumstances.

One of the things that drives me crazy these types of books is reading the thoughts of people who know exactly what is going on, but they are refusing to give you the smallest hint. There is a certain point where I start getting impatient. I am seriously nosy, even about the lives of fictional characters, so I manage to soldier on. These characters talk around the issue until around the 40% mark. I really couldn’t put this book down. I probably would have given it a four, if I had rated it right after I read it. As I started thinking about it, it became more of a 3 star.
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I get emotional whiplash when characters when constantly change directions when the receive brand new information. There is a consistent lack of middle ground between extreme positions that I find unnerving. For example: [spoiler]The husband automatically accepts the book at face value. He never seems to really falter from his anger and he is unnecessarily cruel to his wife, while never really giving her a chance to defend herself. Later on he learns new information from the author, accepts it quickly, is immediately apologetic and thinks things can go back to normal. I am glad there were consequences for that situation. And Stephen: After all the psychological torture he puts Catherine through, he listens to her side of the story, immediately accepts it, quickly reflects on the past and has the realization that “Oh wait…now that you mention it, my son was kind of a sociopath!” I also wish the Jonathan death scene/Nicholas near-death happened differently situationally. Based on Stephen’s reflections, I don’t believe it was from guilt and I can’t even begin to speculate on what other motivations would be. I wish the assault scene had been less detailed. [/spoiler] I kind of hated Nicholas and really wanted to skim through his scenes.

This book illustrates how easy it is to jump to conclusions and build an entire sordid narrative around a few details. I also thought about how secrets almost never stay hidden and how sometimes the act of keeping the secret is worse than the secret. Catherine’s comments about a [spoiler]woman having to “prove innocence”[/spoiler] were also interesting and make her motivations for keeping the secret more understandable.

I enjoyed reading this book and I think others that enjoy suspenseful family dramas will as well.

The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor

When in her other life had she finally lost her desire for the next moment and then the next? It seemed to have happened slowly, not in one sudden blow, but over thousands of ordinary minutes, in the tiniest of choices meant to lead her toward a well-defined future, the sort that had been chosen and lived by so many other people.

Hannah and Lovell live in suburbia with their two kids (one boy, one girl, perfect!). Hannah is completely disenchanted with their marriage and the resentments are starting to bubble over. After a contentious and almost violent argument about an unpaid electric bill, Hannah goes missing. Did she run away? Was she a victim of foul play? Lovell and Hannah look back on their marriage and try to figure out how they got to this point. The story alternates between Hannah and Lovell’s perspectives.

Hannah had asked him more than once whether all his charts and graphs, all his statistics—didn’t they ever grow tiring? Do you ever get sick of trying to predict the precise movement of every molecule in the atmosphere? When you look so close at something, doesn’t it start to disappear? Doesn’t it lose its fundamental it-ness? “No,” he had responded. “When you understand something, you see more, not less, of its essence. This ‘fundamental it-ness,’ or kinetic energy or pedesis or whatever you are actually talking about, is the basis of everything I do.” She had just shaken her head as if she thought he had misunderstood her questions.

The Daylight Marriage is more a portrait of a marriage than a thriller. If you are expecting twists because of the marketing, there are none and it plays out predictably. The story of Hannah’s disappearance takes a back burner to the dissection of the marriage. The tumultuous fight that is the breaking point is not really about something as mundane as an electric bill, but the culmination of all the problems in their relationship. The Daylight Marriage gives a painful illustration of how the tiny cracks in a marriage can add up to catastrophic failure when they are not fixed in time.

You can simply visit buy viagra online authorized medical store to ask for a prescription and subsequently they fail to purchase this love enhancing drug. It turns into an enzyme which frequently buy brand cialis regarded as impotence predicaments. cheap viagra online This article provides a brief insight on the various factors that can cause pain during intercourse. Their experiences, comments and views give a whole generic levitra online http://amerikabulteni.com/2011/10/17/iowa-gop-schedules-january-3-presidential-caucuses/ lot of information. Hannah is the settler and Lovell is the reacher. The gap between them is so wide that there is really no equilibrium and they really should have never married. The “magical” honeymoon scenes weren’t sufficient enough to make me think there was any great connection between the two. The lack of a strong foundation between the two, in addition to their flat, apathetic portrayals, made it difficult to care about the cracks in their marriage and Hannah’s subsequent disappearance. Despite the subject matter, the story lacked strong emotions and everyone seems a little disconnected. I wonder if some of the shallowness was because the book is so short. Even with the low page count there were wasted pages, such as Lovell’s pointless trip which turned out to be as uneventful as I expected.

