Defending Jacob :A Review

Defending Jacob by William Landay is a real page turner! Faced with one of the worst possible scenarios...that their only child, Jacob, has been accused of murdering his bullying classmate...Andy and Laurie Barber struggle with losing not just all their friends but his career as district prosecuting attorney and hers as the ultimate suburban mom.

While Jacob is the titled character it is Andy whose story Landay tells. A man who, on the surface is a brilliant and successful prosecutor, is revealed to be quite vulnerable underneath. He struggles, not only with his son's guilt but also his own guilt over having possibly passed on to his son the "murder gene." The incident forces to the forefront a not-so-wonderful past that Andy has managed to conceal; a past which, in combination with Jacob's trial, threatens Andy's storybook marriage.

Defending Jacob is a crime thriller written with lyrical language not normally found in such fast-paced novels. It gives sensitive treatment to a close family not accustomed to being looked at under the microscopes of their upscale neighbors and friends. It gives a wrenching look inside a man who has lived a lie and been tortured by it. And, it gives an almost unbelievable and certainly horrific solution to the problem.

What Defending Jacob does not give us is much of a view inside the minds and hearts of Jacob or Laurie. It's a difficult task given the first person point of view which makes me think third person might have been more effective. My only other nit is that much of the narrative is repeated at one time or another throughout the story because of the frequent interjection of transcripts from the actual trial.

On the whole, however, it was a well-written, gripping story. I look forward to reading Landay's next work.

Learning To Swim by Sara J. Henry : A Review

     Since Sara J. Henry just won this years Mary Higgins Clark award at the Edgars for her debut novel, Learning To Swim, I thought I better turn in my review. This story plunges you into the icy waters of Lake Champlain right along with its heroine, Troy Chance, who is quite certain she sees a young child being tossed overboard from a ferry and jumps from the boat she's in to rescue this victim.
     Not only did she see a child but the child was tied so tightly into a sweatshirt that he had no chance of survival had Troy not made the daring leap.
     I liked the character, Troy Chance; the way Henry portrays her. Troy is more comfortable with guys (good since all the tenants in her boarding house are guys), loves a good meal and is skeptical of authority...all traits I can relate to! She is brave but also naive, she is physically strong but weak when it comes to abandoned children.
     Yes, there are parts of the story that are a bit far-fetched but they are definitely not impossible; and yes the ending is a bit contrived but it is a mystery written in an era where both belief and skepticism are routinely suspended.
     Most importantly this was a well-written novel with a great plot and a boatload of interesting characters. And, judging from how the story ended I would suspect there might be a few more mysteries for Troy Chance to solve before she is finished. I hope so, anyway!

The Truth About Delilah Blue : A Review

The truth about Delilah Blue is that it changes. It changes because even Delilah doesn’t know who she is. Her divorced and estranged parents have used Delilah to create their own identities because even these adults in Tish Cohen’s latest novel have no clue who they are.

A story loaded with identity issues, The Truth About Delilah Blue, weaves back and forth between the points of view of Delilah (renamed Lila Mack for most of the novel), and her father, Victor, who is Lila's caretaker and who is slipping into early onset Alzheimer's.

Lila believes Elizabeth, Victor's ex-wife and Lila's mother, abandoned her. Midway through the novel Lila learns the truth. That Victor actually kidnapped her to save Lila from an irresponsible mother. That he took her from Toronto to Los Angeles and changed their names to hide Lila from the authorities. So Lila's father isn't who she thought he was either.

I liked this story because of the issues it presents. Neither parent is portrayed as perfect. Far from it. But neither is portrayed as evil either. Instead Lila learns that both parents loved her very much and did what they thought was best. In the end Lila learns that she is not the unwanted daughter of her artist mother nor the victim of her law-breaking and eccentric father but Delilah Blue, a young girl struggling to grow beyond the hurts of her past to find who she really is.

I also liked the easy going style of Tish Cohen's writing as well as her descriptions of the settings and the characters. Only two things actually bothered me. The ending, which I thought was confusing and abrupt. And the art professor of the class where Lila worked as a model who I thought was a bit inconsistent. Or maybe it was just that he was the one character I didn't like!

Finally, I liked Slash, the ever present, urbanized coyote that seemed to relate to Lila better than any human. As a passionate lover of animals I found this thread weaving through Cohen's novel a warm and significant element.

Night Swim by Jessica Keener: a Review

Scanning the shelves of a library or a bookstore one might think coming of age is only a male experience. Of course it is not and in Night Swim Jessica Keener sensitively tells the story of a young girl unable to live with or without her mother. It is a beautiful story that I plan to recommend to my new book club.

Born into a wealthy Jewish family in the suburbs of Boston, Sarah Kunitz struggles in high school with a mother who solves most of her troubles with alcohol and pills and a father who is more obsessed with his students at a local university than his daughter and three sons.

