Category Archives: Challenges

Book Review of James Gordon Bennett’s My Father’s Geisha

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My Father's Geisha

I picked a secondhand copy of James Gordon Bennett’s novel, My Father’s Geisha up at Goodwill for $0.70.

Description from back of book:
Teddy’s on his way to an ulcer before he’s old enough for a driver’s license. His silver-screened sister Cora is convinced that “Army families are all alike, which is why they have to keep us moving.” And move their family does, following first the blue then the red line in the road atlas to their next assignment. When every parental confrontation seems to end in stony silence, Cora predicts a permanent separation (“I’ve seen the movie”). Teddy wishes his heart could be freeze-dried then thawed back to life, so that from that moment on, everything and everyone might be absolutely new…

[I might also point out that, interestingly, almost every sentence of that description is somewhere in the book.]

Review:
I can’t honestly say I liked it. But I can’t say there was anything intrinsically wrong with it either. I much preferred the first half of the book, when the main character and his sister were still children. I liked that the narrative addressed very adult issues (life in the military, a crumbling marriage, etc) from the hazy perspective of youth. I found the last half, their adulthood, disappointing though. I’m afraid I lost sight of the moral of the story at that point.

I realise that part of the running theme of the book was the family’s inability to communicate, but I felt really cheated by never getting to see the father called out for being an insensitive ass. The happy ending felt brittle. In the sense that it was only happy for some and only possible because the mother was finally dead. It almost made her feel like the bad guy for hindering that very eventuality. But come on, she wasn’t the ever absent philander! Did the father and his mistress really deserve a happy ending at everyone else’s expense? Was the fact that the heavy price the family paid for it was years past suddenly make it OK? I didn’t think so, at least not without having to concede some sort of apology. Yes, real life is messy and maybe that makes this book more gritty and real, but I found it a most unsatisfying read. I wanted to see the father forced to face the consequences of his own decisions and the children finally given a little consideration. I never got it and I finished the book a bit disgusted with the lot of them.

I did find the writing excellent (though the passage of time was often unclear) and I enjoyed some aspects of the characters. For example, the fact that Cora was so often patronised and ignored, but was also almost always right. Chapter 2, Brats, was by far the best of the book IMO. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading the book and I’m not disappointed to have read it myself. Can’t say I enjoyed the last half all that much though.

Review of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers (Vol. 1)

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Soul Screamers

About a year ago, I won a copy of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers (Volume One) from BooksandBlossoms.com.

Description from Goodreads:

My Soul to Lose
Kaylee is just your average girl shopping at the mall with friends—until a terrified scream bursts from her that cannot be stopped. Taken to a hospital ward, will she be able to save her mind—and her life?

My Soul to Take
She’s always felt different, but now Kaylee discovers why. The screams that cannot be denied mean that someone near her will die—and she can never save them. Because saving one life means taking another….

My Soul to Save
Going on dates with her boyfriend is still new to Kaylee. But when the singer of the band they’re seeing dies onstage and Kaylee doesn’t scream, she knows something crazy is going on. Soon she discovers souls can indeed be sold….

I’ll round up to 4 stars. I gave the prequel a 3 because it was well written and interesting, but almost nothing on it’s own. I gave the first book a 4. I enjoyed it. But dropped a star form book 2 because there was so much recap and info-dumping. It’s probably easiest to just post the three reviews.

Reviews:
I don’t usually cite star ratings on this blog as I think they often muddle the review. It’s too easy to just glance at the number and gloss over the written review. But for this omnibus, I think it’ll be easier if I reference them.

I’ll round up to 4 stars for the volume as a whole. I gave the prequel a three because it was well-written and interesting, but almost nothing on its own. I gave the first book a 4. I enjoyed it. But dropped a star from book two because there was so much recap and info-dumping. Here are my thoughts on the individual works. 

My Soul to Lose
An interesting start to the series. My interest is piqued, and I’m curious to see how it progresses, but on its own, it feels incomplete. Nothing is resolved. More questions are presented than answers provided. In fact, almost nothing is concluded. I’d call it a prologue to something else, as opposed to a book (or even a story) on its own. [Plus, having finished books one and two, now I can officially say that nothing in it is touched on again. The girl who helps Kaylee never shows up again. That feels like a missed opportunity right there.]

My Soul to Take
I liked it alright. Kaylee was a good, strong heroine. Nash was wonderfully supportive. There were a few good twists. I generally liked most of the characters and it was well written.

The book did have a few irritants, though. For one, Kaylee was nowhere near angry enough with her family for lying to her her whole life. Nowhere near angry enough! I felt cheated by her lack of venom. Plus, I still don’t understand why they did it. I understand why her father sent her to live with his brother, but why wasn’t she told about her heritage? That was never addressed. For another, Nash seemed to have fallen instantly in love with Kaylee. I generally hate insta-love, but that wasn’t what this felt like. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’ll be vague. But, other than their parents, they were the only two of what they were, and it felt very much like this was the basis of his infatuation.

Yet another irritant was the fact that even amidst all the new, mind-boggling information Kaylee was assimilating, we are somehow supposed to believe that she alone noticed the mystery in need of solving. Then, despite the fact that her theory was practically based on fairy dust (i.e., nothing substantial), she was right. I thought the very fact that she knew something was wrong felt almost miraculous.