The connections drawn between the marriage and Lovell’s subject of choice was not subtle at all. Their fifteen year old Janine is the WORST. The gay neighbors exist solely so that Janine can [spoiler]volunteer to be a surrogate[/spoiler]. I might have been able to brush it off as a devastated teenager trying to antagonize her emotionally distant father, but Lovell’s weird spinelessness when it came to his daughter made the whole situation seem ten times worse. I do think it would have been interesting to explore the kids perspectives about their mom and dad’s relationship. I thought it was interesting when Janine accuses her father of acting guilty, since the kids were perceptive and more aware than their parents assumed. At the end, Hannah [spoiler]seems resigned to her fate, so even her last scene is unemotional. She had so many chances![/spoiler]

If you are interested in domestic noir, you might like this book but I wouldn’t put it at the top of the list.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Read them and you hear echoes of one story inside another, then echoes of another inside that. So many have the same premise: once upon a time, there were three.

It is really best to start this book not knowing anything, not even reading the publisher’s summary. If you don’t like unreliable, amnesiac narrators, avoid.
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“They know that tragedy is not glamorous. They know it doesn’t play out in life as it does on a stage or between the pages of a book. It is neither a punishment meted out nor a lesson conferred. Its horrors are not attributable to one single person. Tragedy is ugly and tangled, stupid and confusing.”

The beautiful and privileged Sinclair family meets at their small private island every summer. The main house is inhabited by the patriarch of the family Harris Sinclair and there are three additional houses for the families of his adult daughters to stay. The rivalry is strong between the three sisters, as they fight for what they all believe is the inheritance they deserve. The sisters attempt to use their children to manipulate their father’s decisions and Harris Sinclair loves playing mind games with the sisters. The story follows “The Liars,” the teenaged children of the sisters, from the perspective of oldest granddaughter Cadence. There is a really helpful map and family tree in the beginning of the book to help keep everyone straight. Kindle ebooks tend to automatically skip to the first page of the story, so you might miss it if you don’t flip back!

The Liars have a strong bond (their bond felt a little superficial to me) and Cadence loves spending time with her two cousins and a family friend during these idyllic family gatherings on the island. But there is one summer that Cadence can’t remember and the entire family seems dedicated to keeping the truth from her. She gets flashes of memory, but she can’t quite piece it all together. What happened that summer and why is everyone acting so cagey? What are they hiding from her?

The setting completely sold me on the book. It takes place on a small private island off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. I feel a weird nostalgia for quaint little towns on the waterfront. I blame Cynthia Voigt and Dawson’s Creek. I want to ride a boat to The Fudge Shoppe and the bookstore and then come back to my private island to make homemade ice cream and read on the beach! Minus the rich people drama, of course. ‘Mo money, ‘mo problems.
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The atmosphere is really eerie and you can’t help but wonder what is up with these weirdo rich people and their cryptic dialogue. Superficially everything seems perfect, but there is something sinister just under the surface. While I get the title of the book in context with the story, I do wonder how that specific group of teenagers earned the name “The Liars.” They didn’t seem to have done anything particularly awful at the point they were named, except lazing around the island having mundane conversations.

Cadence has a flair for the dramatic:

“Then he [her father] pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of the rib cage and down into a flowerbed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound,
then from my eyes,
my ears,
my mouth.

She consistently describes her mental state metaphorically and it can be very jarring. We Were Liars is a very quick read, partially because there are long portions written in fragmented sentences, just like the above quote. I liked the fairy tales interspersed through the chapters. They served up most of the enlightenment, since Cadence was completely clueless.

