The Passenger
Lisa Lutz, 2016
Simon & Schuster
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781451686630
Summary
A blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!
In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...
Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.
She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.
It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?
With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 13, 1970
• Where—Southern California, USA
• Education—attended University of California, Irvine and Santa Cruz - no degree
• Awards—Alex Award
• Currently—lives in upstate New York
Lisa Lutz is an American author. She began her career writing screenplays for Hollywood. One of her rejected screenplays became the basis for a popular series of novels about a family of private investigators, the Spellmans.
Biography
Lutz was born in Southern California in 1970. She attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, University of Leeds in England and San Francisco State University, all without attaining a degree.
During the 1990s she had many low-paying jobs, including work in a private investigation firm, and spent a lot of time writing and re-writing a Mob comedy called Plan B. Her screenplay was optioned in 1997, and was made into a movie in 2000 (released in 2001). Variety Magazine described the movie as "torturously unfunny." She subsequently produced several other tentative screenplays, but none was picked up.
Her final effort, tentatively titled "The Spellman Files," was also rejected. At that point Lutz realized that "the story really needed more space to be told properly," so she decided to write it as a novel.
She began the novel while still living in California in 2004, then decided to move into a relative's family vacation home in upstate New York to work on it full-time. She returned to the west coast, this time to Seattle, Oregon, to write her second Spellman novel, then moved to San Francisco, where she lived until 2012. She presently lives miles from civilization in upstate New York.
Spellman series
Her novel series describes the Spellmans, a family of private investigators, who, while very close knit, are also intensely suspicious and spend much time investigating each other. The first book in the series, The Spellman Files, becomes suspenseful when 14-year-old Rae Spellman is apparently kidnapped.
In 2008 The Spellman Files was nominated for three awards for best first novel—the Anthony Award, Macavity Award, and Barry award. It was also nominated for a Dilys Award. The book, however, did win the Alex Award, and it reached #27 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Her second novel, Curse of the Spellmans, was nominated for a 2009 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for best mystery novel.
Stand alones
All told, Lutz published six Spellman mysteries before stepping outside the genre in 2015 for her first entry into straight fiction, How to Start a Fire. That novel tells the story of four college friends. Three years, in 2016, later she ventured into psychological thriller territory with The Passenger, of which Kirkus Reviews remarked that Lutz, "writes like she's happy to be there."
Other writing
In 2011 Lutz co-wrote—in alternating chapters—the mystery, Heads You Lose, with her then real-life partner David Hayward. She has also written a 2013 childrens' book, How to Negotiate Everything. Her articles and essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Slate.com, Friction Magazine, and her own blogs, Ask Lutz and Lutz U. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 3/20/2016.)
Book Reviews
Lisa Lutz has written a number of clever comic mysteries about the Spellmans, a family of screwball sleuths. In The Passenger, she steps smartly out of her comfort zone to write a dead-serious thriller (with a funny bone).
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
Tanya Dubois [is] the enigmatic heroine of this enjoyable standalone.... While the pacing falters in places and some of the final reveals lack wallop, Lutz’s complex web of finely honed characters will keep readers turning the pages.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) When the answers finally come, they are juicy, complex, and unexpected. The satisfying conclusion will leave readers rethinking everything and immediately turning back to the first page to start again.... [S]mart writing, and rapid pace delivered here. —Emily Byers, Salem P.L., OR
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Binge-worthy fare, especially for those drawn to strong female protagonists.
Booklist
Lutz's pacing is excellent, and the interior monologue captures what it would be like not to have a name or, even worse, a valid ID..., but at its core, this is a novel about identity: a slippery notion which depends upon both how the world sees us and how we see ourselves.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Did you initially believe Tanya when she states that she had nothing to do with Frank’s death, and that he died simply after a fall down the stairs? How does your perception of Tanya’s innocence or guilt change throughout the course of the novel?
2. Did you find Tanya to be a reliable narrator? At which points in the novel did you trust her account of events, and at which points did you feel she was hiding all or some of the truth?
3. What techniques does the author use to ratchet up the tension and suspense throughout the novel? Discuss specific moments that were unnerving for you as a reader, and how the author kept you on edge. How did the author use humor to lighten the mood periodically?
4. Why does Amelia decide to trust Blue? Do you think that Blue ever trusts Amelia? Would you have trusted Blue if you were in the same position?
5. How much of Blue giving Debra Maze’s identity to Amelia is altruistic, and how much is malicious? Do you believe that Blue’s gift is intended to be a way out or a trap?
