A Hundred Summers
Beatriz Williams, 2013
Penguin Group USA
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425270035
Summary
Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak.
That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.
Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations.
Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1971-72
• Raised—Seattle, Washington, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.B.A., Columbia University
• Currently—lives in Greenwich, Connecticut
A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a corporate and communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons.
She now lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
[A] fast-paced love story…the scorching sun illuminates a friend’s betrayal and reignites a romance.
Oprah Magazine
Summer of 1938: A scandalous love triangle and a famous hurricane converge in a New England beach community. Add in a betrayal between friends, a marriage for money, and a Yankee pitcher, and it’s a perfect storm.
Good Houskeeping
Born into post-Depression New York society, innocent, steadfast Lily Dane and fast, jazzy Budgie Byrne are best friends. It’s through Budgie that Lily meets Nicholson Greenwald, handsome, smart, charming.... Only now ex-fiance Nick and ex-bestie Budgie are Mr. and Mrs. Nick Greenwald..... When the great New England hurricane of 1938 makes landfall near the end, it feels less like a natural disaster and more like a convenient way to get the most problematic characters out of the way so true love can prevail.
Publishers Weekly
While Williams's new novel starts strongly, it becomes a bit mired in melodrama in the latter third. Lily makes for an appealing protagonist.... The problem is that only Lily and Nick are fleshed out as characters.... The lack of development of the supporting cast weakens the eventual exploration of just what happened. —Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI
Library Journal
Williams' sweeping saga of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption trenchantly examines the often duplicitous nature of female friendships and family friendships.
Booklist
[T]he period story of a derailed love affair seen through a sequence of summers spent at Seaview, R.I.... "What went wrong?" between Lily Dane and good-looking-but-Jewish Nick Greenwald,...[and] how, seven years on, can Nick be married to Lily's BFF Budgie Byrne while Lily herself is single and accompanied by her 6-year-old sister, Kiki? The answer is teased out at length via parallel narratives set in 1931 and 1938, both voiced by Lily.... An elegant if somewhat old-fashioned delayed-gratification seaside romance with a flavor of Daphne du Maurier.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The main narrative of A Hundred Summers takes place in an oldmoney enclave in Rhode Island during the summer of the great New England hurricane of 1938. Why do you think the author chose this setting? What kind of changes were taking place in American society at the time, and how did those influence the plot and characters? What role do think the storm played, both as a dramatic device and to convey the novel’s themes?
2. What did you think of Lily Dane? How do you think she developed as a character during the course of the novel? Did you find her essential innocence a strength or a weakness? How did her thoughts and actions in Seaview compare to her thoughts and actions in the other settings?
3. The friendship between Lily and Budgie forms the backbone of the novel, both in 1931 and in 1938. What did you think of the dynamic between the two women? How did it change and develop in the course of the narrative? Was Lily right to accept Budgie’s overture of friendship after her marriage to Nick? Would you call this a toxic relationship? Who do you think needed the other the most?
4. What do you think motivates Budgie? Do you consider her a bad person or only a troubled one? Do you think she really cares for Lily? Did the author convey her character effectively, or was she too ambiguous? How do you see her in the context of the historical period, and the changing status of women in the 1920s and 1930s?
5. Nick Greenwald appears in both 1931 and 1938 as the love interest for both women. How did Nick change between his college years and adulthood? Why do you think he married Budgie? Would you be able for forgive him for this decision, and for his activities in Paris in the years between?
6. Nick’s Jewish heritage is presented as a barrier to social acceptance among Lily’s family and social connections. Do you think this accurately represents the attitudes of that time and society? How do you think the perception of Jews in America compared to the position in Europe, and how would Nick’s attitude to antisemitism have been affected by the prolonged periods he spent overseas? How did Nick’s ambiguous status—Jewish father, Episcopalian mother—affect his self-perception and his actions in the novel?
7. What did you think of Graham Pendleton? Did he really love Lily? What do you think both Budgie and Graham were looking for in their relationships with Lily? Would Graham have been able to reform if he married Lily?
8. Until the end of the book, Lily’s mother remains offscreen, or viewed from a distance. Why do you think the author chose to keep her veiled and ambiguous? What did you think of her? How do you think Lily’s character was influenced by her relationship with her mother? If your partner underwent the same kind of trauma as Lily’s father did in the First World War, how might the terms of your marriage change over time?
