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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Review of Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

All Chip Linton wants when he moves to Bethel, New Hampshire is a little peace and quiet for his family. He has already survived the unthinkable, a plane crash. Since he was the pilot, he blames himself for not being able to pull off a "Miracle on the Hudson" type maneuver.

Tragically, Linton is not able to pull off the same type of miracle and 39 of the flight's passengers die. In therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, Chip vows never to fly again.

Emily, Chip's wife, decides the family needs to move away from Philadelphia but she has a difficult time adjusting to the Victorian house. She's grateful for the anonymity; she was tired of fielding questions about the crash.

On the other hand, she finds the house's history creepy. The former inhabitant's twelve-year-old son is rumored to have killed himself in the house. The house's internal structure is strange: each of the three floors is a little narrower than the preceding one, the wallpaper is hideous, and the basement has a bolted door that seemingly leads nowhere.

In addition, why are there so many greenhouses in Bethel? Every house, including the one Chip and Emily have just bought, seem to have one. Why does everyone in the town seem overly interested in the Linton twins.
Bohjalian's narrative most freely back and forth among all the characters but it is actually the twins' impressions which stand out. Despite their father's fragility and nightmares, the twins are face even greater dangers.

This is marvelous, well-researched novel by one of America's best writers. Chris Bohjalian writes that he spoke to countless pilots to get the details right.

The epilogue, however, made me sad. While I didn't expect Chip to become an all-American hero  that Sully Sullenberger was, I thought he could at least save his family from the herbalists. The ending is disturbing, albeit thought-provoking.

If you're reading this for a book club, you may want to discuss what you would do differently if you were Chip or Emily Linton.

Other books by Chris Bohjalian:
Before You Know Kindness
Buffalo Soldier
Double Bind
Idyll Banter
Law of Similars
Midwives
Secrets of Eden
Skeletons at the Feast
Sandcastle Girls
Trans-Sister Radio
Water Witches

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Karen Thompson Walker imagines a new kind of ecological disaster in Age of Miracles. Instead of earthquakes, a group of Californians--and the rest of the world--are noticing that days are getting longer. The earth is slowing resulting in famine, gravity sickness, disruption of the magnetic fields, and radiation poisoning.

Amidst the disaster, Walker portrays the ordinary travails and triumphs of a twelve-year-old girl, Julia. Julia has noticed that the calamity has also affected relationships with her friends and family. Once popular, she is now the odd girl out who desperately wants to be noticed by the cool boy on the bus, Seth Moreno.

As the days and nights grow longer, everything is thrown into chaos. The children have later and later school start times. Some go off the clock and live in "real time" communities.

This novel definitely made me appreciate the smaller things in life. At one point, Julia and Seth collect the last few blades of grass in the neighborhood. Sunlight, birds, fresh fruit are small "miracles" that are only noticed when they disappear.

This startling debut that raises many questions will interest both adults and teenagers.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Something Magic This Way Comes ed. Martin Greenberg

Something Magic This Way Comes ed. Martin H. Greenberg.


All of the short stories in this collection have the central theme of magic. Some are haunting, "Still Life, with Cats" (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) and "Houdini's Mirror"(Russell Davis) while others verge on the comical with feminist overtones, "Angel in the Cabbages," (Fran LaPlace).

While the magic isn't new (fairies or parallel universes), the circumstances are contemporary. In the best stories the main characters use magic as a transformative force. A jaded war correspondent gains a new perspective when he has a brush with magic in "Still Life, With Cats." An older man with dementia finds a way to convene with his dead wife in "Houdini's Mirror."

In "Winds of Change," (Linda A.B. Davis) a young girl, whose body has been ravaged by disease, saves the town by exhibiting a rare talent--the power to call the wind. In the short story, "In a DarkWood, Dreaming" (Esther Friesner), a boy saves his brother from gangs by calling upon a hunter god, Oxossi. Unfortunately, the hunter god requires "one life for another life."

In "Something Virtual This Way Comes" (Laura Resnick) a woman, who is frustrated by the gremlins in her computer is suprised to learn they can speak to her.

Less successful offerings are "Tears of Gold"(Paul Crilley), "Star Cats"(Charles Edgar Quinn), and "The Thing in the Woods" (Harry Turtledove).


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