6. How do the emails between Ryan and Jo inserted throughout the novel help you to understand their relationship and what happened ten years ago? Why does Jo continue to communicate with Ryan, and why does she seem to trust him?
7. What does each new identity or potential identity represent to Tanya? What does Tanya’s ability to shift identities so easily say about her personality and her motivations, and in what ways does taking on a new identity change her? Discuss in particular the changes Tanya makes to her hair and makeup to make herself alternately more attractive or less attractive, and how these changes make her feel.
8. In Recluse, Wyoming, Debra comes close to making a life for herself as a small-town schoolteacher. What do you think would have happened if Jack Reed hadn’t appeared on her doorstep? Could Debra have ever lived a relatively normal life in Recluse? How do her actions there alter the course of her journey and her self-perception?
9. Violence toward women is a major theme of the novel. What sort of statement is the author making by presenting so many relationships where women have been abused or wronged, and what does it mean for these women to get revenge?
10. Discuss Tanya’s relationships with the men in her life: Frank, Domenic, and Ryan. Is she truly in love with any of them? Who does she reveal herself to, and why? How does Tanya use men and her sexuality to get what she wants?
11. Why does Tanya decide it’s so crucial for her to tell the police about Reginald Lee? Does her attempt to stop Reggie from committing a crime absolve her of any of her own transgressions?
12. Did you feel empathy for Tanya or any of her many alter egos? How did your feelings toward her fluctuate over the course of the novel? Did you ever feel that she went past redemption in your eyes, or did you root for her to succeed?
13. Why does Nora ultimately decide to go home? Were you surprised by what happens when she gets there?
14. What do you think happens to the characters after the novel is over? Do you think Nora will finally find peace?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
top of page (summary)
Timebound (The Chronos Files, 1)
Rysa Walker, 2013
Skyscape
374 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781477848159
Summary
Winner, 2013 Grand Prize and Young Adult Fiction Winner
When Kate Pierce-Keller’s grandmother gives her a strange blue medallion and speaks of time travel, sixteen-year-old Kate assumes the old woman is delusional.
But it all becomes horrifyingly real when a murder in the past destroys the foundation of Kate’s present-day life. Suddenly, that medallion is the only thing protecting Kate from blinking out of existence.
Kate learns that the 1893 killing is part of something much more sinister, and her genetic ability to time travel makes Kate the only one who can fix the future. Risking everything, she travels back in time to the Chicago World’s Fair to try to prevent the murder and the chain of events that follows.
Changing the timeline comes with a personal cost—if Kate succeeds, the boy she loves will have no memory of her existence. And regardless of her motives, does Kate have the right to manipulate the fate of the entire world?
Timebound was originally released as Time’s Twisted Arrow. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Born—N/A
• Where—Penscola, Florida, USA
• Raised—Wewahitchka, Florida
• Education—B.A., St. Andrews Presbyterian College; Ph.D., University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill
• Awards—Amazon's Grand Prize and Young Adult Awards
• Currently—lives in Cary, North Carolina
Rysa Walker is the author of the bestselling "Chronos Files" series. Timebound, the first book in the series, was the Young Adult and Grand Prize winner in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards.
Rysa grew up on a cattle ranch in the South, where she read every chance she got. On the rare occasion that she gained control of the television, she watched Star Trek and imagined living in the future, on distant planets, or at least in a town big enough to have a stop light.
She currently lives in North Carolina, where she is working on her next series, "The Delphi Project." If you see her on social media, please tell her to get back into the writing cave. (From the publsiher.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Walker delivers a solid, leisurely paced tale that mixes romance with temporal intrigue.... However, the plot simmers for much of the book, heavy with infodumps, informed backstory, and little progress...leading to an imbalanced, though entertaining story (Ages 12–up).
Publishers Weekly
This is a wonderful book full of mystery, adventure and romance.... What would you do in Kate's shoes? Remember every change in the past can cause a dramatic change in your future and in the lives of others. —Toni Jourdan
Children's Literature
Discussion Questions
1. In Timebound, Kate must wrestle with the fact that changing the past could result in some innocent individuals never existing. When faced with the possibility of creating an alternate future, who has the right to choose?
2. We don't currently have the ability to choose "genetic gifts" for our offspring, but it's something that could, arguably, exist within a matter of decades. Could a reasonable line be drawn or is this a Pandora's Box that should never be opened?