9. Did the novel conclude too conveniently for you, or did the fates of the various characters make sense given their actions and propensities? Do you think events like hurricanes happen “for a reason”, or are they “random and senseless”? Have you experienced a devastating storm, or an unexpected tragedy? How did it affect you and/or your family and community, both short and long term?
10. Reread the poem at the beginning of the novel. What do you think it means? How does it relate to the narrative and theme of A Hundred Summers? What’s the message you take away from reading the book?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy 1)
Kevin Kwan, 2013
Knopf Doubleday
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345803788
Summary
Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.
When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry.
What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.
Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should—and should not—marry.
Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1973-74
• Where—Singapore
• Raised—Clear Lake, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Houston-Clear Lake; B.F.A., Parsons School of Design
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
Kevin Kwan is a Singaporean-American novelist best known for his satirical Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy (2013-17). He was born in Singapore, the youngest of three boys, into an established, old-wealth Chinese family.
Background and early years
His great-grandfather, Oh Sian Guan, was a founding director of Singapore's oldest bank, the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Arthur Kwan Pah Chien, was an ophthalmologist who became Singapore's first Western-trained specialist and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic efforts. His maternal grandfather, Rev. Paul Hang Sing Hon, founded the Hinghwa Methodist Church. Kwan is also related to Hong Kong-born American actress Nancy Kwan.
As a young boy, Kwan lived in Singapore with his paternal grandparents and attended the Anglo-Chinese School. When he was 11, his father, an engineer, and mother, a pianist, moved the family to the U.S., eventually landing in Clear Lake, Texas, where Kwan graduated from high school at the age of 16. Kwan earned a B.A. in Media Studies from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, after which he moved to Manhattan to attend Parsons School of Design to pursue a B.F.A. in Photography.
Career
Staying in New York, Kwan worked for Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and Tibor Kalman's design firm M & Co. In 2000, Kwan established his own creative studio; his clients have included Ted.com, Museum of Modern Art, and the New York Times.
In 2007, Kwan edited I Was Cuba, a photographic "memoir" of Cuba; in 2008 he co-authored with Deborah Aaronson an advice book, Luck: The Essential Guide.
Then, in 2009, while caring for his dying father, Kwan began to conceive of Crazy Rich Asians. He and his father reminisced about their life in Singapore while driving to and from medical appointments. Hoping to capture those memories, Kwan began writing them down in story form.
Living in the U.S. since 1985, Kwan's view of Asia had become westernized—he has said he feels like "an outsider looking in." His goal was to change the stereotypical perception of wealthy Asians' conspicuous consumption, refocusing instead on old-wealth families more like his own, families that exude "style and taste [and] have been quietly going about their lives for generations."
Four years later, in 2013, Kwan published Crazy Rich Asians, the first volume of what would become his trilogy. Two years later, in 2015, he released China Rich Girlfriend and, in 2017, Rich People's Problems. In 2018 the first book of the trilogy was released as a film and became an immediate box office hit.
In August 2018, Amazon Studios ordered a new drama series from Kwan and STX Entertainment. The as yet unnamed series is to be set in Hong Kong and will follow the "most influential and powerful family" along with their business empire.
Recognition
In 2014, Kwan was named as one of the "Five Writers to Watch" on the list of Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors published by The Hollywood Reporter. In 2018, he made Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people; that same year he was also inducted into The Asian Hall of Fame. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/18/2018.)
Book Reviews
When Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians has a mother in Singapore telling her girls to finish everything on their plates because "there are children starving in America," it’s O.K. to get the joke. There’s no need to dwell on what it really means. Crazy Rich Asians is this summer’s "Bergdorf Blondes," over-the-top funny and a novelty to boot. Mr. Kwan delivers nonstop hoots about a whole new breed of rich, vulgar, brand-name-dropping conspicuous consumers, with its own delicacies, curses, vices, stereotypes ("I hope she’s not one of those Taiwanese tornadoes!") and acronyms. According to Mr. Kwan, this crowd uses U.B.C., as the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, is known, to mean "University of a Billion Chinese." How rich and vulgar are the Anglophile Asians of this debut novel? Rich enough to throw a diamond of more than 30 carats into a snowdrift and not look for it. So vulgar that a Cirque du Soleil troupe has to show up to convey that things have gotten crass. So steeped in wretched excess that one man boasts about the precise temperature his climate-controlled shoe closet should be.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
Crazy Rich Asians is both a deliciously satiric read and a Fodor’s of sorts to the world of Singapore’s fabulously monied, both new and old.
