Lena Dunham
I listened to the audio version of this book (read by the author). Lena Dunham is smart and talented and I like her TV show "Girls" - which is bold and clever.
That said, there were parts of the book I liked and parts I didn't. For me Dunham describes too many sexual exploits that don't provide enlightenment about anything. She seems to be a free spirit in this realm but I don't need the details - and too many of her sexual interactions go badly and provide pictures I don't need in my head.
More interesting were the descriptions of Dunham's demons. She was a troubled child, fearful of everything.
Young Lena Dunham
She disliked sleeping alone from childhood on - which eventually led to numerous sleeping companions, platonic and otherwise. Dunham was obsessed with death and felt compelled to spread the fear to everyone.
She was disorganized, hid half-finished homework under her bed, and couldn't make friends.
Her parents - a loving, caring couple - took her to analysts as needed and Dunham's closest relationship as a child/young adult was apparently with a professional who helped her complete assignments and cope with her life.
In the fifth grade Dunham's problems relating to peers led to a close relationship with her male teacher - a "friendship" that got too close and became slightly inappropriate. Dunham's irate mother descended on the school to straighten out the situation.
Dunham more or less ends the teacher story there (too bad, because I was curious to know more).
At one point Dunham had insufficiently safe sex with a bisexual guy who proceeded to tell her he'd recently slept with an AIDS patient. Being a hypochondriac anyway Dunham proceeded to live her life as an "AIDS victim" for months, until she got a clean bill of health.
She also describes a few anxiety-filled summers at sleepaway camps, where her biggest (maybe only) triumph was diving off a cliff with the help of a counselor.
There are plenty more such stories in the book.
Interspersed with the essay portions of the book are semi-humorous 'lists' of various kinds such as: things Dunham learned from her mother; things she learned from her father; e-mails she'd write if she had the nerve; things she was afraid of; etc.
Through all the stress and anxiety and crises however, Dunham seems to have recognized her gifts and talents. After a couple of mundane jobs performed poorly she learned to strive for and achieve success.
Even this wasn't all good however. Dunham provides a disheartening description of "Hollywood Men" that glom onto successful women to enhance themselves.
I imagine Dunham will have plenty more to say about her life in the future, which might be interesting to read about. I'm be looking out for another memoir.
Rating: 3 stars
The book's narrator is 42-year-old Eddie (Ed) Adams, an unmarried English teacher who still lives in his childhood home in the English village of Anderbury.
Lonely and longing for company, Ed has taken in a lodger - a pretty, twentysomething called Chloe who works at an alternative clothing shop in Boscombe.
As the story opens Ed is anxiously expecting a visit from his childhood friend, Metal Mickey, whom he hasn't seen in decades. Whatever Metal Mickey wants.....it can't be good.
The story alternates back and forth between events that occurred thirty years ago, in 1986 and what's happening now, in 2016.
*****
During the summer of 1986, twelve-year-old Eddie Adams had a little gang of friends that would meet to ride their bikes, visit each other's houses, go to the playground, traipse through the woods, and so on. The group included Eddie, Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo......
.....and a girl called Nicky.
As the novel unfolds, we learn about each of these characters - their quirks, personalities, and home lives.
When the fair came to town that summer Eddie and his pals met on a Saturday, to attend the big event. That was the day 'everything stopped being normal.' Eddie - searching the fairgrounds for his lost wallet.....
..... happened to be nearby when the Waltzer ride snapped and threw a carriage.
The flying metal sheared half the face off a pretty teenage girl, and almost severed her leg. Pressed into service by Mr. Halloran - a new teacher in town - Eddie helped save the girl's leg.....and life.
From that moment on Eddie thought of the mutilated teen as 'Waltzer girl', and had a lasting bond with Mr. Halloran.
When Eddie was chatting with Mr. Halloran one day, the teacher - who liked to draw with pastels - described a game he played as a youth. He and his friends made up a secret code using 'chalk men', which they employed to leave covert messages for each other - like 'meet me at the park.' Eddie and his friends thought this was a nifty idea, and invented chalk men symbols to communicate with one another. Each kid had his/her own color, to identify the message writer.