Set in the 1970s, the novel uses music as the force that ties Sarah with her older brother, Peter. When her beautiful voice is discovered by her music teacher, music also becomes a force that gives Sarah a much needed sense of worth.

It is not enough, however, to bring her closer to her mother, something Sarah wants desperately; something she continues to attempt even after her mother is gone by caring for her precious rose garden.

I have a friend who has suffered chronic bouts of depression for decades and I know, first hand, how debilitating it is for both the adult and their children. Keener does a masterful job of portraying this terrible condition in all its sadness and ugliness.

It is long after her mother's death in a car accident and long after several broken relationships, one resulting in an abortion, that Sarah comes to a place where she can stand on her own.

A poignant portrayal of a time and place that focuses, not on the notorious issues of the day--the Vietnam War, drugs, hippies and peace marches--, but on the more mundane issues within the walls of suburban households that is forced to move forward despite their personal problems. Keener's portrayal of  how Sarah, as well as her three brothers, each deal with their pain is both beautiful and sensitive.

The Daffodils Waited

Ach! It's spring. Goldfinches are the color of the forsythia...a sure sign. The bumble bees are making me guilty. They don't like 50 degree weather any more than I but they are out there buzzing through the quince blossoms, soaking in the glorious nectar. The sun shines. That is the draw and, though the season arrived early this year--nearly two weeks early--the blooms have remained hearty due to the cool nights.

Already I am planning ahead to the picket fence I'll put up for the puppies, the landscape additions to the side yard where our privacy has been compromised. Not a hedge of arborvitae as is so often the case in this suburban neighborhood, but a medley of pines and berry bushes for the birds to nibble all winter.

The cardinals are seeking their nesting places, the chickadees and goldfinch are scratching at the feeders which are in desperate need of re-filling and the robins are busy listening at the earth for signs of plump earthworms to pluck out.

I love it!

Pelicans in the Fast Food Line

There must have been several large schools of fish off the Florida Gulf Coast at the Delnor-Wiggins State Park this morning because there were several dozen brown pelicans getting breakfast there. I also saw two snowy egrets tiptoeing through the shallows seeking smaller fish and high above an osprey was on the lookout for her mate who had evidently promised her a prized morsel or two.

It occurred to me how much time animals and fowl spend each day just seeking nourishment. How far we have come from the need to put most of our energy into hunting, farming, fishing or milking cows.What a mistake that has been. Such healthy entertainment we have denied ourselves.

The Mighty Osprey

       The ospreys, still endangered but not nearly as rare as they once were, are coming back. They are majestic fisher birds with wingspans just 10 inches shorter than the bald eagle and bodies not quite as bulky. They build massive nests from sticks that they return to each year and put on additions so that they might comfortably cushion a child if that child so desired.

There is a pair that have nested at Delnor-Wiggins State Park in Naples, FL for several years. Three years ago their nest, complete with fledglings, was blown apart in a violent storm. Such are the
ways of nature. Everyone hoped they would rebuild but they did not. the next year a new nest appeared at the top of a tree whose canopy might have been destroyed in a similar storm leaving the perfect, almost flat, platform in a wide open space that these marvelous raptors prefer. Ospreys are amazing in their ability to soar, spot and dive for
the fish they hunt.  Because they are not as adept at turns as other raptors, they need these wide open areas. You won't normally find their nests deep within the limbs of trees as you might a hawk's or an eagle's. And, because their most common enemies (after man and the automobile) are scavengers such as raccoons who might climb and raid their nests, they like to be up high.

For the few weeks I've walked this part of the park the ospreys have taken turns sitting on the eggs and hunting for fish--the only food they eat. Today, one of them was sitting high on the edge of the nest. Of course I did not have my camera with me. But it appears the eggs have hatched which means mama and papa will be busier than ever keeping the fledgelings fed.

Many ospreys are terrific travellers. During migration they can log up to 160,000 miles in a lifetime. One osprey strapped with a tracking transmitter traveled from Martha's Vineyards to French Guiana, South America, in less than two weeks!


As mighty as these birds appear, they are actually quite fragile. The DDT years nearly wiped them out. A conservation success story, the ospreys' numbers began to climb back as soon as the DDT ban was initiated. Now, unfortunately, because ospreys often pick up fishing line and soda-can straps as well as twigs to add to their nests, this beach trash has become a deadly hazard for fledglings that get caught up in them.

Like many raptors, osprey eggs do not hatch all at once but over a period of several days. That means the first born is much stronger than the last and, when food is scarce, have a much better chance of surviving.

When I think about all the other threats our natural world has been subjected to...our lust for an easier, faster, asphalt-laden and chemical-driven life...I wonder if we will learn in time which "improvements" might eradicate other species...and if we do, will we be as lucky as we were with the osprey to enjoy their rebound.