Sherryl Connelly - New York Daily News
An entertaining and well-written book about the life of the Chinese super-rich, a new class who are keeping alive five-star hotels, restaurants and luxury shops around the world.... The wealth of the book is in the detail—of the personalities, the places, the clothes and the colours of Singapore, Kwan's native place.
Louise Rosario - South China Morning Post
Deliciously decadent.... Rachel, an American-born Chinese (ABC), has no idea what to expect when she visits Singapore to meet her boyfriend Nick’s multibillionaire family. There, she discovers mind-blowing opulence—next season’s couture, palatial properties, million-dollar shopping sprees—and the over-the-top bad behavior that comes with it.... This 48-karat beach read is crazy fun.
Stephan Lee - Entertainment Weekly
There’s rich, there’s filthy rich, and then there’s crazy rich.... A Pride and Prejudice-like send-up about an heir bringing his Chinese-American girlfriend home to meet his ancestor-obsessed family, the book hilariously skewers imperial splendor and the conniving antics of the Asians jet set.
People
Crazy Rich Asians is like Dynasty on steroids with more private jets, bigger houses, and a lot more money. It is the very definition of a beach read. I finished it over a weekend and by the end was longing to see the ridiculously extravagant and over-the-top world that Mr. Kwan had created.... I predict this will be the 50 Shades of Grey of this summer."
Michael Carl - VanityFair.com
It’s impossible not to get sucked into this satirical novel about the jet-setting lives of an enormous busybody family and its infinite Louboutin collection.
Glamour
Read Kevin Kwan’s debut, Crazy Rich Asians, on an exotic beach in super-expensive sunglasses.... [Rachel] encounters outre fashion, private jets, and a set of aristocratic values so antiquated they’d make the Dowager Countess proud.
Entertainment Weekly
With his debut novel, [Kwan] delivers an uproarious, comical satire about a jet-set life that most of us can only imagine. It’s a page-turner that will leave you wanting more."
Claudia McNeilly - Hello! Magazine (Canada)
Mordantly funny.… In Kevin Kwan’s winning summer satire, Crazy Rich Asians, a young woman discovers her boyfriend belongs to a milieu of unimaginable splendor—and snobbery.
Vogue
[A] fun, over-the-top romp through the… Asian jet set, where anything from this season is already passe and one’s pedigree is everything.… A witty tongue-in-cheek frolic about what it means to be from really old money and what it’s like to be crazy rich.
Publishers Weekly
Juicy stuffy that's culturally interesting for clarifying the difference between mainland and overseas Chinese; billed as Jackie Collins meets Amy Tan.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Jane Austen, or maybe Edith Wharton, goes to Singapore, turning in this lively, entertaining novel of manners.… An elegant comedy and an auspicious debut.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Compare how Nick’s mother (p. 21–28, p. 56) and Rachel’s mother (p. 31–34, p. 68) react to hearing about their trip to Singapore. What do their reactions reveal about each of them as mothers? What qualities, if any, do they share? What is the significance of the "Chinese Way" (p. 68) in the mothers’ approach to courtship and marriage? Compare this with Rachel and Sophie’s conversation about marriage later in the book (pp. 278–79).
2. Does Nick’s description—"It’s like any big family. I have loudmouthed uncles, eccentric aunts, obnoxious cousins, the whole nine yards" (p. 67)—match the way most of us view our own families? Why doesn’t he tell Rachel more about the background and status of his family before their trip?
3. What does Rachel’s view of Asian men reveal about the complications of growing up Asian in America (p. 90)? How does Kwan use humor to make a serious point here and in other parts of the novel?
4. Discuss the role of gossip in the novel. What kinds of rumors do Nick’s friends and family spread about Rachel, and why How do misunderstandings and misinformation (intentional or not) propel the plot and help define the characters? Consider, for example, the conversations at the Bible study class Eleanor attends (p. 108–109) and the chatter of the guests at Araminta’s bachelorette party (pp. 262–70).
5. Do you see the events surround Colin’s wedding and the ceremony itself as brazen, even crude displays of wealth or are there aspects of the celebrations that are appealing (pp. 393–416)? How do they compare to society or celebrity weddings you have read about?