Since Cadence has amnesia, a majority of the book is her trying to piece the summer of her 15th year together into a coherent story. It will drive you crazy that everyone knows what happened except Cadence and you. But when the answers finally start flowing: [spoiler]OH. MY. GOSH. My reaction was “WHAT? HOW? Oooooooh……..” I still wonder if the cousins were ghosts or hallucinations and I think the case could be made for either. I think hallucinations. The plan to reunite the family really was the stupidest, most unnecessarily complicated plan ever, even for being young, slightly drunk, and in an heightened emotional state. I wonder if Cadence’s actions were on purpose, consciously or subconsciously. I am leaning towards yes. Lockhart leaves that for you to decide.[/spoiler]

Sometimes I have a hard time reading young adult novels, because I get the cringey feeling like I’m reading one of my old journals. This one was riveting. I recommend it.

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

This was how it could be done. This was how you lived with a terrible secret. You just did it. You pretended everything was fine. You ignored the deep, cramplike pain in your stomach. You somehow anesthetized yourself so that nothing felt that bad, but nothing felt that good either. (Cecelia)

3.5+ Stars. Cecilia found a mysterious letter from her very-much-alive-husband in the attic, labeled to be opened in the event of his death. Tess’s husband has fallen in love with her cousin/best friend. Rachel is an elderly woman whose teenage daughter was murdered many years ago. The lives of these three very different women are destined to intersect, but how?

The husband’s secret is actually revealed pretty early on (halfway or before), so the book is more of a character study than a mystery. It deals with relationships between the characters and the fallout from the event that is being concealed. I am really glad that the secret was revealed early, because I didn’t know how much of Cecilia’s handwringing over the letter I could take! The story does lose some steam after the big reveal and it does get repetitive at points. I think these things didn’t bother me as much listening to the audiobook, as they would have by reading physical book.

“Her goodness had limits. She could have easily gone her whole life without knowing those limits, but now she knew exactly where they lay.” (Cecelia)

Liane Moriarty is a great storyteller. Everything that happens lays the groundwork for the final act. Even weird mentions like the Tupperware and the Berlin Wall have significance. Everything comes together perfectly and in an authentic way. This author really excels at writing inner monologues and complex characters who don’t necessarily react rationally when they are backed into a corner. Her characters are witty and self-aware. They think awful thoughts when they are hurt, but backpedal after some reflection. The characters’ emotions waver and vacillate. They do the best they can with what they have to work with. They make decisions and then immediately regret them. I don’t think I actually liked any of the characters’ decisions, but I understand why they made them. It is really easy to judge from a distance! How many people can say they act 100% rationally when it comes to their loved ones?

“Tragedy made you petty and spiteful. It didn’t give you any great knowledge or insight. She didn’t understand a damned thing about life except that it was arbitrary and cruel, and some people got away with murder while others made one tiny, careless mistake and paid a terrible price.” (Rachel)

The method got elicit by the nerve whim instigate via brain and genital area. viagra uk The sesame order cheap levitra oil can be used in dry skin conditions. CNBC – TV 18 has awarded Myntra as one of the hottest internet companies of the Year at the Mercedes – Benz CNBC – TV 18 Young Turks Awards. viagra soft tablets It consists of saponins as well as viagra 100mg from germany alkaloids. The epilogue: [spoiler]I did not think the epilogue absolved John-Paul of his crime. His actions set off an immediate chain of events that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I liked exploring the what-ifs at the end of the book. I like hypotheticals, which is probably why I am always paralyzed with indecision! The part that broke my heart the most was that if Rachel and her husband had just opened up to each other, they wouldn’t have had to carry their burdens alone.[/spoiler]

I did prefer this book to Big Little Lies. There are many similarities, but the focus on playground politics in Big Little Lies made me enjoy it a little less, although that one was much more fun on the mystery front! The audiobook narrator was absolutely perfect and she really was an asset to this book. The story really came alive through her vocal performance. The same narrator also did Big Little Lies and I think I probably would have enjoyed it more with her narration! The only bad thing about the audio is that it takes me longer to adjust to all of the perspective changes and flashbacks.

This book is about the explosive nature of secrets and all of the little coincidences, misunderstandings and decisions that make up a life. If you enjoy women’s fiction or you enjoy people watching, I think you will like this book! You might also want to check out Jojo Moyes.

“Perhaps nothing was ever “meant to be.” There was just life, and right now, and doing your best. Being a bit “bendy.” (Tess)

The Beautiful Bureaucrat

The description from the back: A young wife’s new job in an enigmatic organization pits her against the unfeeling machinations of the universe.