This was all good fun until the day chalk men drawn in white, which was nobody's color, led the boys to the woods. There they found the body of a dead girl, dismembered and scattered around.
An Anderbury resident was blamed for the crime, but Eddie had doubts about the person's guilt.
Skip ahead to 2016, and Metal Mickey - during his visit with Ed - says he's writing a book about the girl's murder and wants Ed to help.
When Ed seems reluctant, Metal Mickey throws in the clincher - he claims to know 'who really killed the girl.'
That's the backbone of the novel, but only part of the story, since there was (and is) a lot going on in Anderbury.
In 1986, for example, drama in Anderbury included: child abuse; bullying;
an accidental drowning;
anti-abortion protests; an unwanted pregnancy; a man being beaten senseless; a pet tragedy; inappropriate romances; a suicide; and Eddie talking to ghosts.
During that year Metal Mickey distanced himself from the gang and - later on - a car accident made the estrangement permanent.
In 2016 things are pretty quiet in Ed's life, though he drinks and smokes too much.
Ed's sedate existence changes, however, when he and his friends receive envelopes containing a stick of chalk and a chalk man drawing.
These mailings are followed by Metal Mickey's visit - which leads to another death.
By the end of the book, all the story's mysteries are resolved (well.....maybe not the ghosts), and Waltzer girl's story comes full circle.
The characters in the book are three-dimensional and interesting, and the story is well-crafted and engaging. There are clever surprises that aren't over-the-top, which I appreciate. (Hyperbolic revelations at the climax of thrillers seem to be very popular lately).
All in all, this is an enjoyable psychological thriller that I'd recommend to fans of the genre.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Charlie and Sarah, two teens saddened by the loss of supportive parents and unhappy in their homes.....
.......anonymously develop a website called "Take One With You" (Towy).
Towy encourages people who are going to kill themselves anyway to first kill a criminal or dreg of society who has evaded conviction (e.g. rapist, murderer, pedophile, etc.).
Charlie and Sarah go so far as to publish the names of candidates to be taken out. The idea catches on and pretty soon a rash of people all over the world are 'taking one with them'.
Unfortunately for Sarah and Charlie the Towy idea soon expands out of control and people start taking out more than 'deserving' criminals,' but the teens are powerless to stop the monster they've created.
Before long a police task force is assembled to track down the creators of the website, including Detective Thane Parks and Officer Anita Hellstrom.
In the course of the story the teens develop romantic feelings for each other as do the two cops. I thought it was unrealistic that married Officer Hellstrom would quickly fall for loutish, chauvinistic, unlikable Detective Parks who seems to view all women as sex objects - so this romance fell flat for me.
Oak Anderson does a nice job interspersing his narrative with news reports, scripts from television interviews, government records, and so on - which adds interest to the story. The author provides thumbnail sketches of 'bad guys' who deserve to die and 'good guys' who take them out which helps us understand why a website like Towy would catch on.
Overall I enjoyed the book and would probably read more from this author.
Rating: 3 stars
In this science fiction book Earth is at war with the "Buggers" an insect-like alien species that has attacked Earth several times.
Ender
Wiggins is a brilliant six-year-old boy with a sadistic older brother
Peter, a loving sister Valentine, and parents embarrassed to have three
children in a society where two is the norm.
Ender
is given the opportunity to attend Battle Academy, a space-based school
where children are groomed to be military officers in the war against
the Buggers. Though Academy students must leave Earth and their families
for many years Ender decides to go. The commanders of the Academy
believe Ender might be "the one" who can defeat the Buggers, and
purposely make his training very difficult.
Even
when Ender is the target of jealous bullies he is left to handle his
problems by himself in the hopes of shaping Ender into a superior
self-reliant officer.
Most of the book describes Ender's training at Battle Academy where combat strategies in zero gravity are learned.
Ender
is a good student and even helps train his friends, all of which leads
to a strong militia. Any more description would contain spoilers so I'll
just say the story has some interesting characters and a few surprises.