6. What sort of future do you imagine for Nick and Rachel? Is it possible for Rachel to fit into a world "so different from anything [she’s] used to" (p. 431)? Does Nick fully understand the reasons for her doubts and unhappiness? What supports your point of view?
7. Why does the author devote different sections of the novel to specific characters? What effect does this have on your impressions of and sympathies for the problems and prejudices that motivate each of them?
8. What do the marriages of Eleanor and Philip, Astrid and Michael, and Eddie and Fiona show about what makes a marriage work and what can undermine even the best-intentioned husbands and wives?
9. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, "The rich are different from you and me." In what ways are the characters in Crazy Rich Asians different from you and the people you know? Do they reflect the values of the particular communities Kwan explores or do they represent the ways of rich people everywhere? How do the divisions between economic and social status manifest themselves in American society?
10. The novel makes a clear distinction between old money (the Youngs and their extended family) and new money (Peik Lin’s family, for example), as well as between Mainland and Overseas Chinese. What differences do you see between these groups and the way they deal with their wealth? How does this shape their perceptions of themselves and one another?
11. Crazy Rich Asians is a story of the extremes of conspicuous wealth and consumption. Which scenes and settings in the novel best capture this excess? What do the many references to well-known luxury brands and exotic, expensive settings contribute to your sense of the time, place, and worldview of the characters?
12. Nick’s family has enjoyed wealth and privilege over several generations. Discuss the impact of their position on each generation, from the imperious Eleanor to the status-consumed Eddie to Astrid, the It girl of Asian society, to Nick. Despite their very different approaches to life, what rules or traditions influence their behavior and interactions? What elements from his past does Nick retain, despite his new life in America?
13. What role does the legacy of European imperialism play in the older generation’s tastes and style? How is the younger generation affected by their travels abroad and exposure to modern-day Western society? What insights does Rachel and Nick’s conversation with Su Yi give into the melding and clashing of European and Chinese cultures over the course of time (pp. 335–38)?
14. In addition to straightforward explanations of Chinese words, what function do the footnotes serve? In what ways do they help the author to fill out the narrative or comment on the context and content of his story? Look, for instance, at the notes on pages 141, 180, 219, and 263.
15. Behind its satirical tone and intent, what does the novel suggest about the ethical and emotional implications of the behavior that the characters indulge in? Does it make you think about some of your own actions or decisions?
16. What did you know about the financial boom in contemporary Asia before you read the novel? Were you surprised by manifestations of wealth depicted in the book? Peik Lin’s father says, "[T]his so-called ‘prosperity’ is going to be the downfall of Asia. Each new generation becomes lazier than the next.… Nothing lasts forever, and when this boom ends, these youngsters won’t know what hit them" (p. 303). To what extent are his insights accurate, not only in regard to the situation in Asia today but also to economic patterns across history?
17. Kevin Kwan has said that his novel follows an age-old literary tradition (Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2013). He points to Jane Austen writing about the "manor-house set," Edith Wharton’s tales of America’s gilded age at the turn of the century, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s chronicles of New York in the roaring ’20s. If you have read these books—or other novels about the manners and mores of the past—discuss the echoes and parallels you find in Crazy Rich Asians.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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A River in the Ocean
Michael Allen, 2013
Createspace
264 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781482323405
Summary
When a near fatal accident separates a single father from his daughter, fate has a way of finding her a good home.
While Chris fights for his life in a coma for nine years, his daughter Krista is raised by a well-intentioned couple who have no idea how to properly raise a child. Gilmer has wild ideas that he doesn’t think through. Maggie knows the basics and figures the rest out as she goes. But there is one thing they have in common, the love for the little girl who stole their hearts while her father was absent.
When Chris awakens from his coma, he has no idea he has a daughter. Putting his life back together, he takes to furniture repair and then design. But he picks up a paint brush one day when an apparition of a little girl soon starts haunting him even while he is awake. He captures scenes of her on canvas, but he can’t figure out what connection they have. While he paints his little angel, she becomes more and more real to him.
Something stirs in both of them when Chris and Krista finally meet late in her teen years. It's certainly a drama, but with comedy to lighten the way.
