The Sisters Brothers
Patrick deWitt, 2011
HarperCollins
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062041265
Summary
Winner, 2011 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction
Winner, 2011 Writers' Trust of Canada Fiction Prize
Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it.
Though Eli doesn't share his brother's appetite for whiskey and killing, he's never known anything else. But their prey isn't an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm's gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a livingand whom he does it for.
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force.
Filled with a remarkable cast of characterslosers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1975
• Where—Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
• Education—N/A
• Awards—Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction
Writers' Trust of Canada Fiction Prize, Rogers Prize,
Stephen Leacock Award
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon, USA
Patrick deWitt is a Canadian novelist and screenwriter. He was born on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and later lived in California and Washington. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon.
His first book, Ablutions (2009), was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice book. His second book, The Sisters Brothers (2011), was shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the 2011 Governor General's Award for English language fiction. He was one of two Canadian writers, alongside Esi Edugyan, to make all four award lists in 2011.
On November 1, 2011, he was announced as the winner of the Rogers Prize, and on November 15, 2011, he was announced as the winner of Canada's 2011 Governor General's Award for English language fiction. On April 26, 2012, the book The Sisters Brothers won the 2012 Stephen Leacock Award. Alongside Edugyan, The Sisters Brothers was also a shortlisted nominee for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/7/2013.)
Book Reviews
[G]ritty, as well as deadpan and often very comic…DeWitt has chosen a narrative voice so sharp and distinctive…it’s very narrowing of possibilities opens new doors in the imagination.
New York Times
[deWitt] rides parallel to the trails of Jack Shaefer, James Carlos Blake and Cormac McCarthy, but he frequently crosses into comic territory to produce a story that's weirdly funny, startlingly violent and steeped in sadness…As the novel runs along, deWitt shifts the story in unpredictable directions, slowing the pace for a surreal finale in the woods that's touched with alchemy.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
A feast of delights in short punchy chapters.... Deliciously original and rhapsodically funny, this is one novel that ropes you in on page one, and isn’t about to ride off into the sunset any time soon.
Boston Globe
[F]ull of surprises, among them…is the quirky beauty of the language Patrick deWitt has devised for his narrator.... The Sisters Brothers is deWitt’s second novel…and is an inventive and ingenious character study. It will make you impatient for the third.
Dallas Morning News
If Cormac McCarthy had a sense of humor, he might have concocted a story like Patrick DeWitt’s bloody, darkly funny western The Sisters Brothers.... [DeWitt has] a skillfully polished voice and a penchant for gleefully looking under bloody bandages.
Los Angeles Times
Wandering his Western landscape with the cool confidence of a practiced pistoleer, deWitt’s steady hand belies a hair trigger, a poet’s heart and an acute sense of gallows humor…the reader is likely to reach the adventure’s end in the same shape as Eli: wounded but bettered by the ride.
Time Out New York
Thrilling…a lushly voiced picaresque story…so richly told, so detailed, that what emerges is a weird circus of existence, all steel shanks and ponies, gut shots and medication poured into the eyeholes of the dying. At some level, this too is a kind of revenge story, marvelously blurry.
Esquire
[Q]uirky and stylish revisionist western.... [A] frontier baron known as the Commodore orders Charlie and Eli Sisters, his hired gunslingers, to track down and kill a prospector named Herman Kermit Warm.... Charlie and Eli ...come off looking less and less like killers and more like traumatized young men.... DeWitt has produced a genre-bending frontier saga that is exciting, funny, and, perhaps unexpectedly, moving.
Publishers Weekly
[E]ngrossing...a gritty, unapologetic homage to pulp Westerns (with perhaps a nod to Cormac McCarthy as well). In the final pages, however, as the hired guns at the center of the story are forced by circumstances to rethink their lives, the novel turns into something much more philosophical, existential, and extraordinary.... It becomes, in effect, a different kind of novel, profoundly literary, and devoted to serious philosophical meditation. —Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT
Library Journal
A calmly vicious journey into avarice and revenge. The unusual title refers to Charlie and Eli Sisters, the latter of whom narrates the novel. The narrative style is flat, almost unfeeling, though the action turns toward the cold-blooded. It's 1851, and the mysterious Commodore has hired the Sisters brothers to execute a man who's turned against him.... DeWitt creates a homage to life in the Wild West but at the same time reveals its brutality.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.