Lastly, there seemed to be a little bit of a plot hole between the fact that those who claimed the souls of the departed were doing a job they were recruited for, while Kaylee and Nash had a natural-born skill. These two tasks seem to be connected, flip sides of a coin almost. So how is one something you are born to do and the next something you are essentially hired to do? It seems to me that both would either have been natural or not, but how can they be so closely related if they haven’t evolved together?

All-in-all, I enjoyed the read. I have the next in the series, My Soul to Save, and I’ll be reading it next.

My Soul to Save
I’m still enjoying this series. Kaylee is still a wonderfully strong heroine who depends on her boyfriend a lot but isn’t dependent on him. (If that makes any sense.) I like that. I also really like Tod. He’s an interesting character who often brings about thought-provoking moral quandaries. I like that, too, and the fact that Kaylee (who is usually the decision-maker) doesn’t always do the ‘right’ thing. It makes for an interesting read. I also just plain like the narrative style. Plus, the unmistakable similarities between the evil empire (Dekker Inc.) and Disney were golden. Golden I say!

Like the first book, however, there are a few aspects of the story that leave me scratching my head. Again Kaylee managed to take some small snippet of information, almost nothing really, and weave a theory around it. Then, miraculously succeed with it. This time, based on one overheard sentence, she needed to find one demon of a specific sort, of which there could be many. The first ‘person’ she asks is able to tell her where he is; he’s the right one; they find him immediately and are able just to walk right in and see him. Not to suggest that there were no difficulties, but it all seemed to go a little too easily.

Then there is the basic question of why exactly Kaylee feels like she and she alone has to save everyone. It never seems to occur to her to ask for help. I also had a little trouble grasping the whole drama around being grounded. I probably would have been able to relate to this if I was younger; I admit. But it seemed to me (and Tod, apparently) that normal teen drama issues would just get blown off in the face of saving souls and all. On a similar note, she seems to accept her father’s reappearance and overzealous parenting with ease. Her internal thoughts were often appropriately acerbic, but she never vocalized them. Maybe I’m just mean, but I think after 13 years he deserved a little guilt. I kept waiting for her to lay into him finally and she had plenty of opportunity. But she never did.

My main complaint about this particular book, however, was that the first half was really cluttered with info-dumps and recaps of book one. For a little while, it felt like every paragraph had some sort of catch-up clause in it, and it really broke up the narrative. I got pretty frustrated with it after a while.

The bottom line, though, is that I basically enjoyed it. If I come across book three at some point, I’d be more than happy to give it a read.

A Bullet for Carlos

Book Review of Giacomo Giammatteo’s A Bullet for Carlos

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A Bullet for CarlosAfter reviewing Giacomo Giammatteo‘s Murder Has Consequences last week, I was brazen enough to ask him if he would send me A Bullet for Carlos. OK, maybe I passive aggressively suggested that if he was interested in a review he might pass a copy along, which isn’t quite the same thing but had much the same results.  He was kind enough to comply without even calling me out on my bad form. Thanks for that Jim.

Description from Goodreads:
Detective Connie Giannelli’s life has been torn apart several times. First when her mother died and then years later when she found out her Uncle Dominic was in the mob. Her life is about to be shredded again, and this time it could destroy her. 

Connie’s love of family and her badge are both threatened when an undercover drug bust leaves two cops dead and the drugs missing. Internal Affairs is looking for any excuse to take her badge, but she’s not worried about them finding the missing drugs—her secrets could prove to be far worse. 

Now Connie’s racing against the clock to figure out who killed her partners and took the drugs—dirty cops or Uncle Dominic’s friends. And she has to do it before IA pins the whole damn thing on her.

Review:
At this point I’m beginning to think that I aught to just preemptively mark any book by Giacomo Giammatteo as a five star, ’cause I’m just gonna love it. A Bullet for Carlos was no exception. Mr. Giammatteo somehow makes bad, bad men lovable. I adored Dominic, even though he was unquestionably dangerous and maybe even evil. Though I kind of think the things that made me love him also redeem him a little bit, as well as made me wonder if deeper exploration of other such evil characters (like Carlos) might reveal small redemptive qualities too. It definitely leads a reader to consider whether anyone can really be wholly evil, no matter how bad they appear on the surface or to an outsider. This same theme is further explored when good cops are left having to decide if or when they’ll choose to ‘cross the line’ for the greater good.

This is much more of a police drama than a mafia mystery, but I was THRILLED when Donovan and Mazzetti showed up as side characters. This was the first book by Giammatteo I’ve read that wasn’t part of the Friendship & Honor series and I was really afraid I’d miss Nicky and Frankie enough to sour my experience of reading it. No such thing. Connie and Tip were great characters on their own. If I HAD to choose I’d still take Nicky/Frankie, but I don’t have to choose so I’m free to enjoy both in future books. And I plan to.

I also rather enjoyed the cultural differences between New York and Texas. No big deal was made of this, but the small regional quirks were apparent. Different catch phrases, politeness levels, etc. It is yet one more testament of Giammatteo’s talent that he can take such small matters and somehow invest them with so much meaning, having a large impact on the feel of the book. It’s enviable really. My only complaint, beyond the fact I have to wait for more books, is one I’ve mentioned before and is JUST a personal preference. The main protagonist was a rapist and there were a few ‘tasteful’ rape scenes. By which I just mean they weren’t gratuitous or titillating in any fashion. They furthered the plot and weren’t overly uncomfortable, but they were there. I look forward to the continuation of this series. Definitely worth a read.