A River in the Ocean is a heartwarming tale about two lost souls, only one of them feels it and the other has yet to know. He didn’t know he was looking. She didn’t know she needed found. It leads to an overwhelming confusion with the potential to push them together or drive them apart. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Born—Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
• Raised—in Maryland and Virginia
• Education—B.A., Frostburg State University
• Currently—lives in Clearwater, Florida
Michael Allen was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But he was quickly moved from there to be raised in both Cumberland, Maryland, and Fredericksburg, Virginia. He finally graduated from James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg and went straight into the Marine Corps.
In 1993, Michael was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and had some wild oats to sow before finally settling down to earn his B.A. in English from Frostburg State University. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, he was quick to learn that plenty of people would be willing to hire him to write their books.
Over twenty books later, Michael has been able to also publish four books of his own. A Danger to Society is loosely based on a true story. When You Miss Me is a children’s book originally written for his daughter. Thoughts and Reconsideration is a journey in poetry through themes of Love, Hate, Spirituality and Philosophy. A River in the Ocean is his fourth book.
Michael currently resides in Clearwater, Florida where he adores the sun, makes his name known along the beaches and volunteers as often as he can. If he’s not substituting to teach English as a second language, he’s filling up plates at a soup kitchen.
When his daughter hit her teenage years, she left him in the dust as most teenagers do to parents they no longer find cool. So if he’s not busy helping people, he tucks himself away in his “cave” tapping steadily away at his next piece of work. (From the author.)
Visit Michael's website.
Book Reviews
(Although A River in the Ocean has not yet garnered reviews, we have included excerpts of two interviews with author Michael Allen by online book sites.)
I was about six years old when I first started writing. At least, that's as far back as I can remember. My first work was a a poem I called Slick Move. It was about people slipping on banana peels and oil slicks. Very age appropriate material. I would have to say it's just something that has always been in my blood, writing many short stories and poems in my youth. But my first contact with a publisher who hired me to write a book was when I realized that I could really do something with it. So, I dedicated myself to it.
Book Junkies Journal
I get to know my characters is about the best way to answer that question. I think them through and know how they would act, how they would talk if they were real. I do not think I’ve ever had a conversation with one of my characters though. But, it does sound like something I would do.
Book Goodies
Discussion Questions
1. What defines family today in the world of broken families?
2. What do you think makes a good parent?
3. Have you ever felt an emptiness or void in your life that actually compelled you to find out what it was about? What did you learn?
4. Have you ever lost anyone who was close to you? How hard was it for you to let go?
5. How would you feel if you suddenly learned that someone you thought you lost had not actually passed away?
6. What would you do if you found yourself having to start over in life?
7. Do you think there’s a special bond family members share, even if they have never met or have been separated for a very long time?
8. What is the significance of the book's title?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)
Wander Home
Karen A. Wyle, 2012
Createspace
277 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781481167093
Summary
Death is what you make it. . . .
Eleanor never wanted to leave the daughter she loved so much. The overpowering urge to wander—to search, without knowing what she sought—drove her away. She left little Cassidy in her family's loving care. But Cassidy and the others died in an accident before Eleanor could find her way home.
Now, they are all reunited, in an afterlife where nothing is truly lost. Places once loved may be revisited, memories relived and even shared. One may be any age suitable to the mood and moment. Surely this is a place where Eleanor and her family can understand and heal. But some of the memories haunting Eleanor are of dreams she had tried to forget.
Somehow, she must solve the mystery of her life—or none of them will be at peace. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 4, 1955
• Where—Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A. Stanford University; J.D., Harvard Law
• Currently— Monroe County, east of Bloomington, Indiana
Karen A. Wyle was born a Connecticut Yankee, but moved every few years throughout her childhood and adolescence. After college in California, law school in Massachusetts, and a mercifully short stint in a large San Francisco law firm, she moved to Los Angeles. There she met her husband, who hates L.A. They eventually settled near Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University.
Wyle has been a voracious and compulsive reader as long as she can remember. She majored in English and American Literature major at Stanford University, which suited her, although she has in recent years developed some doubts about whether studying literature is, for most people, a good preparation for enjoying it.
Wyle's voice is the product of almost five decades of reading both literary and genre fiction. It is no doubt also influenced, although she hopes not fatally tainted, by her years of practicing appellate law. Her personal history has led her to focus on often-intertwined themes of family, communication, the impossibility of controlling events, and the persistence of unfinished business.
