Raw, earnest, compelling
589497
Brigida Romano lays bare the side of disease so rarely talked about: The unpleasant side effects, the broken friendships, the family strains, the terrors of living on the edge of death. She does so with surprising candor, and utterly compelling prose. This is especially for anyone with exposure to chronic illness who has ever thought, "if on you you knew!" Even those with no connections to the disease will find Romano's voice crackling with brilliance and the weariness and of someone who has been through fire more than once.
2615219
Grace from the Fall is an earnest and well-written story that skillfully weaves together themes of rebellion, religion, and ultimately redemption.  Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this book is the author's firsthand description of prison life, which should open eyes as to what we as a society really believe we are accomplishing through mass-incarceration of the poor and minorities.  Ultimately, however, Grace from the Fall demonstrates that with the support of family, friends, and faith, anyone of us can aright our lives, no matter how far we've fallen.  Absolutely a worthy read.
2446395
Up-and-coming indie author Marni Mann has crafted a gritty, compelling tale in MEMOIRS AREN'T FAIRYTALES, the fictional account of a young girl's descent into heroin addiction.  It's a graphic and haunting story, as much a confession as a cautionary tale, and one that defies any genre label I can think of, aside from "literary fiction" - and in the most exalted, award-worthy sense of the term.

Nicole Brown begins as a college drop-out who flees hometown life in Bangor with her best friend Eric, for a big city experience in Boston.  As her hand-to-mouth struggle of a new life unfurls, Nicole finds herself moving from seemingly simple weed and pills to the complexity of cocaine, before falling headlong into a full-blown heroin habit.  None of this is recreational, however; Nicole suffered a brutal attack back home, the details of which she can't remember, and seeks chemical refuge from the residual pain...sometimes with tragic results.  Along the way she encounters a cast of unsavory characters who mostly serve to drag her further down the rabbit hole.  The maternal Claire appears amid the madness and offers a genuinely caring counterpoint to it all, but by then Nicole is in too deep for easy redemption.  Readers having any familiarity with addiction will easily recognize the profile; readers new to the details of such a thing would be wise to take note.  The author has done some painstaking research to create a realistic story, and uses it all to stirring effect.

As difficult as it was to recognize while I read, this is Marni Mann's debut novel.  She is truly a talent to be reckoned with.  Her spare, clean style gives Nicole a direct voice, frank and unsentimental in her heartbreaking, no-holds-barred telling of all that happens as her addiction progresses.  The details are sometimes overwhelming; with such rich, unflinching descriptions, the reader experiences the descent as an insider, eavesdropping in the mind of a junkie every step of the way.  It is entirely a credit to Mann's beautiful skill as a writer and confidence as a storyteller that, despite the difficult subject matter, the reader is compelled with every word to push on.  A must read.
3387948
I loved the way the story unfolded so quietly but insistently. Everything I learned about Dan Guthmann and the Guthmann family made me want to learn more. The characters are beautifully crafted, Dan especially so, but the author's portraits of their parents are also beautifully rendered. The mysterious Dan, their mother's love and pain, their father's violent parenting and his eventual softening. The author's internal dialog about his brother and their family is honest and fair, truly confessional. And the writing is sharp and clean, at times even lyrical. I loved the story of the author's older brother, a truly complex man who died far too young. A very compelling read.
4495253
Stevens is funny, in spite of the serious subject, she writes with self-aware irony and intelligent irreverence.  Her dialog provides a casual intimate honesty that is amusing / pleasurable to read and ultimately endearing.  This from the prologue:

So, setting aside hard truth, good taste and discretion, I too shall tell my story..Oh, and youll be pleased to know that theres a penis in it, but -spoiler alert - he gets knocked off in the third act.

The Trans world was a vague notion to me.  Stevens odyssey, opened my eyes to the multitude of complexities.  And the story truly is an  odyssey of wide ranging travels and endeavors.  The twists and turns of a life-long struggle to find or create a path forward is impactful.