For me the repetitive scenes of battle training got a bit old but I think a lot of people would like this book.
Rating: 3 stars
In this 25th book in the 'Kinsey Milhone' series, the private investigator looks into the ramifications of a school cheating scandal. The book can be read as a standalone, but knowing the characters is beneficial.
*****
Private detective Kinsey Milhone is hired to deal with blackmail stemming from turmoil at Climping Academy - an expensive prep school in Santa Teresa, California.
Ten years ago, in 1979, a Climping freshman named Iris Lehmann stole a standardized test to help some upper class friends.
The theft had serious ramifications, and eventually led to the shooting death of Sloan Stevens - the girl accused of ratting out the miscreants.
Four juniors were implicated in Sloan's death: Bayard Montgomery, Troy Rademaker, Fritz McCabe, and ringleader Austin Brown.
When the cops identified the perpetrators, Austin fled town and disappeared; Bayard made a deal for his testimony; Troy went to jail for five years; and Fritz (the actual shooter) was incarcerated by the California Youth Authority (CYA) until he was 25-years-old.
Skip to 1989, and Fritz has just been released from the CYA.
He has a new problem however. In high school, Fritz and Troy made a sex tape showing them brutally assaulting 14-year-old Iris Lehman, who was drunk and incapacitated. Now a copy of the disturbing tape has been sent to Fritz's wealthy parents, with a demand for $25,000.....or the tape goes to the cops.
Fritz is terrified of going back to prison and his parents, Lauren and Hollis McCabe, know it's a mistake to open their wallets to a blackmailer. Thus, the McCabes hire Kinsey to find out who sent the tape, with an eye to halting the extortion. Lauren says that Sloan stole the tape from Fritz's room shortly before she was killed, and hid it somewhere. It's clear that someone's now found the tape, and plans to use it to make some money. This sets up the premise of the story.
The book alternates back and forth between two timelines: 1979 - where we see the events that led to Sloan's death; and 1989 - where Kinsey searches for the blackmailer. To suss out the extortionist, Kinsey interviews Sloan's friends and family, and the people who saw her on the day she died - including Bayard, Iris, Fritz, Troy, and others.
Each of the students tells essentially the same story, which gets repetitious and boring.
Meanwhile, Kinsey has an additional problem (which harks back to a previous book in the series). The PI is in the sights of a serial killer named Ned Lowe, who thinks Kinsey can lead him the 'souvenirs' he took from his teenage victims - evidence that could send him to prison for life.
Thus Kinsey has to watch her back every second, in case Ned launches an attack.
In addition to all this, a number of secondary characters make an appearance. Some are series regulars, including: Kinsey's landlord Henry Pitts - an 89-year-old retired baker who makes delicious treats;
Henry's older brother William - a confirmed hypochondriac;
William's wife Rosie - a restaurant owner who serves original (and odd) Hungarian recipes and cheap wine;
Kinsey's cousin Anna - who recently moved to town; Kinsey's cop friends Cheney Phillips and Jonah Robb; and more.
Many things happen in the course of the story: Kinsey enrolls in self-defense classes; Henry takes in two homeless people, Pearl and Lucky....and Lucky's gigantic dog Killer; Rosie has a big birthday party; Henry's cat Ed disappears; a pregnancy is revealed; there's drama between Jonah and his wife; etc. There's just TOO MUCH going on.
Moreover, the author describes each scene - including minor ones that don't move the story along - in extended, excruciating detail. Thus the book is at least one-third longer than necessary (IMO).
In addition, it seems like Grafton - instead of her usual straightforward storytelling - uses every plot device seen in recent thrillers. Thus, the book feels over-written and cluttered.
By the finale, all the story's issues are resolved, but with a sputter rather than a blast.....just not very exciting.
For me, this is one of the least successful Kinsey Milhone books.
If you're a Kinsey Milhone fan, you should probably read this book. If you're not familiar with the series, don't start here.....it might put you off the others.
Respectfully submitted: Barbara Saffer (LOL)
Rating: 3 stars