In addition to Wander Home, Wyle has published two science fiction novels, Twin-Bred, Reach: a Twin-Bred Novel, and several short stories. She is currently in the process of revising another science fiction novel, Division, dealing with some unusual issues raised by the possibility of human cloning. She is also writing a nonfiction guide to law and lawyers, for the use of authors whose fiction involves the courtroom or other legal proceedings. (From the author.)
Visit Karen's website.
Visit Karen on Facebook.
Book Reviews
A story about the consequences of the choices we make, and the difficulty even we can have in understanding – and living with – the reach of those consequences. Wyle’s...vision of the afterlife...is one of the loveliest.... Wyle has a lovely way with language, weaving characters and setting together into a seamless tapestry.... A beautiful story, well-written and smoothly paced with characters you can’t help but fall in love with.
Jill Elizabeth - All Things Jill-Elizabeth
Wyle should be proud of the opening scene of this book as it showcases...her descriptive powers.... I love the way the concept of an afterlife is made real in Karen’s book, and the way the various characters inter-relate, re-live moments and re-visit places in their history.... Wander Home acts acts like a large, soft comfort blanket. But don’t get too comfortable. It is a barbed comfort blanket, charged with emotion. An excellent read, which I heartily recommend.
Indie Tribe - Charlie Bray
The plot is well paced and opens the imagination of the readers. The afterlife that Wyle creates is brimming with memories, places to visit, and amazing people to meet. It's written in such a way that it is truly life after death.... Wander Home is a magical story that delves to the depths of the human psyche and is definitely recommended.
Coffee Pot - Tracy Kiser
The story itself dwells on a common theme—a daughter in search of a mother’s love, a mother who so longs to provide that love but feels inadequate in face of her own search for self and a family who provides them unconditional support. The uniqueness is in the telling.... The story inspires one to stretch the imagination.... If this were a motion picture, one would be feasting in never-ending sights and sounds, visions that only the imagination can conjure.
Readers' Favorite - Teresita Rivera
[A] bittersweet story of one family’s journey both on earth and in the afterlife as they struggle to make sense out of relationships, personalities and love, for love is what the book is ultimately about.... Wyle has created characters so full of personality that you are drawn to them and really want the issues to be resolved. Amanda (Great Grandmother), Sarah and Jack, Eleanor and Cassidy are people you will remember for a long time to come.
Linda Leander - L.Leander's Reviews and Interviews
Discussion Questions
1. Does this novel have a hero or heroine? If so, who is it?
2. Is Eleanor unduly slow to realize what role Mateo and Jordana have played in her life?
3. Did Eleanor have any viable choices other than those she made in her life? Was there a way for her to play the hand she was dealt without causing so much pain?
4. Is the resolution of this story satisfying? Is it fair to all the characters?
5. Some people who come to Wander Home’s afterlife have hurt others during their lifetime. Do you think there is a degree of evil or wrong-doing that would prevent a person from reaching this afterlife? What might happen to those people, within the world created by the novel?
6. Concerning the technique of flooding troubled newcomers with happy memories to help them heal: what memories might you contribute?
7. This book features several married couples (Jack and Sarah, Amanda and Stan, Mateo and Jordana, Jordana’s parents). How do these couples demonstrate different approaches to the married state? Which marriages are the most successful, and why?
8. Do you wish you knew more about the life story of any character in the novel?
9. Could you imagine using the features of this afterlife to resolve any unfinished business from your own life, and if so, how?
10. Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, would you like the afterlife presented in this book to exist?
11. Does the afterlife in Wander Home correspond to any afterlife depicted by any established religion?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Bad Monkey
Carl Hiaasen, 2013
Knopf Doubleday
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780446556149
Summary
Andrew Yancy—late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff’s office—has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner.
Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it’s not called the roach patrol for nothing). But first—this being Hiaasen country—Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy’s new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey, who with hilarious aplomb earns his place among Carl Hiaasen’s greatest characters.
Here is Hiaasen doing what he does better than anyone else: spinning a tale at once fiercely pointed and wickedly funny in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of what’s left of pristine Florida—now, of the Bahamas as well—get their comeuppance in mordantly ingenious, diabolically entertaining fashion. (From the publisher.)
Razor Girl (2016) is Hiaasen's sequel to Bad Monkey.