Sycamore Row
John Grisham, 2013
Knopf Doubleday
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385537131
Summary
John Grisham's A Time to Kill is one of the most popular novels of our time. Now we return to that famous courthouse in Clanton as Jake Brigance once again finds himself embroiled in a fiercely controversial trial-a trial that will expose old racial tensions and force Ford County to confront its tortured history.
Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier.
The second will raises far more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly? And what does it all have to do with a piece of land once known as Sycamore Row?
In Sycamore Row, John Grisham returns to the setting and the compelling characters that first established him as America's favorite storyteller. Here, in his most assured and thrilling novel yet, is a powerful testament to the fact that Grisham remains the master of the legal thriller, nearly twenty-five years after the publication of A Time to Kill. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—February 8, 1955
• Where—Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA
• Education—B.S., Mississippi State; J.D., University of Mississippi
• Currently—lives in Oxford, Mississippi and Albermarle, Virginia
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer, politician, and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers. He has written more than 25 novels, a short story collection (Ford County), two works of nonfiction, and a children's series.
Grisham's first bestseller was The Firm. Released in 1991, it sold more than seven million copies. The book was later adapted into a feature film, of the same name starring Tom Cruise in 1993, and a TV series in 2012 which "continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere and his family 10 years after the events of the film and novel." Eight of his other novels have also been adapted into films: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, Skipping Christmas, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and his first novel, A Time to Kill. His books have been translated into 29 languages and published worldwide.
As of 2008, his books had sold over 250 million copies worldwide. Grisham is one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing; the others are Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling.
Early life and education
Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Wanda Skidmore Grisham and John Grisham. His father was a construction worker and cotton farmer; his mother a homemaker. When Grisham was four years old, his family started traveling around the South, until they finally settled in Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi. As a child, Grisham wanted to be a baseball player. neither of his parents had advanced education, he was encouraged to read and prepare for college.
As a teenager, Grisham worked for a nursery watering bushes for $1.00 an hour. He was soon promoted to a fence crew for $1.50 an hour. At 16, Grisham took a job with a plumbing contractor. Through a contact of his father, he managed to find work on a highway asphalt crew in Mississippi at the age of 17.
It was during this time that an unfortunate incident made him think more seriously about college. A fight broke out among the crew with gunfire, and Grisham ran to the restroom for safety. He did not come out until after the police had "hauled away rednecks." He hitchhiked home and started thinking about college.
His next work was in retail, as a salesclerk in a department store men's underwear section, which he described as "humiliating." He decided to quit but stayed when he was offered a raise. He was given another raise after asking to be transferred to toys and then to appliances. A confrontation with a company spy posing as a customer convinced him to leave the store. By this time, Grisham was halfway through college.
He went to the Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Mississippi and later attended Delta State University in Cleveland. Grisham drifted so much during his time at the college that he changed colleges three times before completing a degree. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1977, receiving a BS degree in accounting.
He later enrolled in the University of Mississippi School of Law planning to become a tax lawyer. But he was soon overcome by "the complexity and lunacy" of it. He decided to return to his hometown as a trial lawyer, but his interest shifted to general civil litigation. He graduated in 1983 with a JD degree.
Law and politics
Grisham practiced law for about a decade and also won election as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990 at an annual salary of $8,000. By his second term at the Mississippi state legislature, he was the vice-chairman of the Apportionment and Elections Committee and a member of several other committees.
With the success of his second book The Firm, published in 1991, Grisham gave up practicing law. He returned briefly in 1996 to fight for the family of a railroad worker who had been killed on the job. It was a commitment made to the family before leaving law to become a full-time writer. Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500—the biggest verdict of his career.
Writing
Grisham said that, sometime in the mid-1980s, he had been hanging around the court one day when he overheard a 12-year-old girl telling the jury how she been beaten and raped. Her story intrigued Grisham, so he began to watch the trial, noting how members of the jury wept during her testimony. It was then, Grisham later wrote in the New York Times, that a story was born. Musing over "what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants," Grisham took three years to complete his first book, A Time to Kill.
Finding a publisher was not easy. The book was rejected by 28 publishers before Wynwood Press, an unknown publisher, agreed to give it a modest 5,000-copy printing. It was published in June 1989. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on his second novel, the story of an ambitious young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared." The Firm remained on the the New York Times' bestseller list for 47 weeks and became the bestselling novel of 1991.
Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural South, but continued to write legal thrillers. He has also written sports fiction and comedy fiction.
