The Underside of Joy by Sere' Prince Halverson

A great read, a story well written and well told. A difficult subject, tricky at best but this author managed to ace it.
The story of Ella Beene and her seemingly perfect life tipped upside down by tragedy, it is the type of book that raises questions, plants options in your mind and well and truly gets you thinking about what ifs and buts.
One day the Stepmother to two children whose father had been deserted by his wife and left to cope, the next a widow holding a funeral to which an unexpected guest arrives. What happens to a family confronted with a multitude of issues, what side should they take,should contact with the children be their sole motivation? What is loyalty and how do you enact it, do we really ever know the truth about someone we love, does everything have a price and is their always a winner and a loser or can resolution take place and can the best interests of the most vulnerable be put first.
There are a number of themes introduced by the author and the each dovetail into the story in a way that develops the characters and their backgrounds and adds in the necessary strokes of colour that keep this book humming along.
I also think that they author did a really good job of  introducing the idea of permanency in life, what is there one day may not be there the next, her characters were defined with  a warmth and a realism and I particularly liked her use of guilt and anger/ fairness and unfairness, I thought she did a very realistic job especially in situations where the characters snap as a result of finding themselves in a position they don`t like, most of us would react the exact same way. The book never lost its humour,it was a very satisfying read.
This book is released in Trade Paper back in New Zealand this month and it is also available via the library.

Faith by Jennifer Haigh

This is the kind of book that takes your breath away and will have you thinking for quite awhile after you finish reading it. The book tells the story of Arthur Breem, a Catholic Priest and his family the McGanns using the main narrative voice of his sister Sheila who tells his story with the love she has for her brother, the doubts that she experiences and the reality of the knowledge she possess as the story progresses. At pitch point the McGanns present as the perfectly ordinary family living their lives as we might all do, until the day Art is accused of a crime against a child and his and his families lives shatter apart with alacrity.
Nothing is really as it appears, yet Haigh draws her characters with such a realistic hand they you recognise them, you all know them,be they in one camp or the other.There are secrets and lies in this tale and they are deep and painful, it is a novel populated by grieving people, their responses and reactions to situations is spot on and so is the dialogue that Haigh gives them. Her understanding of the human psyche and what motivates it at certain stages is quite phenomenal and as she draws in her supporting characters she gives them a ballast in the story, they all have a role in the telling and they all come from their own if similar views especially the devout Catholics, they are all influenced in their reactions to Arthur's plight by their own plight, if they go one way they will be excluded from all they have know and equally the opposite choice will seem them keep their positions.
This book leads you on a journey and as you move along you find yourself challenged at different points...How would I Feel? What would I Do? How Well to we really know our family and what kind of bonds do we really have if the chips come down? A very thought provoking book, it is well paced..
It is also a book filled with love in its many variations, a book that is compassionate and understanding but always realistic and human, strength and frailty entwined, history repeating, those patterns that we some times don`t even recognised that so impact on our lives.
I liked all of the characters bar the bigot but I equally understood his motivations. I thought the character of Mike was amazing and so was Kath both being shown in all their humanity, Art captivated me in all his failings and his wondrous capacity to love, the growth of the characters was also exceptional, none was the same at the end of the book, be their change good or bad, wisdom was a stand out character developement for me, it was very subtle but it was there.
This book is available in Paperback at $26.99 in all good book stores.