Author Bio
• Birth—March 12, 1953
• Where—Plantation, Florida, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Florida
• Awards—Newbery Honor Award
• Currently—lives in Tavernier, Florida
When one thinks of the classics of pulp fiction, certain things—gruff, amoral antiheroes, unflinching nihilism, and a certain melodramatic self-seriousness—inevitably come to mind. However, the novels of Carl Hiaasen completely challenge these pulpy conventions. While the pulp of yesteryear seems forever chiseled in an almost quaint black and white world, Hiaasen's books vibrate with vivid color. They are veritable playgrounds for wild characters that flout clichés: a roadkill-eating ex-governor, a bouncer/assassin who takes care of business with a Weed Wacker, a failed alligator wrestler named Sammy Tigertail. Furthermore, Hiaasen infuses his absurdist stories with a powerful dose of social and political awareness, focusing on his home turf of South Florida with an unflinching keenness.
Hiaasen was born and raised in South Florida. During the 1970s, he got his start as a writer working for Cocoa Today as a public interest columnist. However, it was his gig as an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald that provided him with the fundamentals necessary for a career in fiction. "I'd always wanted to write books ever since I was a kid," Hiaasen told Barnes & Noble.com. "To me, the newspaper business was a way to learn about life and how things worked in the real world and how people spoke. You learn all the skills—you learn to listen, you learn to take notes—everything you use later as a novelist was valuable training in the newspaper world. But I always wanted to write novels."
Hiaasen made the transition from journalism to fiction in 1981 with the help of fellow reporter Bill Montalbano. Hiaasen and Montalbano drew upon all they had learned while covering the Miami beat in their debut novel Powder Burn, a sharp thriller about the legendary Miami cocaine trade, which the New York Times declared an "expertly plotted novel." The team followed up their debut with two more collaborative works before Hiaasen ventured out on his own with Tourist Season, an offbeat murder mystery that showcased the author's idiosyncratic sense of humor.
From then on, Hiaasen's sensibility has grown only more comically absurd and more socially pointed, with a particular emphasis on the environmental exploitation of his beloved home state. In addition to his irreverent and howlingly funny thrillers (Double Whammy, Sick Puppy, Nature Girl, etc), he has released collections of his newspaper columns (Kick Ass, Paradise Screwed) and penned children's books (Hoot, Flush). With his unique blend of comedy and righteousness ("I can't be funny without being angry."), the writer continues to view hallowed Florida institutions—from tourism to real estate development—with a decidedly jaundiced eye. As Kirkus Reviews has wryly observed, Hiassen depicts "...the Sunshine State as the weirdest place this side of Oz.
Extras
• Perhaps in keeping with his South Floridian mindset, Hiaasen keeps snakes as housepets. He says on his web site, "They're clean and quiet. You give them rodents and they give you pure, unconditional indifference."
• Hiaasen is also a songwriter: He's co-written two songs, "Seminole Bingo" and "Rottweiler Blues", with Warren Zevon for the album Mutineer. In turn, Zevon recorded a song based on the lyrics Hiaasen had written for a dead rock star character in Basket Case.
• In Hiaasen's novel Nature Girl, he gets the opportunity to deal with a long-held fantasy. "I'd always fantasized about tracking down one of these telemarketing creeps and turning the tables—phoning his house every night at dinner, the way they hassle everybody else," he explains on his web site. "In the novel, my heroine takes it a whole step farther. She actually tricks the guy into signing up for a bogus ‘ecotour' in Florida, and then proceeds to teach him some manners. Or tries. (Bio fom Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Any fears that Carl Hiaasen might be mellowing are put to rest by Bad Monkey, another rollicking misadventure in the colorful annals of greed and corruption in South Florida…Hiaasen has a peculiar genius for inventing grotesque creatures—like the monstrous voodoo woman known as the Dragon Queen and Driggs, a scrofulous monkey "with a septic disposition"—that spring from the darkest impulses of the id. But he also writes great heroes like Yancy and Neville.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times
Hiaasen combines familiar themes with an inspired cast in this exercise in Florida zaniness. Andrew Yancy, who became an ex-cop after publicly assaulting his girlfriend’s husband with a vacuum cleaner attachment...soon gets a chance at redemption.... [A] severed, shark-bitten arm,...some real estate shenanigans, a voodoo witch, and a deranged monkey, and you have another marvelously entertaining Hiaasen adventure.