In 2005, Grisham received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. The award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.
In 2010, Grisham started writing legal thrillers for children 9-12 years old. The books featured Theodore Boone, a 13-year-old boy, who gives his classmates legal advice—everything from rescuing impounded dogs to helping their parents prevent their house from being repossessed. His daughter, Shea, inspired him to write the Boone series.
Marriage and family
Grisham married Renee Jones in 1981, and the couple have two grown children together, Shea and Ty. The family spends their time in their Victorian home on a farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, and their other home near Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Innocence Project
Grisham is a member of the Board of Directors of The Innocence Project, which campaigns to free unjustly convicted people on the basis of DNA evidence. The Innocence Project argues that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects. Grisham has testified before Congress on behalf of the Project and appeared on Dateline on NBC, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, and other programs. He also wrote for the New York Times in 2013 about an unjustly held prisoner at Guantanamo.
Libel suit
In 2007, former legal officials from Oklahoma filed a civil suit for libel against Grisham and two other authors. They claimed that Grisham and the others critical of Peterson and his prosecution of murder cases conspired to commit libel and generate publicity for themselves by portraying the plaintiffs in a false light and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. Grisham was named due to his publication of the non-fiction book, The Innocent Man. He examined the faults in the investigation and trial of defendants in the murder of a cocktail waitress in Ada, Oklahoma, and the exoneration by DNA evidence more than 12 years later of wrongfully convicted defendants Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The judge dismissed the libel case after a year, saying, "The wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz must be discussed openly and with great vigor."
Misc.
The Mississippi State University Libraries maintains the John Grisham Room, an archive containing materials related to his writings and to his tenure as Mississippi State Representative.
Grisham has a lifelong passion for baseball demonstrated partly by his support of Little League activities in both Oxford, Mississippi, and Charlottesville, Virginia. He wrote the original screenplay for and produced the 2004 baseball movie Mickey, starring Harry Connick, Jr. He remains a fan of Mississippi State University's baseball team and wrote about his ties to the university and the Left Field Lounge in the introduction for the book Dudy Noble Field: A Celebration of MSU Baseball.
In an October 2006 interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Grisham stated that he usually takes only six months to write a book and that his favorite author is John le Carre. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/6/2013.)
Book Reviews
One of [Grisham's] finest.... Sycamore Row is a true literary event—the sequel, nearly a quarter-century later, to A Time to Kill, Grisham’s first and perhaps best-regarded novel.... I believe these two books about Clanton [Mississippi] will now be read back to back—and, standing together, at last dispel the long shadow of Harper Lee.
Charlie Rubin - New York Times Book Review
Remember A Time To Kill's Jake Brigance? He's back, trying to make sure that justice is served in Ford County, MS, even as one small town's trial of the century seems set to pull folks apart. Just starting to buzz—one wishes that there were more plot details—but the return of Jack Brigance will set readers on fire.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
The following Discussion Questions were developed by MaryAnne Johnson of The Crack Spine Book Club. She has graciously offered to share them with LitLovers. Thank you MaryAnne!
1. We know the setting of Sycamore Row is Clanton, Mississippi, 3 years after Carl Lee Bailey is found innocent in the murder of the two men who have raped his daughter. The year is 1989. If you read or saw the novel/movie, have race relations among the townspeople changed or remain the same in this novel. Examples?
2. Jake Brigance, (Of course, all we can picture is Mathew Mc Conaughy!) young and smart, has gained a great measure of respectability among the townspeople for his defense of Carl Lee. In this novel, what qualities and characteristics does Jake have that make him a memorable and noteworthy character, resident of Clanton, and lawyer? Examples?
3. In Sycamore Row, there are many references to all that Jake and his wife Carla have lost in his defense of Hailey. Do these issues make Jake more heroic or weaker in this novel? How do these issues resolve themselves in this novel?
4. What would be the stylistic purpose for Chapter One to graphically portray the suicide of Seth Hubbard?
5. Seth Hubbard’s character is both dark and light, good yet flawed. What qualities and examples represent the good and the light? What qualities and examples represent a troubled and flawed man?
6. What are the multiple factors that relate to the contesting of the will/estate by Hubbard’s children as well as a battleground for legal discussion? Explain.
7. What is your impression of the character and personality of the black maid, Lettie Lang? What is her past and background as revealed in the early chapters? How does she comport herself at the beginning of the novel, in the presence of Seth’s children, upon hearing of Seth’s will, and concerning her husband?