The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar

This is the second of Umrigar`s books I have read and it had no less of a powerful effect than the first one, although they were totally different stories and set in entirely different countries.
When Ellie and Franks son Benny dies unexpectedly, their lives as one would imagine fall to pieces and in an attempt to help them grieve and rebuild, the Company Frank works for sends them to India, a country so vastly different to America that the culture shock alone is enough to set them on separate paths.
The narrative which is fast flowing and beautifully written takes you into the heart of a small village where nothing be it food, expectations and language are on a page that deviates as it is revealed through the eyes of each of its characters. Umrigar has a remarkably deft touch when it comes to drawing her characters and developing them, she takes them way back which backlights the story and gives it depth and you their prior story, she then brings them into the present, it is all so well linked that it flows, there is no jarring, no what happened here? It is a book that's centrifugal force is love,misunderstanding, secrets, lies, anger, resentment, manipulation and the corrosive power of unresolved grief, it can be very gritty in parts. The book deals very well with the unmasking of peoples prejudice, be American/Indian or Indian/Indian. Umrigar rises to the challenge of dealing with the implications of blame be it unspoken or spoken and shows how grief can really lead you down the path of destruction and havoc should you let it, at every major juncture her characters are called upon to make choices and to deal with the often unfair hand they are dealt.
We really see the power of the adage Blood is thicker than Water, she shows that powerful bonds and connections are not always  easily visible, neither are they readily breakable, love is a powerful force and it often works in ways that are not understood.
The powerful question that we would rather not hear is posed..Can wealth and privilege give you the right to trample down and overrule those who are less fortunate.. is it our right to replace a dead child with a living child who is attached to you but not biologically linked, can we assume that we know what is right, what is best? How well do we really know anyone? If we have power, how do we use it?
Love in its many forms is a keynote of this book and it resonates throughout. I liked all of the characters bar one that Umrigar peopled this book with, especially powerful was Frank whose unravelling takes the reader down  a totally unexpected path the consequences of which turn out to be a huge surprise.
This was a marvellous read and all of Umrigar`s Books are available through the Auckland Library System and through special order at Unity Books and other Indies, except for her latest they are all soft covers and cost $28, they are worth every cent.

I will be reading The Space Between Us and The World We Found(which is released here mid Feb in Trade PBK) but I am having a little breather and will be reading Alix and Nicky by Virgina Rounding and Stephen Davis` biography of Carly Simon.. Make Room in a Broken Heart.

Untied by Meredith Baxter

To those of you old enough to remember Meredith was Bridget in Bridget loves Bernie, Nancy Lawrence on Family and as Elyse Keaton on Family Ties, a well respected and seemingly very happily married, wife, mother and actor.
The back story starting with her childhood is one of abandonment, rejection, dislocation and great unhappiness despite the patina of a happy Hollywood family. Her whole life runs to this pattern no matter the fame, fortune, awards, children or professional success.
The whole crux of this book his her rather narrow focus on herself, how hard done by she was, David Birney allegedly beat her, intimidated her, made her life a misery (he has issued a statement of refutment) nothing really seems to give her happiness and it would rate as one of the most joyless books I`ve ever read but equally I couldn't put it down.
She became a late life lesbian so at the end of the book there appears to be a ray of contentment but really one does have to ask...How could anyone go through life with so many blessings (and this doesn`t negate her difficult childhood) and yet not really have the ability to celebrate those things that must have been joyous for so much of your life.

Uncharted TerriTorri by Tori Spelling

I love Tori Spelling, she may be shallow and dippy to boot but she is what she is and acts accordingly, she is also Hollywood Royalty and she knows all the goss. She is also very honest and with her life that can be rather squirm inducing.

This is her third book and like its predecessors it is easy to read, lively, bouncy and basically a blow by blow account of her life in different chapters as she lives it, she is a hard worker. The cast of characters generally run through each book and so they be come like family and many have in fact replaced her biological family as relations there are up and down, up and down to say the least. A good, relaxing read, that can be very funny in places. Light and easy to read!

Go Tori!

Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards first came into the public spotlight in 2004 when her husband John ran with John Kerry as the Democratic Candidate for Vice President, on the day they conceded the race Elizabeth was operated on for Breast Cancer. Her life while superficially perfect had not been the bed of roses she had dreamed of. Her eldest son Wade died in a traffic accident in 1996, it was a heart break that despite her very best efforts she could not move on from.

She writes beautifully. Never bitter, always searching, always longing and always doing her best to reach the point that she so wishes to touch. She dips in and out of her own Naval Base childhood and tells of her parents long marriage and her mothers never resolved feelings of betrayal, a never proved betrayal but one that may have echoed those that both she and her sister Nancy were to be the unwitting victims of.

There are a few words that would adequately sum up the character of John Edwards who while his wife fought so valiantly lied and betrayed her, had a child with another woman and got a ring in to claim paternity but as Elizabeth chose not to use those words in her narrative neither will I. (PIG maybe) Her homemaking and parenting skills were par excellence as described by daughter Cate in her eulogy and this is how Elizabeth ultimately defined herself. She was always Wade, Cate, Emma Claire and Jacks Mom.

Elizabeth died on December 10 2010 and she has left in this book a marvellous testimony to the power of Motherhood, to love, healing and to not being a victim of others agendas. Wonderful poetry quotes as well, touching and tender.