3. Saul demonstrates how easy it would be to manipulate religious faith with some advanced technology and knowledge of the future. Do you think the author's depiction of the Cyrists is believable? Does this aspect of the story enhance or detract from your enjoyment of the overall story?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
LitLovers thanks Dorothy Hughes of the Dirty Dogs Book Club for bring this book to our attention and providing information.
Good on Paper
Rachel Cantor, 2016
Melville House
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781612194707
Summary
Is a new life possible? Because Shira Greene’s life hasn’t quite turned out as planne
She’s a single mom living with her daughter and her gay friend, Ahmad. Her PhD on Dante’s Vita Nuova hasn’t gotten her a job, and her career as a translator hasn’t exactly taken off either.
But then she gets a call from a Nobel Prize-winning Italian poet who insists she’s the only one who can translate his newest book.
Stunned, Shira realizes that—just like that— her life can change. She sees a new beginning beckoning: academic glory, demand for her translations, and even love (her good luck has made her feel more open to the entreaties of a neighborhood indie bookstore owner).
There’s only one problem: It all hinges on the translation, and as Shira starts working on the exquisitely intricate passages of the poet’s book, she realizes that it may in fact be, well ... impossible to translate.
A deft, funny, and big-hearted novel about second chances, Good on Paper is a grand novel of family, friendship, and possibility. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1955-56
• Where—Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; M.A., Johns Hopkins University
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City
Rachel Cantor considers herself a native New Englander, but she spent her adolescence in Rome, Italy, and lived in various states along the Northeast coast. She has spent time in Africa, Asia and Eurasia, and now finds herself living in New York City, specifically the borough of Brooklyn where so many other authors have settled.
Cantor is the author of two novels—A Highly Unlikely Scenario (2013) and Good on Paper (2016)—as well as numerous short stories. In addition to writing fiction, she has spent years as a freelance writer for nonprofits that work in developing countries around the globe.
Her stories have appeared in magazines such as the Paris Review, One Story, Ninth Letter, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Fence, and Volume 1 Brooklyn. They have been anthologized, nominated for three Pushcart Prizes, short-listed by both the O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories, and awarded runner-up Bridport and Graywolf/SLS Prizes.
Along the way Cantor has been awarded numerous fellowships and scholarships, attending the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writing Conferences, among others. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Ms. Cantor is unafraid of asking big questions explicitly, like whether fidelity—to texts or to people—is possible. The complicated details of Romei's schemes and Shira's past start to pile up and will satisfy lovers of plot, but the novel is at its strongest when Shira's voice is loosely playful and ruminative.
John Williams - New York Times Book Review
Ms. Cantor ingeniously matches the dilemmas of poetics to personal matters..... In the novel’s final third, [her] deft juggling act collapses....and the book flattens into a soap opera. Good on Paper tantalizingly tinkers with storytelling novelties, but it ends up in old and familiar territory.
Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal
It is not often that a novel comes along that is laugh-out-loud hilarious and thought-provokingly philosophical. Good on Paper is both.
Boston Globe
The comedy helps prevent the seriousness from shading into sentimentality. But what remains most powerful about this book is not the zaniness or the punning. Rather, it is how sincerely Cantor depicts what another poet, Wallace Stevens, called "This vif, this dizzle-dazzle of being new/ And of becoming."
San Francisco Chronicle
Rachel Cantor's debut...introduced her as an imaginative tour de force able to juggle the absurd with the poignant, the unbelievable with the necessary. With Good on Paper, Cantor does the same, and with just as much dexterity.
Toronto Star
An engrossing read and an invigorating subject of study.... Ultimately, this is a story about stories, about the power of art to redeem both creator and viewer.
Dallas Morning News
In this madcap novel...nothing is quite as it seems.... Good on Paper is well-suited to our global world: set in New York, with plot threads in Rome. Though at times a bit too tied to textual analysis of Dante's work, and a little too taken with wordplay, there is an absorbing story here, and affectionate character development.
Minneapolis Star Tribuneac
In Good on Paper, Cantor creates a compelling vision of what love is. It's not a feeling but —like translation—an act: a willful opening of one self to another.
NPR
As Cantor's playful and smart novel unfolds, it's hard not to fall in love with her characters. Above all, it's a book for language-lovers, so heads-up word fiends.
Elle
A dazzling book...With one-of-a-kind characters and brilliant insights on translation, this book will hit you in all your literary sweet spots.