8. What is Lettie’s true identity as revealed through Charlie Pardue, Boaz Rinds, and the powerful investigative talents of her own daughter Portia?
9. The theme of avarice and greed threads its way through the novel—and most shockingly from those who have no familial rights—the lawyers! Almost 45% of the novel focuses on the scavengers-- lawyers, investigators, and witnesses, who feed on the flesh of money made from this trial. What impressions and examples can you use to support this idea? Is this an accurate portrayal of legal proceedings?
10. What is the personality of the Honorable Judge Atlee? What is your impression of his personal style as well as his conduction of his legal responsibilities? Is he on Jake’s side or is there a darker undercurrent to his nature? How is his power and authority asserted in the final resolution of the case?
11. Suspense builds in the novel regarding Seth’s younger brother Ancil, who is also named in the will. What details are revealed and uncovered concerning Ancil’s background and history? What did Ancil see…and how did this traumatic event alter his personality? What do we learn when he is discovered in a hospital in Juneau, Alaska?
12. What was John Grisham’s literary intent in holding Ancil’s story until the last chapters?
13. Who is Sylvester Rinds and how did he come to own 80 acres of land that was then deeded to Cleon Hubbard by Sylvester Rinds wife? How did the land come to Seth Hubbard?
14. One despicable character in the novel is Lettie’s husband, Simeon Lang. Describe his personality and what role he plays in the tragic events of the novel.
15. There are so many colorful characters in the novel who either directly or indirectly affect the outcome of events such as Portia, Lucien Wilbanks, Harry Lee Rex, Ozzie, Dumas Lee, Wade Lanier, Quince Lundy, Charlie Pardue, Boaz Rinds, etc, etc…….What do these characters add to the novel’s story and uniqueness?
16. What legal regulatory errors occur in the trial (allowed by Judge Atlee) that lead to the real possibility of an appeal and a retrial of the case?
17. Why is the case resolved before an appeal can be requested? How is the case resolved?
18. Are you satisfied with the reason/s Seth Hubbard changed his will and left his estate to Lettie? Or do you find the idea contestable?
19. Sometimes a reader imagines a different resolution of ending to a major bone of contention in a novel. Could John Grisham have created a tighter, more familial connection between Seth and Lettie that would have enhanced the ending and solution of the will?
20. In the tradition of Southern literature, mainly William Faulkner, the novel is based on these multiple characters who weave in and out of the plot like fireflies. John Grisham, like Faulkner, is trying to establish a community of townsfolk to relate to in future novels. Is this literary device effective?
(Questions developed by MaryAnne Johnson of The Crack Spine Book Club. Please feel free to use them online with a link to LitLovers. Thank you.)
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Salvation
Alyssa Coooper, 2012
Melange Press
236 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781612354866
Summary
Salvation has a bit of everything—young love, Victorian charm, and vampire horror, tied together with unique literary flair.
The story begins with Alec, a young man struggling to accept the brutal loss of his parents and find his place in an unforgiving world.
As his life tumbles in a downward spiral, Alec meets Maya, a girl who seems determined to change his life. With her friendship and support, he finally begins to crawl back towards the light.
But Maya is not what she seems.
She is a vampire, born on a small farm in the nineteenth century and brought into her immortal life by a man who has played the part of guardian angel, father, and lover to her—but who is also her greatest enemy. This foe has chased her for a century and chases her still, putting her and Alec both in mortal danger.
Together, they fight for survival, for life and for love, as they each desperately seek their own salvation. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 9, 1990
• Where—Belleville, Ontario, Canada
• Education—Advanced Graphic Design Diploma
• Currently—lives in Belleville, Ontario
Alyssa Cooper is a born wordweaver, swallowing stanzas like sustenance and leaving thumbnails of poetry everywhere she goes. She was born in Ontario, Canada, where she lives with her vintage typewriters and her personal library.
A poet and author with a passion for the literary and experimental, Alyssa writes passionately, viciously, and on any surface she can find. Her poetry has appeared in poetry anthologies and literary magazines since early 2012, including the Revival Literary Journal and Journey to Crone by Chuffed Buff Books. After the release of her novella, Sunshine, her prose began to gain popularity as well, with short stories appearing in Emrys Journal, The Brief Grislys, and Postscripts to Darkness.