Stevens writing drew me into her story.  It compelled my interest, informed me and was fresh and fun to read.  I feel I have grown in understanding and compassion. A lot for one little book.  Hope there are more from this author.
4874286
The author is a small-town guy with good old American everyman values, which is probably why this unpolished look at the harsh realities and human warmth of Kenya is related so approachably.  Michael Schneiders finds himself accompanying his parish priest on an unforgettable and inspiring trip way, way outside of his comfort zone, and comes back driven to put his experiences, thoughts, and refreshed affection for humanity to paper, and I'm one reader who is glad he did.  With a first time author and a small publisher, the book has a rough-hewn feel that plays to its sincerity and makes for a casual read that gets you with your guard down.  Be forewarned, you may just finish wanting to pack your own bags.
1024665
Julie Metz was experiencing what she thought was a reasonably happy marriage when her mid-40s husband suddenly died of a pulmonary embolism.  Metz had a young daughter to take care of and much grief to work through.  After a few months, she discovers that he had been cheating on her with a number of women, including one of their "friends" from their small suburban New York town.  Metz was devastated, devastated and angry.  She confronts this "friend" as well as the other women he was involved with.  Perfection is a compelling memoir, in part because Metz is able to clearly channel in her writing the emotions she was experiencing during the periods she writes about.  The grief, the anger, the acceptance is all there for the reader, some of it brutally raw and emotional.  At times I found her anger disconcerting, but the resolution of her memoir shows great maturity on Metz's part.  I enjoyed this memoir and found it to be a compelling page turner.  Metz explores not only her relationship with her husband, but also her female friends and former lovers.  She forays out into the world of dating.  A word of warning however:  this memoir is clearly for adult readers only. Nothing is sugar-coated here.  Younger readers, and frankly some mature readers as well, would likely be shocked by certain of the frank sexual discussions, as well as, perhaps, the intense anger Metz experiences.
3923420
Not the tried and true heartwarming tale of a young woman and her dog, this book succinctly illustrates the real-world difficulty and weighty responsibility of sharing life with a less than perfect dog. The work also captures youthful impetuousness and its inevitable consequences. It also conveys the depth of a hard forged relationship between human and canine, along with the comfort it can provide. No excuses or explanations, the author simply shares her story. The book is unblinkingly honest.

The life lessons contained in this memoir are revealed largely through actions necessitated by being the young guardian of a badly behaved dog. After being raised by a less than present mother the author does not have a solid life blueprint to follow when it comes to caregiving.

But, she does not gloss over or round-off the corners to make her story more palatable. Instead, she quietly yet precisely presents the method by which we humans, sometimes painfully, learn and grow through a series of mistakes and missteps. As I read I sometimes cringed but hoped she would find her way through, but part of the way through the book I stopped worrying.

The work is somewhat dark but compelling reading and valuable if for no other reason than this story may result in fewer dogs finding their way into unstable situations through casual acquisition. I found the artwork engaging and the perfect accompaniment for the story. If an issue, there is a small amount of obscenity. Perhaps better suited for an older teen, but like all books it is best to choose based on the individual recipient.
916028
This book is written in keeping with of an economy of words and yet it expresses a lot. Carefully chosen words will remind you of the brush strokes of an experienced artist. Deliberate, simple yet powerful in conveying much.

With masterful story telling we are privy to a whole complex world. This world exposes a series of morally gray-scaled lives and life experiences. Bivins is able to show the whole picture in a way that makes each character relatable in a brutally honest, human sense. Making sense of the acts of a murderer and the acts of a sex offender through the humble, impious honesty of telling their whole stories. Granting them more than just being one-dimensional stereotypes. Helping us to see the every man in them and thus ourselves in them too.

The writing is smooth and slick where it needs to be and vulgar and harsh where that is necessary too.

Pious is the best of real life, caught in microcosm, and retold in novel form. A walk through a city like NY where 5 minutes is aptly represented by a flash of a cream-coloured Bentley  cream-coloured fur-clad patron inside. Quickly followed by the sight (and sound) of a vagrant vomiting painfully in an alley.
2239363
The sheer humanity of this book took me unawares. This autobiography of a black man growing up fatherless in America at the end of the last century spoke to me even though I am a white woman with an intact family. The book's descriptions of the racism that people of color live with everyday showed me how insidious this construct is in our society. Because Michael's story is also an Everyman story.  He battles inner doubts, bad relationships and poor personal decisions just like all of us.  He describes friendships lost and gained, lovers jilted and grasping, relatives absent and faithful.  The raw emotions of these descriptions put me on the verge of tears, and that doesn't even count the poems. Real poems by real people, expressing their frustrations, hurts, hopes, and fears, are placed organically throughout the book and provide some of the most moving reading I have ever encountered.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to open his or her heart to another human being. A compelling read.
656231
This fresh biography is raw and real in its description and summary of a baby boomer Jewish rabbi who went his own path against the wind of his times. A great job of storytelling by the author Ze'ev helped make it happen with almost nothing held back. This book reads like a dance between Christian and Jewish peoples, never letting up and never coming to easy consummations. I liked the direct and honest descriptions of the tensions that sometimes appeared and how Rabbi Eckstein's personality aided in resolutions of conflict. Rabbi Eckstein comes off the page as a true three dimensional person and you almost feel you know him personally when reading about his adventures. Bios can be boring but this one is a page turner. Most of all, as a Christian minister, I appreciated the passion and persistence of the Rabbi to follow his dream and desires to make a difference in this world, and maybe the next, with his message. Regardless of your position, this book is remarkable because of the man it is about, who, despite opposition, has succeeded in making history.
4305782
genuine, relatable, and emotionally stirring-this is a wonderful read!
612372
Such a compelling story written from the depth of heart of mother and son (and at times, father and daughter).  Their two very keen perspectives kept me wanting to read more, and discover how the other felt.  The emotions are raw, honest and relatable.  Anita and Mike's story demonstrate, once again, the dire need for those abusing drugs to have a strong, unrelenting support system, as the disease can grip and rip any relationship apart, starting with the individuals'  relationship with the self, and then outward to the family, and society as a whole.
1560831
I am impressed by the rawness, the intelligence, the observatory keenness of this narrative.  Kerouac meets Thompson at the edge of civilization.  These fourteen stories (and a play) tell the story of the real America, slaughtered for "depot plastic floors" purchased with bits of shiny sand.  Insightful, gritty, and powerful.  Brophy's at his finest here.  Dirty Weather is an arctic blast of reality.
1121989
This is a perceptive, well written and engaging coming of age novel, but there are a few things to note right off the bat.

