Blue Suburbia, Laurie Lico Albanese (New York: HarperCollins, 2004)

Billed as “almost a memoir,” this is an autobiography written in free verse. She tells her story of a childhood with an abusive father, who himself was abused by his father, and a cold, distant, unhappy mother, whom I would imagine was clinically depressed. She escapes her hometown and gets herself to college, and then eventually into a good marriage and motherhood. Yet her past haunts her, and her fears of becoming like her mother and mistreating her children, combined with suffering from anxiety disorder, overwhelms her. Therapy helps, meds help, and she turns herself around yet again. As someone with anxiety disorder who finally sought help at age 37, those passages of the book speak to me in a very special way.

It is a real accomplishment of writing. Although spare, her writing is so effective that I feel that I know her better than others who have written their memoirs in prose, in long, winding prose.

Among the highlights for me are the following.

In “Minding My Own Business,” she writes about her husband being accepted into an MBA program and choosing to quit his job and go to school full-time. She is apprehensive about finances and such, noting that while her husband sees an opportunity,

“I see
the difference
between growing up
middle class
with the promise
of more to come

and growing up
in the shadow
of the jailhouse.” (95)

The jail was built in her town when she was young, and it was built near her school. An earlier poem tells of her father teaching her self-defense techniques so she would be prepared when an escaped convict attacked her, something her father felt was certain to happen. (And yes, I asked myself why she didn’t use some of these techniques on him.)

In “Working Again,” she has triumphantly become employed as a reporter for the local paper, what she calls the “manic fulfillment” of all she has been through (142). The poem closes with

“empowerment
comes from being a big fish
in a small pond

and I don’t mean
the kind that has to float on the bottom
during winter
to stay alive.” (143)

One of the last segments is titled “Ordinary” and it begins:

“Is it dull
to have an ordinary life
or is it glorious?

I think it depends on the day
and what you think is ordinary

and how true
is your love.” (193)

It’s stunning work, and one of the most affecting things I’ve read in years.

Jane Smiley, The Age of Grief

A wonderful collection of five short stories and a novella. The novella, which is titled "The Age of Grief," is the work that the movie "The Secret Lives of Dentists" was based on. I didn’t think of it at the time I read the back cover and bought the book (this was in early March when we were in Portland and Powell’s was having a 30% off sale on all Smiley’s works for some reason). That movie was damned depressing, and its original material was too, no surprise, but as is so often the case, I liked the novella much, much better, again no surprise.

The stories were originally written during 1977 to 1987. In “The Pleasure of Her Company,” a woman befriends her new neighbors and becomes very involved in their daily routines. She envies their marriage and seeks to emulate their life, and is quite surprised when the couple breaks up. Later, she learns that the whole period of their friendship as a threesome took place during the worst of the couple’s troubles and that she was a buffer for them. In “Lily,” a married couple at war with one another visit an old friend for the weekend. It’s a wonderful portrait of dysfunction. A dysfunctional family also underpins “Long Distance,” which features a man visiting his brothers and their families for Christmas. He had planned to take along his Japanese girlfriend, but at the last minute she does not come to the US to be with him. “Dynamite” is the story of a woman trying to escape her past, and you’ll have to believe me that “Jeffrey, Believe Me” is an extremely weird tale, and the weakest item in the collection for me.

I have enjoyed everything I’ve ever read of Smiley’s, but especially the academic satire Moo and the suspenseful Duplicate Keys. This collection is now among my favorites of her works.

Elisabeth Hyde, The Abortionist's Daughter

This novel is a suspenseful page-turner that makes you think. Told mostly through the lens of Megan, the daughter of a doctor and a lawyer, the story begins on the night her mother is found dead, and intricately weaves the backstory with the progression of the investigation. Hyde does a solid murder mystery, complete with well-developed police detective characters, but goes beyond typical genre fare with a realistic portrayal of attitudes about reproductive health, a more-than-you-want-to-know treatise on sex and drug use among minors, the long effects of infidelity, and the unexpected results of political opposites joining forces. Highly recommended.

March reads + SJ Rozan's In This Rain

Carol O'Connell, Winter House
Next to latest in the Mallory series; am still on the hold list for Find Me. Am sorry to be caught up with this series. They just get better and better. This one was in some ways the saddest one yet, as the truth about what happened to the young girl and how she spent her life is shown to have been unnecessary.

Deborah Crombie, Water Like a Stone
Latest in the Kincaid/James series, another excellent one. Murder finds them during the Christmas holidays while they are visiting Kincaid's family.

Linda Fairstein, Bad Blood
Lots of plots in this one, took awhile to pull together, but lots of interesting NY history again.

Karen Harper, The Poyson Garden
First in the Elizabeth series. This one takes place before she becomes queen, as her sister Mary is ill and dying. Elizabeth uncovers a plot against her and solves the mystery. OK, but not great.

Michael Connelly, The Overlook
New Bosch - coming out soon. I reviewed this for Library Journal. It's another great one in the series.

Slow month, but four out of five were excellent. April is off to a slow but also excellent start: just finished SJ Rozan's In This Rain this morning. It gets off to a slow start, almost too much detail about the housing and construction business and bureaucracy in Manhattan, but then it takes off and does not let go. And the heroine Ann Montgomery wears "my" perfume (Hanae Mori) :-) Rozan is one of the strongest writers we have, and this one really shows her range and her exquisite knowledge and understanding of the city.