Bustle
(Starred review.) Translation is a metaphor through which Cantor uses her considerable powers with language to refract larger questions about family bonds, storytelling, and letting go of fantasies of new life and waking up to the life that is yours. (Jan.)
Publishers Weekly
[N]othing is straightforward—neither the work Shira is translating, nor her private affairs.... Yet as the tragedies and comedies of her experiences begin to blend in with Romei's book, the possibility of a vita nuova (new life) for herself and her daughter...seems real. —Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Cantor clearly loves her characters, and she shows true mastery of their inner lives. Between endearingly wonky riffs about translation, she offers full access to Shira's roller coaster of emotions.... You'll want to reread the final chapters more than once, delighted anew each time by how well Cantor speaks our language.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add questions by the publisher if and when they're made available. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Good on Paper...and then take off on your own...
1. Translation as a motif undergirds this novel. What does it mean to translate—is it simply a matter of exchanging a word in one language for a word in another? Or is it something else? How does the act of translating function as a metaphor for living one's life; in particular, how should Shira translate the events and people in her own life?
2. How has Shira's past, especially her mother's abandonment, shaped her life?
3. Follow-up to Question 2: What kind of mother is Shira: what is her relationship with Andi and how does it change during the course of the novel? Is Ahmed justified in his criticism of Shira's mothering when her life begins to spiral out of control?
4. Wordplay is a prominent element in Good on Paper. Find some examples—Andi's Topeka/Eureka or, say, change is afoot/footwear prefrences (p. 59). Other than sheer fun, what might the author be suggesting about the ways we communicate and comprehend one another?
5. Romei asks Shira whether she believes in the possibility of new life. Do you agree with Shira or Dante in the passage below?
Dante believes we choose new life: if we're ready to walk the straight and narrow, we can leave our old life behind and achieve salvation. I don't think so. People get sick, they win the lottery. But they don't change.
What do you think: is new life possible—do we get second chances in life; are we capable of change?
6. Benny says to Shira at one point:
Exile is our [the Jews'] defining metaphor.... We do small acts of repair, we try to fix the brokeness, but our exile never ends, not until we are collectively redeemed at the End of Days.... [But] for all Christians, I suppose, individual pilgrimage is the defining metaphor explaining our life's journey...the straight-line narrative to salvation.
Would you agree that the metaphors of exile and pilgrimage explain some of the differences between Judaism and Christianity? Does either metaphor—or any others—define your life journey?
7. Talk about Ahmed. Talk about Benny.
8. Why doesn't Shira believe in forgiveness? Who does she need to forgive? Does that change during the course of the novel? Do you believe in forgiveness? Or do you think that what Shira says below makes sense?
[W]hat can forgiveness possibly mean? You pretend a thing didn't happen? You acknowledged that it happened but pretend it doesn't matter? If it matters, then forgiveness by definition isn't possible. If it doesn't matter, what's to forgive?
9. What is the vision of love that comes out of Good on Paper? What does Shira come to learn about the people in her life, how to love them, and how to feel loved in return?
10. SPOILER ALERT: At what point did you "figure it out"? Or were you taken by suprise?
(Questions by LitLoves. Feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice
Curtis Sittenfeld, 2016
Random House
512 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400068326
Summary
A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Equal parts homage to Jane Austen and bold literary experiment, Eligible is a brilliant, playful, and delicious saga for the twenty-first century.
This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City.
When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.
Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master’s degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won’t discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane’s fortieth birthday fast approaches.
Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip’s friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . .
And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.
Wonderfully tender and hilariously funny, Eligible both honors and updates Austen’s beloved tale. Tackling gender, class, courtship, and family, Sittenfeld reaffirms herself as one of the most dazzling authors writing today. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 23, 1975
• Where—Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.F.A., Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives in St. Louis, Missouri
Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld is an American writer, the author of several novels and a collection of short stories.
Sittenfeld was the second of four children (three girls and a boy) of Paul G. Sittenfeld, an investment adviser, and Elizabeth (Curtis) Sittenfeld, an art history teacher and librarian at Seven Hills School, a private school in Cincinnati.
She attended Seven Hills School through the eighth grade, then attended high school at Groton School, a boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1993. In 1992, the summer before her senior year, she won Seventeen magazine's fiction contest.
She attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, before transferring to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. At Stanford, she studied Creative Writing, wrote articles for the college newspaper, and edited that paper's weekly arts magazine. At the time, she was also chosen as one of Glamour magazine's College Women of the Year. She earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.