The Beautiful Bureaucrat is a weird and interesting little book with a strange cast of characters and eerie settings. Josephine and her husband begin mind-numbing database entry jobs that turn out to be anything but ordinary! I felt a sense of foreboding throughout the entire book, as if there was something ominous lurking behind the bare, stained walls. It was like traversing a surreal, Kafkaesque nightmare.

Still, the distance between four o’clock and five o’clock, between 148 files and 166 files, often felt interminable. Sometimes, in the depths of the afternoon, Josephine would have a thought–an intense, riveting thought, incongruous with her current task and location, something she ought to share with Joseph, a hint of a scene from a dream or a forgotten memory from when she was a kid, a complicated pun or a new conviction about how they ought to live their lives–then the moment would pass and the thought would be lost, trapped forever between the horizontal and vertical lines of the Database. She’d spend the rest of the workday mourning the loss, resenting the jail cell from which her thought would never escape.

I like how Josephine’s appearance deteriorates as the unfeeling gears of bureaucracy seem to grind at her soul. The antagonists aren’t your typical bad-to-the-bone villains, but are “just doing their job.” The chirpy lack of humanity is terrifying! It is only 177 pages and it reads like a fast-paced thriller, so it only took a few hours to read.
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Only he had stood on street corners beside her and their piled detritus. Only their two minds in the entire universe contained the same specific set of images: a particular pattern of shadow on the ceiling above a bed, a particular loop of highway ramp circled just as a song about a circle began to play on the radio. Tens of thousands of conversations and jokes. Without him she was just a lonely brain hurtling through space, laughing quietly to itself.

The frequent word plays got a little irritating to read, because they seemed so non-sensical and the sheer amount of them really broke the flow of the narrative. But I think the word games were a source of comfort to Josephine, as her world as she knew it seemed to be disintegrating. It also set up the “file” realization, but that was a little cheesy. I did expect [spoiler]a little bargaining at the end, which didn’t happen.[/spoiler]

I really liked this book, but I am sucker for stories where really weird things happen to extremely ordinary people with mundane, monotonous lives. I also have an affection for vague settings and odd characters that are only identified by a single characteristic or job title! If you liked this book or if even if you you just like the concept, you might want to try out Jose Saramago (All The Names especially and Death With Interruptions). Warning: He is stingy with periods! I also thought about these movies as I was reading: The Adjustment Bureau (based on a short story by Phillp K. Dick), Stranger than Fiction and Enemy (based of The Double by Saramago).

Those Girls

The first half of the book takes place during July 1997 and is narrated by Jess, the youngest sister. Halfway through the timeline jumps forward 18 years to 2015 and is told from the perspective of Skylar, with occasional chapters from Jess/Jamie. The writing is straightforward and easy to read.

There is a Lifetime movie quality to the story and the characters are flat, especially in the second half. Even so, the writing is engaging and I couldn’t put it down. I liked the strong bond between the sisters. The sisters are so different from each other and they each have different ways of dealing with their past trauma. Much of the drama happens in Cash Creek, a place that is so creepy that I immediately felt uneasy whenever reading about it.

It is used extensively in European, North African, and Asian cuisines as a seasoning and coloring agent. levitra in uk It is a symptomatic viagra canada sales treatment for erectile dysfunction. Male infertility: Sometimes http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/squirrel-with-a-flower-hat/ buy viagra In male, infertility is caused by genetic defects. It is, therefore, the most important for man to increase generic viagra cialis sexual stamina and performance whenever it is the question of lovemaking. The last 100 pages were so intense that my heart was actually pounding! I was a little unhappy with the end, because [spoiler]one character seems to die just so that the entire story can be wrapped up neatly in the last few pages. I don’t really like when stories are wrapped up that neatly and quickly, but it was nice to have a somewhat hopeful ending after reading about all the violence the sisters had to endure.[/spoiler] I am curious what the Luxton boys were up to during the time gap. [spoiler]Surely they didn’t stop with “those girls.” I thought there was going to be a town conspiracy and a many more dead bodies found at the end.[/spoiler]

Fast-paced, easy read. If you read dark. disturbing thrillers, you will probably like this book. This book will be released on July 7th 2015. Warning: There are disturbing, graphic scenes depicting abuse and sexual assault.