This isn't my kind of book. I had a difficult time maintaining interest in the beginning; in the middle, I spent my time dreading what was going to potentially happen (I was right!); and the end....well, it was ambiguous at best. It reminded me of No Country of Old Men, which I realize was a hugely popular book and movie, but I didn't care for it.
Sheldon Horowitz (aka "Donny") is an elderly man who moves to Norway to live with his granddaughter, Rhea, and her Norwegian husband, Lars. His only child, a son (father to Rhea) is dead (in the Vietnam War) and his wife has recently passed away. So Rhea & Lars are the only family members he has left. He suffers from dementia and no one seems to know who is really was in his past. Was he a sniper in the Korean War, or was he a clerk?
Sheldon witnesses the murder of a woman in Rhea & Lars' apartment. He is hiding in the closet with the woman's young son ("Paul"), who doesn't speak English or Norwegian or apparently German. The woman and her son live in the upstairs apartment and the man who murdered her is the father of the boy, who is a product of rape by the man in their own war-torn country. Basically, the man, Enver, wants his son and he plans to return with him to their own country.
Sheldon takes "Paul" and runs for his safety. Sheldon then pretty much becomes "Donny" again, the sniper he was in the Korean War. He "talks" to his dead buddies; he talks a lot about being Jewish; he makes a plan to save Paul, Rhea & Lars. There are two police officers, Sigrid and Petter, who are also trying to find and save the boy.
That's the premise of the book. The jacket cover states that this book is, "A luminous novel, a police thriller, and the funniest book about war crimes and dementia you are likely to read." Really?? I guess I have a completely different sense of humor then. And it's definitely NOT what I would call a "police thriller". I am rating it a tad higher than I want only because it was well-written.
Wendy's Rating: ***1/2
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Friday, June 5, 2020
Martyred by Alisha Perkins
Yikes. I could hardly read this book. I forced myself again and again to pick it up and finish it. No book left behind and all that.... ;) At one point I looked to see if it was self-published because I couldn't believe that a company would publish it. But nope, it was indeed published by Eliezer Tristan Publishing. A friend, perhaps?
Anyway. The whole thing was ridiculous. These three women were full of themselves. All three were wealthy, beautiful and intelligent and yet they woke up every single day throwing themselves a pity party. It was pathetic. Oh poor me. They were also hypocritical. It drove me nuts. Eliza lives on a farm and has a wonderful husband who respects her and supports her. She has two wonderful daughters. Her husband owns a baseball team. He is loving and faithful. You can see why Eliza would be so unhappy, right? Then Camille, who is the anchor on a major news network. She is the star of the show. She is beautiful and well-respected. She is going places. Her husband doesn't want to have sex anymore and seems disinterested in her and their marriage. Camille, have you thought about ASKING him what's wrong?? Have you thought about having a discussion about your feelings and your marriage?? Of course not. He doesn't want to have sex, so you MUST get divorced. Finally, there is Vera. Vera is....wait for it....successful & wealthy & beautiful. She is lesbian with a beautiful loving girlfriend. But her girlfriend wants to have a child and Vera doesn't. So, their relationship if over for Vera. Plus, she discovers that she has "fallen out of love". This is what is wrong with the world today! Oh, it's too hard, so I am going to quit. Seriously.
Aside from the annoying characters, the writing was cliched to no end. The cliches just went on and on and on. And it was repetitive. Foreshadowing? Sure. Let's hear 8 times how much Eliza hates germs and brings her own high quality sheets whenever she stays in a hotel because of the nastiness of hotels rooms, even a Penthouse Suite. Blah, blah, blah. Having her own sheets comes in handy at the end of the book. Wink, wink. They attend this big event at a big, expensive hotel and they all get totally wasted. They would have to be wasted because of the amount of alcohol consumed in a 18 hour period! Bottles & bottles of champagne, shots, drinks, sips, gulps. Honestly. It was insane. Then there is the reckless flirtation to "get ahead". Really?? Isn't this what these woman are "protesting about" - being used and abused and being held back by men??
Oh, and the BIG EVENT of this chaos of a story. Are you serious?? Feeling proud about killing a man and feeding him to the pigs and getting away with it? I just can't..... It's so beyond ridiculous. This is the worst book I have read in a really long time.
So, after forcing myself to finish the book, I read the Acknowledgements. Just because I always do. It came as NO surprise that Alisha's first sentence is, "I never went to school for writing." Well, there you have it.
Wendy's Rating: *
Anyway. The whole thing was ridiculous. These three women were full of themselves. All three were wealthy, beautiful and intelligent and yet they woke up every single day throwing themselves a pity party. It was pathetic. Oh poor me. They were also hypocritical. It drove me nuts. Eliza lives on a farm and has a wonderful husband who respects her and supports her. She has two wonderful daughters. Her husband owns a baseball team. He is loving and faithful. You can see why Eliza would be so unhappy, right? Then Camille, who is the anchor on a major news network. She is the star of the show. She is beautiful and well-respected. She is going places. Her husband doesn't want to have sex anymore and seems disinterested in her and their marriage. Camille, have you thought about ASKING him what's wrong?? Have you thought about having a discussion about your feelings and your marriage?? Of course not. He doesn't want to have sex, so you MUST get divorced. Finally, there is Vera. Vera is....wait for it....successful & wealthy & beautiful. She is lesbian with a beautiful loving girlfriend. But her girlfriend wants to have a child and Vera doesn't. So, their relationship if over for Vera. Plus, she discovers that she has "fallen out of love". This is what is wrong with the world today! Oh, it's too hard, so I am going to quit. Seriously.
Aside from the annoying characters, the writing was cliched to no end. The cliches just went on and on and on. And it was repetitive. Foreshadowing? Sure. Let's hear 8 times how much Eliza hates germs and brings her own high quality sheets whenever she stays in a hotel because of the nastiness of hotels rooms, even a Penthouse Suite. Blah, blah, blah. Having her own sheets comes in handy at the end of the book. Wink, wink. They attend this big event at a big, expensive hotel and they all get totally wasted. They would have to be wasted because of the amount of alcohol consumed in a 18 hour period! Bottles & bottles of champagne, shots, drinks, sips, gulps. Honestly. It was insane. Then there is the reckless flirtation to "get ahead". Really?? Isn't this what these woman are "protesting about" - being used and abused and being held back by men??
Oh, and the BIG EVENT of this chaos of a story. Are you serious?? Feeling proud about killing a man and feeding him to the pigs and getting away with it? I just can't..... It's so beyond ridiculous. This is the worst book I have read in a really long time.
So, after forcing myself to finish the book, I read the Acknowledgements. Just because I always do. It came as NO surprise that Alisha's first sentence is, "I never went to school for writing." Well, there you have it.
Wendy's Rating: *
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