Under the Weather Reading

1.  The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. 

What an intense tale!  And what a narrator. It made for quite a few hours of positive spookiness while reading late at night.  Another hard-to-put-down book.   After reading about the crazy family in The Thin Man, I was pleased to become acquainted with another 'crazy' family in The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Of course, there's more to it than craziness (or is there?) and I found it wonderfully diverting while enduring this nasty cold.


The house, Hundreds Hall, is as much a character as any of the people.  And the post-war malaise that threatens the reality of the gentry is palpably rendered through its characterization.  The characters -- Mrs. Ayres, her children Roderick and Caroline, and the narrator, Dr. Faraday -- are wonderfully fleshed out. I just found myself sinking into the story.  It was completely absorbing, as all the best books should be. 


2.  The Free World by David Bezmozgis.  

I can't say I really enjoyed this novel.  Set in the 1970s, it's about a Jewish family from Latvia who are leaving the Soviet Union for (initially) America.  They end up in Rome while waiting for news about which country they'll be allowed to immigrate to.  There's a bit of violence, there's a bit of personal history for each of the characters, there's some sex. And that's about it, really.  Not my cup of tea.  The writing felt too heavy, perhaps .. . or, more likely, I didn't really see a point to the story. 


3.  Mr. Shakespeare's Bastard by Richard B. Wright.
  

I didn't find this novel by Wright to be as interesting as his Clara Callan (which I'd read and enjoyed several years ago), but it definitely wasn't boring. The historical novel, set in Cromwell's England, is told from the perspective of an old servant who wishes to write a record of her past, including the revelation that she is William Shakespeare's illegitimate daughter.  The strength of the story rests in the strength of the narrator as a character, and since Aerlene Ward is introduced to us right away as a distinctive voice, the novel generally pleases.  The most interesting part of the story occurs when we learn about Aerlene's time in London . . . when she gets to meet her father. Is it a profound or profoundly moving tale? Not really. But it held my interest.