Novels
• Prep
Her first novel Prep (2005) deals with coming of age, self-identity, and class distinctions in the preppy and competitive atmosphere of a private school.
• The Man of My Dreams
Sittenfeld's second novel, The Man of My Dreams (2006), follows a girl named Hannah from the end of her 8th grade year through her college years at Tufts and into her late twenties.
• American Wife
Sittenfeld's third novel, American Wife (2008), is the tale of Alice Blackwell, a fictional character who shares many similarities with former First Lady Laura Bush.
• Sisterland
Her fourth novel, Sisterland (2013), concerns a set of identical twins who have psychic powers, one of whom hides her strange gift while the other has become a professional psychic.
• Eligible
A 21st-century retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Eligible was released in 2016. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/12/2013.)
Book Reviews
If there exists a more perfect pairing than Curtis Sittenfeld and Jane Austen, we dare you to find it.... Sittenfeld makes an already irresistible story even more beguiling and charming.
Elle
Sittenfeld is an obvious choice to re-create Jane Austen’s comedy of manners. [She] is a master at dissecting social norms to reveal the truths of human nature underneath.
Millions
The further afield that Sittenfeld strays from Austen, the less compelling and less credible her story is, and the ending sags under the weight of a television-programmed finale. Overall...Sittenfeld’s latest offers amusing details and provocative choices but little of the penetrating insight into underlying values.
Publishers Weekly
In this charming modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Sittenfeld deftly brings Austen's classic into the 21st century.... Her take on Austen's iconic characters is skillful, her pacing excellent, and her dialog highly entertaining.... [A] wonderful addition to the genre. —Kristen Droesch
Library Journal
A delightful romp for not only Austen devotees but also lovers of romantic comedies and sly satire, as well.... Bestselling Sittenfeld plus Jane Austen? What more could mainstream fiction readers ask for?
Booklist
The modernization of this classic story allows for a greater and more humorous range of incompetency and quirks.... Delight in this tale for its hilarious and endearing family drama, but don’t expect to get the same level of romantics and Darcy-inflicted swoon that make the original untouchable.
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)
Consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Eligible...then take off on your own:
1. The most obvious place to start is with comparisons between Curtis Sittenfeld's homage and Jane Austen's original Pride and Prejudice. Consider the following—characters—plot points—dialogue—humor—setting. How closely does Sittenfeld adhere to Austen and where does she depart? Do the departures work?
2. Does this book hold up on its own as an independent novel, disregarding any comparisons with the original?
3. Consider reading (and viewing) other recent takes on Pride and Prejudice:
♦ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. Read both book and film.
(Also listen to Screen Thoughts podcast movie review.)
♦ Austenland by Shannon Hale. Read both book and film.
4. Take up the question of why P&P has remained a perennial favorite for 200 years. What makes the book so timeless? The original takes place in an era with values, many of which we find repugnant today: tight restrictions on female freedom and a pernicious class system. So why do we love and admire Austen's most famous work?
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, feel free to use these, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
All Things Cease to Appear
Elizabeth Brundage, 2016
Knopf Doubleday
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101875599
Summary
A dark, riveting, beautifully written book that combines noir and the gothic in a story about two families entwined in their own unhappiness, with, at its heart, a gruesome and unsolved murder.
Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife killed and their three-year-old daughter alone—for how many hours?—in her room across the hall.
He had recently, begrudgingly, taken a position at a nearby private college (far too expensive for local kids to attend) teaching art history, and moved his family into a tight-knit, impoverished town that has lately been discovered by wealthy outsiders in search of a rural idyll.
George is of course the immediate suspect—the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer.
And three teenage brothers (orphaned by tragic circumstances) find themselves entangled in this mystery, not least because the Clares had moved into their childhood home, a once-thriving dairy farm. The pall of death is ongoing, and relentless; behind one crime there are others, and more than twenty years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served.
A rich and complex portrait of a psychopath and a marriage, this is also an astute study of the various taints that can scar very different families, and even an entire community. Elizabeth Brundage is an essential talent who has given us a true modern classic. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1959-60
• Rasied—Maplewood, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., Hampshire College; M.F.A. Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives near Albany, New York
Elizabeth Brundage graduated from Hampshire College, attended the NYU film school, was a screenwriting fellow at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and received an MFA as well as a James Michener Award from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She has taught at a variety of colleges and universities, most recently at Skidmore College, where she was visiting writer-in-residence. She lives near Albany in upstate New York. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Slightly Gothic, socially perceptive, and briskly written…. Set in a seemingly haunted farmhouse is a rapidly gentrifying Hudson Valley town, the complex literary thriller ranges across generations of traumatized, interwoven families.