First off, I apologize for first identifying the author (in my mind) only with his roles in "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos", and assuming that this was going to be another teen-falls-in-with-local-mobsters Bronx Tale-ish thing. Unfair type casting. Turns out that Imperioli is an accomplished actor, producer, writer, and director, and I should have known better. This may be a very New York City coming of age tale, but it turns on music, heartbreak, tough lessons, first love, family, and the giddy high of art and creation. Not a single mobster in view.

Second, for what it's worth, please don't be scared off by the excessive blurbs fronting this book. Maybe these guys really did have their lives totally illuminated and transformed by reading this book. I just thought it was well-written, generous, perceptive, and occasionally intense and often touching in an honest, clear-eyed and authentic fashion. That was enough for me.

With that said, the book is, as all coming of age books seem to be, a bit romantic and gauzy, with a wry and sadder-but-wiser hero at the center, and a sometimes generous and sometimes heartless, and often sort of random, world around him. Our hero, Matt, is fundamentally sound, and unreliable as a narrator only to the extent that he doesn't always entirely understand what's going on. But who does? Early on he denies being confident or strong or fearless, but we can sense that potential within him and we can trace his path to maturity better than he can. Since his voice is fresh, direct, ironic, and ruefully honest, and since the book has moments of suspense and intensity, we become engaged in his journey.

In addition to the main thread there are lots of rewarding and insightful, and sometimes very funny, set scenes and digressions in the book, (this is 1976-1978), and many nicely crafted throw-away lines. The book is fast paced while still thoughtful, and holds more surprises and twists than I expected. Coming of age is fine, but I want it to be interesting, and Matt's journey, (he covers the previous two years of his life from the vantage point of 18), fits that bill. While there's a definite sadder-but-wiser flavor to the project, and sometimes an unnerving darker undercurrent, Matt has a sense of humor about life and himself, or at least an informed detachment, that keeps the reader invested in his progress.

The upshot was that I very much admired and enjoyed this novel, the characters who populated it, and the insights and emotions they shared. A solid find. (I think the cover photo for this book is a Joseph Sterling photo from the early 60's and that photo subject, with his energy and potential and vigor and mad heedlessness, really seems to capture the essence of the Matt character, or at least what the character hopes to be. This may be the one time you want to judge a book by its cover.)

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
2212196
Literary accounts abound of the enrichment bestowed by love.  This novel shows, however, how a fevered distortion of love can accomplish the very opposite.  The path to hell is paved with good intentions, a premise eloquently demonstrated by M. L. Stedman, author of "The Light Between Oceans".
The principal characters are skillfully brought to life and they inhabit the pages with an immediacy that draws in the reader.  The plight of a lonely and war-scarred lighthouse-keeper who unexpectedly finds love is compelling.  As is the portrayal of his love for the headstrong young woman who becomes his wife and sympathy for her after several miscarriages and the news that the couple can never become parents.  With similar assurance Stedman breathes life into the character of a distraught young widow who is told that that the sea has taken her husband and baby.  The foreshadowing of the collision between these characters and its outcome drive the book forward.
Stedman's writing about the wilds of Western Australia and the lives and experiences of its inhabitants in the early 20th century is also memorable.  Its clarity and insight are exceptional.  Descriptive passages of the whims and moods of the ocean are especially strong.
But having set things up beautifully, the writing loses steam after the inevitable collision between the main characters.  The story chugs towards its predictable conclusion with scene after scene of misunderstandings, recriminations, misguided sacrifice, emotional trauma and other over-cooked dramatic devices which tend to exhaust, rather than energize, the reader.  Towards the latter part of the book my interest began to flag.  What started as a sure-handed account was losing its way.  Given the subject matter and the plot it would be hard to imagine another ending, but less indulgence and greater acceleration to the conclusion would have helped.
Having said that, Stedman shows enormous promise and I will be keeping an eye out for her next novel.
3737255
A poignant book -- short but not too short -- that alternates between past and present, until a story emerges with blunt-force and funniness at the same time. The voice is authentic, the insights original and wrenching.

If, however, you're looking for pathos or sentimentality or a cliche condemnation of addiction, this book may not be for you.