Review: The Lost Daughter

The Lost Daughter

By Lucy Ferriss

Berkley Books 2012

380 pages

From my shelves

Brooke O'Connor made a terrible decision as a teenager. But that was a long time ago. Now she has a good life, as a beloved wife and mother. Their family seems happy and secure, so her husband Sean is puzzled at her adamant refusal to consider having a second child. When Brooke's high school boyfriend resurfaces, Sean can't help but wonder what secrets they share. Is Brooke still pining for her first love or is the past finally catching up to Brooke and Alex? 

This was one of those books that was firmly in the middle for me. I was interested in what was going to happen, but I wasn't in love with the characters and I wasn't desperate to read just a few more pages. I picked up this book largely because of Wally Lamb's glowing praise on the front cover. As you know, he is one of my favorite authors, so if something was a win for Mr. Lamb, I thought it would be a great choice for me. I can see a lot of similarities between the writing of Lamb and Ferriss. Both writers write dark stories about the damage of secrets among family and the need for people to make the right choices both for themselves and for the people they love. 

However, I would consistently rate Lamb's characters above the characters here. None of these characters seem to have the ability to talk to each other. They are all going through a lot but instead of discussing it with anyone, they all carry their secrets around for a long, long time. It starts to get obnoxious when you realize that all of the issues could be resolved if people just opened their mouths!

The story is largely predictable. I had deduced what was going on long before Alex or Brooke did. While this is not always a bad thing in a book, in this case it seemed like some serious stupidity (at least on Alex's part) that they didn't figure things out before they did. There are also some points where the details of the plot don't make sense. Things happen in this book in ways that I can't imagine they could ever happen in real life.

Unfortunately, this book is one of those that is interesting enough to keep reading but not engaging enough to stay in your mind after you have finished it. 

It's Monday, so we talk about books

Hey everyone. How was your week? It feels like it has been a long few days, doesn't it?

I was supposed to go visit a friend this weekend, but she came down with the flu so we had to postpone. Boo. I did enjoy some quiet time in the house and a date night with the husband, since David went to Grandma and Grandpa's house this weekend.

On to the books!

Read This Week:

White Teeth
By Zadie Smith


One Good Turn
By Kate Atkinson

Posts from This Week:
It's Monday
A Book and an Announcement
Wednesdays with David: Book Series for Kids
Reviews of The Year of Miracles and A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Reading Now:

Year of Wonders
By Geraldine Brooks

Up Next:

The Magician King
By Lev Grossman

What did you read this week?

Review: A Year of Biblical Womanhood

A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master"

By Rachel Held Evans

Thomas Nelson 2012

310 pages

From my shelves

Rachel Held Evans is a blogger and writer who focuses on Christianity and the church. As a child and an adult, she received a lot of mixed messages about what it meant to be a Christian woman. Evans decided that she would take one year to focus on the women of the Bible and exactly what the Scriptures say about women. Rachel sleeps in a tent in her backyard during her period, learns to cook, and researches if the Bible truly instructs her to be silent in church and submit to her husband.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I follow Rachel's blog. I think she asks a lot of really important questions about church culture in the US and she does it in a way that invites dialogue instead of division. As both a pastor's kid and a pastor's wife, I am obviously invested in and interested by the church in both its strengths and its weaknesses.

In this book, Evans is very respectful about the spectrum of traditions that are encompassed by women in the contemporary church and those of the women in the Bible. She makes the effort to read books by, visit, and speak with women of a multitude of beliefs - a conservative Jew, a polygamist, a Quaker congregation, and Mennonite and Amish women. She also does some really beautiful work in giving the women of the Bible a true voice. Common biases and misconceptions about well-known women such as Eve and Mary Magdalene are noted and forgotten names like Junia and Tabitha are brought back into the light.

While I found this book interesting, I think it fell flat for me for two reasons. The first, which I realize is rather my fault, is that I've read many of her thoughts on these issues before. When Rachel argues that Proverbs 31 is completely misunderstood because we view it as a to-do list instead of one husband's praise of his wife, I had already read it on her blog and agreed with her wholeheartedly. So I found myself skimming in places to get to some new ground.

The second issue for me was that this book is constructed almost in a series of vignettes. Each month, Rachel takes on a certain characteristic such as modesty or domesticity. The chapter then details some of the specific things she did in an attempt to cultivate that skill or characteristic. Rachel is incredibly candid about her experiences and the effect that this experiment had on her, her husband, and her relationships. But the book lacks a solid conclusion or real cohesion between the chapters.

Basically, I think this is a good book to start with if you are scratching your head about a church in the 21st century that says that women shouldn't speak during services or that they should submit to their husbands. Evans manages to take a serious look at some big issues while maintaining a disarming, and often humorous, demeanor. A Year of Biblical Womanhood is a great jumping off point for researching exactly what the Bible says about half of its readers. 

Review: The Age of Miracles

The Age of Miracles

By Karen Thompson Walker

Random House 2012

269 pages

From the library

Would you hop over to the Atlantic Highlands Herald and check out my thoughts on The Age of Miracles? Have you read this book? What did you think? 

Wednesdays with David: Book Series for Kids

David has been really big on reading through series lately. We are currently reading the 12th Magic Treehouse novel and the 4th Boxcar Children book. We've also enjoyed one Ramona book, some Junie B. Jones, and all of the Mrs. Piggle Wiggles.

So, we have to ask: what are your favorite series to read with your kids?


                       

A book and an announcement..

So I wanted to let you know about this book I've been reading lately...

We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting a new little reader in early May! Sometimes I've been reading, but sometimes a mama has to take a nap!

It's Monday - Did you read any good books this week?

My reading powers seem to have slowed down a bit post holidays. I only finished one book this week. I think there are some good reasons, though. Come back and visit tomorrow and I will tell you all about it!

If you use social media as a part of your book blogging, would you hop over to this post and let me know what you think about using Twitter or Facebook? I am considering starting one or both in this new year and I would love to hear about your experiences. Thanks in advance.

Read This Week:

Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2)
By Jasper Fforde

Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Some Questions
2012: A Retrospect in Books
Review of The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag

Reading Now:

White Teeth
By Zadie Smith

Up Next:

One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie #2)
By Kate Atkinson

What are you reading this week?