Book Review- Emily Henry's Beach Read

I work as a bookseller and for months, I’ve been watching Emily Henry’s novels fly off the shelves and I’ve been given enthusiastic recommendations from customers. I don’t often read in the romance genre, which is Henry’s wheelhouse, but I was curious to see why so many people love her books. I took my recent vacation to Hawaii, as an opportunity to theme my reading with a copy of Henry’s Beach Read. Her novel is not set in the islands, it is set in a small lake town in Michigan, nevertheless, it is full of summer vibes.

January is a struggling romance writer who has just received shocking news about her recently deceased father. Her father had been having a long-time affair, spending large chunks of his time in a secret lakeside cabin. After the funeral, January has been handed both the news and keys to the cabin, which she is reluctantly visiting to clean out in preparation to sell. She is equally annoyed and charmed by her mysterious next-door neighbor, whom she doesn’t physically see until a run-in at a local book store. She realizes it’s Gus, January’s arch-nemesis from her MFA program. Gus was January’s rival for best student and although they were academically competitive, they also were flirtatious, and had one drunk party fling.

January is mortified and tries to hide from Gus, but he keeps popping up as she navigates the small town. They end up making a bet: they will each write a novel in the other person’s chosen genre and the first person to sell their book, will get bragging rights and a cover blurb from the loser. The cynical Gus must write a romance and the optimistic January, must attempt literary fiction. As they write, they spy on each other through neighboring windows and decks, fueling both their creative energy and their romantic chemistry.

Beach Read was not the book I thought it would be, it is much better. Half of the story is a sweet, light-hearted comedy that follows conventions of the romance genre. Gus and January have an awkward and comical “meet cute” via a chance run-in at the bookstore. The setting is an impossible perfect small town with quirky locals. They have a series of storybook dates based on the premise that January needs to teach Gus how to experience romance to help inform his writing. Naturally, these dates have implications beyond writing research. These sweet elements attracted me to Henry’s novel, in the same way that I love shows like Gilmore Girls. Sometimes you just need a little happy fluff.

However, Beach Read is not simply fluff. It deals with heavy themes, such as January’s fractured ideas of her father and her inability to confront him. Complicating these emotions are January’s memories of her mother’s cancer treatment. Her mother survived, but January now realizes that her father was having the affair during this time. Gus is also very complex and Henry explores the reasons that Gus is drawn to heavier subjects in his writing. Beach Read has depth.

I really enjoyed Beach Read and may have even developed a crush on Gus. January is a lovable protagonist and I hope that Henry considers continuing with these characters in a future novel. I wasn’t done with them at the end of Beach Read. I’d love to see a film adaptation.

Book Review - Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Every-Thing

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of Jennifer Weiner’s latest novel, Mrs. Every-Thing, in exchange for an honest review.

In Mrs. Everything, bestselling author Jennifer Weiner explores the lives of the Kaufman sisters, Jo and Bethie. Although they are very different women, the Kaufman sisters are close, until Bethie is raped. The guilt, miscommunication, and things that go unspoken drives a wedge between the sisters and they spend most of their lives struggling to repair their relationship.

Mrs. Every-Thing is an epic story that begins in the 1950’s and spans decades, following Bethie and Jo through their childhood to their golden years. Weiner tackles many of the heavy themes of those decades, including feminism, civil rights, and gays rights. Her characters are in the thick of it.

Jo seems to follow a more traditional path, marrying young and becoming a mother. She lives in the suburbs of Connecticut and outwardly reflects the attitudes of a conservative housewife. However, she is hiding a relationship that she had with a female classmate in college, a love that has never died. She carries the burden of not feeling that she can live her authentic-self, as she tries to maintain a happy home for her children, while her marriage is crumbling.

Bethie takes a different path. After being sexually assaulted, she turns to an alternative, hippie lifestyle of the 60’s and lives on a commune. She is wary of marrying or having kids, but is vocal in her passion to promote feminism. She eventually realizes that she has a desire to be an entrepreneur, which is in conflict with the ideals of the commune, so she leaves and becomes a successful businesswoman. She also finds love with an black man in an time not long after the civil rights era.