Her first novel, a century-long romp through the life of a maladjusted vampire, was released on Halloween of 2012. Salvation was released digitally and in print by Melange Books, LLC. Her second novel, an anthem for the twenty-something lost in an adolescent wasteland, is anticipated for release from Melange Books in late 2013. She is also eagerly awaiting the release of her first poetry collection, Cold Breath of Life, all the while filling her bookshelves to bursting and draining countless pens. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Salvation is not your typical romance novel. We start knowing that Maya is going to die. She and Alec are together, but she’s dying. He doesn’t know how to let her go or how he will live without her. We see her death. It’s poignant, heartbreaking, and visceral... Alec is a heavily flawed character...[and] I found it hard to sympathize with [him] for a while.... Yet as things progress with Maya, we see a new side to Alec.... Maya is a vampire...[who] is killed by her maker. Merek.... Once Maya appears to die, we’re suddenly seeing her death again, but this time from her perspective. From there, we learn of Maya’s entire story.... The ending was…not happy, but it was perfect... This was a well written, haunting tale that will stick with you.
Patricia Eddy - Mystical Lit Lounge
I was sold instantly. The story follows a vampire girl named Mali. She comes into Alec's life at the perfect moment and helps him piece back together his life. They both fall for each other instantly and enjoy what little time they have together. Mali has a past, that follows her to Alec. Her creator, her past lover, and a dark secret that threatens her immortality. This story was definitely a FOUR STAR read.... I found the end a little depressing, but I honestly can not think of another way to tie this story up. It had to end the way it did.... If you love paranormal romances, this has a romance that crosses the times, filled with conflict and an undying love you can't go wrong with this book.
Kristine Schwartz - Schwartz Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Identify Alec's character flaws in Book One; discuss which have been resolved by Book Three, and which are still existing.
2. What is the significance of Alec's dream sequence in Book One, Chapter Two?
3. Discuss the importance of Jeanne/Mali/Maya's chosen name to her identity through out the novel.
3. In Book Two, Mali is conflicted about her life as a vampire. By the time she meets Alec, she has come to terms with it. Discuss the evolution of her opinion and chose a side.
4. Consider Jeanne/Mali and Marek's relationship. Do you feel that there was ever a true connection between them, or a continuous co-dependent cycle?
5. Consider Mali's role in the deaths of the family members. Do you feel that her actions were justified?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)
By Proxy
Katy Regnery, 2013
Boroughs Pubishing Group
224 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781938876714
Summary
When a favor brings a city boy and a country girl together at Christmas, you can be sure that sparks will fly!
A HOLIDAY WEDDING…
Stubbornly small-town Jenny Lindstrom has misgivings when she promises to stand proxy in her best friend’s wedding—misgivings that are fulfilled when tall, handsome Sam Kelley walks into the courthouse an hour late. In order to keep her promise, an afternoon favor turns into a weekend of startling but undeniable attraction, threatening the well-ordered world that keeps her heart at arm’s length from any more pain.
…TURNS INTO A HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Sam’s plan is to fly to Livingston, Montana, take vows for his favorite cousin, and return to Chicago as quickly as possible. But his plan is turned upside-down when he must spend a weekend with Jenny in Gardiner to keep his word. He doesn’t want to fall for the prim, proper schoolteacher whose small-town life seems to him like selling out, but the more time he spends with her, the harder it is to say good-bye.
When city and country come together for Christmas, the unexpected gift is true love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September 3, 1972
• Where—Darien, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Kenyon College
• Currently—lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut
Katy is a 2013 Maine RWA and 2013 SOLA RWA contest winner who has always loved telling a good story and credits her mother with making funny, heartwarming tales come alive throughout her childhood.
A lifelong devotee of all Romance writing, from Edwardian to present-day, it was just a matter of time before Katy tried her hand at writing a love story of her own.
Katy lives in the relative-wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut where her writing room looks out at the woods; and her husband, two young children and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories of all can often be the messy or unexpected ones. (From the author.)
Book Reviews
[E]nticing....The story is complex, as are the refreshingly normal characters, all of whom have great integrity, and the setting is unique!... Montana is the only state in the union that allows double-proxy marriages.... [T]he bride and groom are both in the military...so on a wintry day in late November, Jenny Lindstrom, best friend of the bride and Sam Kelley (cousin of the groom) come to Livingston to do this favor.... During the following two days, in spite of [their] differences, they very quickly fall in love.... The author has created a terrific sense of place in this novel—...everyone should enjoy meeting Jenny and Sam. In fact, any of the Lindstrom boys would be excellent candidates for a sequel!