Boris Kachka - New York
Superb…think a more literary, and feminist, Gone Girl. As the seemingly perfect marriage at its core reminds us, the most lethal deceptions are the stories we tell ourselves.
Megan O’Grady - Vogue
(Starred review.) [Brundage's] searing, intricate novel epitomizes the best of the literary thriller, marrying gripping drama with impeccably crafted prose, characterizations, and imagery.... Succeeding as murder mystery, ghost tale, family drama, and love story, [this] novel is both tragic and transcendent.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Instead of the traditional whodunit path...Brundage takes the reader back in time to reveal what led to...[the killing].... [A] piercing new novel. Part mystery, part ghost story, and entirely brilliant.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) A dynamic portrait of a young woman coming into her own [and] of a marriage in free fall.... It rises to [great] literary heights and promises a soaring mix of mysticism.
Booklist
(Starred review.) You get in your car, drive to work...back at home, someone is chopping your wife to bits.... Brundage carries the arc of her story into the future, where the children of the nightmare, scarred by poverty, worry, meth, Iraq, are bound up in its consequences.... [T]his is a book that you won't want to read alone late at night.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The issue of class differences weighs heavily throughout All Things Cease to Appear. Discuss the faltering farm economy in the area and how that affects morale. Which characters seem to represent the "old guard" of the town? How does distrust of the wealthy Manhattan set factor into the town’s perception of George?
2. Discuss the role of otherworldly influences. How does Brundage use voice and character to create a foreboding, eerie feeling throughout the novel? Discuss George’s hesitance to believe in these spirits. How does this create a gulf between him and Catherine? When, if ever, does Catherine feel validated for believing in the presence of these spirits?
3. Discuss the idea of "lost mothers." as explored throughout. How do the Hale brothers each cope with the loss of their beloved mother? How does Catherine become a mother figure for the Hales? Which brother does she have the greatest influence on over time?
4. How does Uncle Rainer help to shape Cole’s understanding of the world? Describe Rainer’s emphasis on education. How does Cole take this to heart?
5. Discuss Willis’s trajectory throughout the novel. How would you describe her disposition as a teenager? What has shaped her worldview? How does her relationship with George affect her later choices in lifestyle and career?
6. How is the concept of motherhood explored throughout the novel? How would you define motherhood for Catherine? Mary? How do the obligations of motherhood tie into wifely obligations? Which characters represent a backlash to the established 1970s ideals of womanhood?
7. Discuss the evolution of Catherine’s personality. In the months before she is murdered, how does Catherine begin to defy the expectations of her role as wife? How is her discovery of poetry via Adrienne Rich significant to her development as a character? What other influences shape her?
8. Discuss the scene in which George cuts Willis’s hair during an intimate encounter. Why do you think he chose to do that? Explore the power dynamic in their relationship.
9. Describe the early stages of George’s relationship with Catherine. Do you think they ever shared genuine feelings for each other, or was their relationship borne out of obligation? How do Catherine’s Catholic upbringing and religious beliefs tether her to the confines of their relationship?
10. As the Clare case unfolds, Travis Lawton is determined to bring Catherine’s killer to justice. How does this affect his relationship with his own wife? Do you think that the case contributed to their marital discord?
11. Justine is a defining character in All Things Cease to Appear. How does her perspective offer insight into George and Catherine’s relationship? Discuss the relationship between Justine and her husband, Bram. How do they defy the conventional expectations for marriage and couplehood?
12. Discuss Franny’s reentry into Chosen. At what moment does she become witness to her mother’s happiness? Who gives her the best insight into her mother’s character?
13. The section "Exile" gives significant perspective into Catherine’s attitudes on motherhood, her new home in Chosen, and her relationship with George. How did you interpret her tone over the course of the letters? Do you think she ever sent any true updates to her family members, or did she use these hidden letters as a means of conveying her emotions? Why do you think Brundage chose to include this section at that point in the novel?
14. Consider how George changes over the course of the novel. When were you first convinced of his guilt? Which moments in All Things Cease to Appear did you find to be most disturbing?
15. Discuss the conclusion of the novel. Were you satisfied with how George met his end? Do we actually know that he has died? How did you interpret Franny’s last conversation with her father?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)