Admittedly, in the hands of a different writer, the topics covered in Mrs. Every-Thing, may have come across as cliche. However, Weiner is a masterful storyteller and she has created two compelling protagonists. The tale of the Kaufman sisters is a page turner and I was engaged for the entire ride. It made me consider my own life path as a child of the late 70’s and how different my options have been from those of my mom and aunt, who were both born just a decade prior to Jo and Bethie. We often judge the world and the people living in it from the standards of now, however people are very much a product of the era in which they were raised. Our world is constantly changing and every generation has unique challenges. Through hindsight, I can now see just in my lifetime how far we have come with regard to inclusion and rights, yet how far we need to go. The story of the Kaufman sisters is look at a few pivotal decades in American history and moreover, what it meant to be female during that time.

I highly recommend Mrs. Every-Thing and Weiner’s other novels. She’s a talented writer!

Book Review - Lauren Acampora's The Paper Wasp

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for providing me with Lauren Acampora’s novel, The Paper Wasp, in exchange for an honest review.

Abby and Elise were childhood best friends raised in a small town in Michigan. They began to grow apart when as a teenager, Elise became involved in acting and her career took off.

Flash-Forward to their late 20’s: Elise is an actress living in Hollywood, while Abby is stuck in their small town, a college dropout. She is working retail and dreaming of a career in the film industry. Abby obsesses over Elise, saving every magazine article that features her former friend. The two women reconnect, when they both attend their high school reunion. Following the reunion, Abby decides to run off to Hollywood, showing up on Elise’s doorstep. Elise, takes Abby in for an extended stay, treating Abby to a taste of her lavish lifestyle. Soon, the boundaries of their relationship are blurred, when Abby accepts a job being Elise’s personal assistant. The situation is further strained by Abby’s growing ambition, a ticking time-bomb that is ready to explode.

I absolutely loved The Paper Wasp. Acampora is a masterful writer, combing gorgeous prose with complex characters. I could not put The Paper Wasp down and plowed through it in a single afternoon.

I’m a Los Angeles native and I found the way that Acampora captured the city to be perfect. There is a wonderful moment where Elise drives Abby through Hollywood for the first time, noting its lackluster, dingy atmosphere, which is a strong contrast both Abby’s perceived image of Hollywood and to Elise’s glamorous lifestyle. Elise takes meditation classes at an exclusive institute and although I’m not sure of a real-life counterpart, it is certainly something that exists in Los Angeles. It has strange, ethereal quality, but is also is a bit of a cult. I could easily imagine the type of fellow Angeleno’s, not only celebrities, who would have a membership to this type of club. One of the more memorable aspects of the institution, is their crazy costume parties, where members come dressed as images from their dreams. It’s strange and magical, with a hint of a nightmarish quality; akin to a scene from Alice in Wonderland.

There is another contrast, when Abby travels back to Michigan to see her sister. Her sister is a drug addict, who has recently had a baby daughter. Abby visits her sister and niece, seeing that they live in a filthy trailer barely able to make ends meet. Abby’s heart tells her to kidnap her niece and save her from the poverty and neglect, but she can’t act on it.

Abby’s obsession with Elise creates a tension throughout the story. In the start, she appears to be a bit of a stalker, but then as we see the dynamic between the two women, it is clearer that Abby is more concerned with the lack of direction that her life has taken. She is envious of Elise, who doesn’t seem to deserve her lucky breaks. Rather than wishing to be Elise, Abby thinks that she is more deserving or at least, if she were to have a good opportunity, she would know how to make the most of it. We learn that Abby has been carrying around a terrible secret that is making her more motivate to take risks in life. Abby becomes emboldened throughout the story, making her actions increasing erratic, creating a sense of danger.

When Abby is confronted with the real Elise, not the Elise from the magazine articles, she realizes that her friend lacks self-confidence. Elise lives a messy life. This sets up a social commentary on how we view celebrity, or even ordinary people, via carefully curated social media accounts. Abby couldn’t imagine the real Elise, because she was so caught-up in the fake, media version. Not only that, Abby spent a decade so hyper-focused on this fake Elise, that when she was confronted with the truth, her world cracked open.

The Paper Wasp is my current favorite read of 2019. I was hooked from the first page and cannot wait to read Acampora’s collection of short stories, The Wonder Garden. She is such a talented writer.