City Book Review
A wholesome contemporary romance set in small-town Montana. Debut novelist Regnery presents a sweet tale of young schoolteacher Jenny Lindstrom; her world is turned upside down the day Sam Kelley walks into her life. Jenny and Sam meet in connection with [an] unusual wedding.... The swift pacing of the narrative...and quick wit of the characters provide an undeniable appeal. For those focused on lasting emotional connections reached through good conversation, this book is a winner
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately or did it take you a while to settle into the story? Why or why not?
2. Would you feel comfortable exchanging marriage vows with a total stranger? Even if it was on behalf of someone else?
3. Sense of place seems to be an important theme in By Proxy. Did you get a good sense for the world of Gardiner? What did you like (or not like) about Jenny’s hometown? Is this somewhere you’d like to visit? What about Sam's Chicago?
4. Compare and contrast the relationships between the two main characters and their families. Are there similarities? Differences? How will these similarities and differences affect their married life together?
5. Principal Paul is a rival for Jenny’s affections. Do you think she would have been better off marrying Paul instead?
6. What kind of girl would you like to see Paul end up with?
7. Was it fair for Sam to ask Jenny to visit him in Chicago? Was her refusal unreasonable?
8. Jenny is deeply affected by the loss of her mother at a young age. Do you think it’s realistic that she would back away from the world and cling more tightly to her family? Did anything happen to you at an early age that altered the course of your life?
9. Both Jenny and Sam are counseled by their parents when they are apart from one another. Did one parent—or the other—give better advice? Handle their child’s situation more poignantly?
10. Jenny and Sam both compromise by moving to Great Falls. Which of them will have a tougher adjustment? The city boy moving to a much smaller city or the country girl moving to any city at all?
11. What is the most important thing Jenny learns about herself through meeting Sam? What’s the most important thing Sam learns about himself through meeting Jenny?
12. What main ideas—or themes—does the author explore?
13. By Proxy is not technically considered an inspirational romance, but it has some strong traditional values. Did these values detract from the story or enhance it?
14. If you could ask the author any question, what would you ask?
15. Do you think that By Proxy would work well as a Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas movie? Why or why not? Who would you cast as the main characters?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)
A Cuban Summer
Tony Mendoza, 2013
Capra Press
232 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781592661022
Summary
From confessional to brothel; from The Havana Country Club to Varadero Beach, we follow Tony de la Torre as he comes of age in Cuba during the Summer of 1954.
His family is wealthy and he is raised by servants. Gonzalo, the chauffeur, has the tacit responsibility of teaching 13 year old Tony the facts of life. This is a lively, riotous and sexy novel that gives us glimpses into Cuba before Castro. A great read! (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1941
• Where—Havana, Cuba
• Education—Yale University; Harvard University
• Currently—teaches at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Tony Mendoza was born in Havana, Cuba. He was trained as an engineer (Yale University) and as an architect (Harvard Graduate School of Design.) In the early Seventies he quit architecture, moved into an urban commune in the Boston area, and turned full time to photography as art. His photographs have been exhibited extensively, nationally and internationally.
He was the first photographer exhibited in the New Photography Series at the Museum of Modern Art. His photographs are included in the collections of many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
He has received three National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowships, a Guggenheim Photography Fellowship, and five Ohio Arts Council Fellowships in photography, creative writing, and video. (From the publisher .)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Forget Ricky Ricardo. Forget Godfather II. Forget Hemingway. If you want to know what it was like to live in Havana during the 1950’s, Tony Mendoza’s absorbing novel is your best guide. Lively, sexy and beautifully written, A Cuban Summer is not only a sensitive (and often hilarious) coming of age tale but a splendid portrait of a culture and a way of life that would soon disappear, perhaps forever. Once I began the novel, I couldn’t put it down.
Gustavo Perez Firmat - author, Life on the Hyphen
Discussion Questions
1. How has Cuban changed from the pre-Castro area?
2. What was the church's role in pre-Castro Cuba?
3. Who taught young men about sex in the wealthy Cuban family in 1956?
4. How did Tony acclimate to life in America?
5. How does this coming of age tale from 1956 compare to today's equivalent in America?
(Questions provided by the author and publisher.)