Publishers Weekly
A severed arm that a visiting angler hooks off Key West kicks off Hiaasen's 13th criminal comedy.... [T]he encounter Andrew Yancy has with Miami Assistant Medical Examiner Rosa Campesino, which ends with him taking the arm back home and parking it in his freezer, starts to change his attitude toward the case. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that he's been suspended from the Sheriff's Department.... Not as funny as Hiaasen's best (Star Island, 2010, etc.), with a title character more vicious than amusing, but still the gold standard for South Florida criminal farce.
Kirkus Reviews
General Praise for Carl Hiaasen
Whenever it seems as if he might be running out of oxen to gore, Hiaasen comes up with fresh victims for his killing wit. [He is] Florida’s most entertainingly indignant social critic.... Outlandish events soar on the exuberance of Hiaasen’s manic style, a canny blend of lunatic farce and savage satire.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times
Hiaasen’s wasteland is as retributive as Cormac McCarthy’s, but funnier.... [His] pacing is impeccable, and the scenes follow one another like Lay’s potato chips.
John Leland - New York Times Book Review
Hilarious.... A lifelong resident of the Sunshine State, [Hiaasen’s] novels have always addressed the state’s ecological and social ills with scathing satire, ironic comeuppance and an ever-evolving sensibility.
Dan Lopez - Time Out New York
Carl Hiaasen is a lot like Evelyn Waugh.... Both simmer with rage; both are consumed with the same overwhelming vision...[both] write the funniest English of this century.
Carolyn See - Washington Post
Does anyone remember what we did for fun before Hiaasen began turning out his satirical comedies?
Alan Cheuse - San Francisco Chronicle
Carl Hiaasen isn’t just Florida’s sharpest satirist—he’s one of the few funny writers left in the whole country.... I think of him as a national treasure.
Malcolm Jones - Newsweek
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)
Also, consider these LitLovers taking points to help get a discussion off the ground for Bad Monkey:
1. What are some of the issues that Carl Hiaasen, as a satiric writer, takes aim at in Bad Monkey? Start with official corruption, Florida developers...and go from there.
2. Why does Andrew Yancy decide to keep the severed arm in his freezer rather than discard it as the sheriff orders? What prompts his subsquent interest in the case?
3. Hiaasen writes,"Yancy believed that maintaining cultural authenticity was less important than creating a vivid first impression for potential home buyers." Talk about Yancy's stunts to scare off buyers from the unfinished house that could block his ocean view. Over the top? Distracting from the main plot? Or hilarious?
4. Follow-up to Question 3: Are there too many subplots in Bad Monkey? Or do you think, as Janet Maslin of the New York Times does, that even with the proliferation of plots and characters, Hiaasen's novels are "beautifully constructed"? (New York Times, 6/17/2013).
5. One of the methods Hiaasen uses to deliver his humor is his calm, understated tone. Point to some of the lines you find particularly funny in Bad Monkey.
6. What do you think of Driggs? What about some of the other (human) characters—what do you make of them? Do any in particular stand out, one way or another?
7. Is this a comedic novel...or a serious novel?
8. Political commentator and humorist P.J. O'Rourke once wrote that "reading Carl Hiaasen will do more to damage the Florida tourist trade than anything except a visit to Florida." What exactly does he mean...and, once you've figured that out, do you agree with him?
Hiaasen himself said in a New York Times interview with Deborah Solomon,
The Florida in my novels is not as seedy as the real Florida. It's hard to stay ahead of the curve. Every time I write a scene that I think is the sickest thing I have ever dreamed up, it is surpassed by something that happens in real life. (New York Times, 6/25/2004)
If you are familiar with Florida, is either comment (O'Rourke's or Hiaasen's) about Florida accurate, or even fair? Does Hiaasen present a realistic portrait of the state...or a jaded, cynical one? Could this novel (or any of his novels) be written about another area of the U.S., or the world? Or is it somehow peculiar to the Sunshine state?
9. How would you describe Carl Hiaasen's view of humanity? Why does he draw so many of his characters as grotesque caricatures? Do any of his characters earn your admiration or sympathy?
10. If you've read other books by Carl Hiaasen, how does this one compare? Opinions are all over the map as to whether Bad Monkey lives up to, or perhaps surpasses, his previous works. What do you think?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)