Here are the latest books that I’ve read and reviewed. There are three more, which I would share in another post.
Mae takes you along to Harbor Inn, creates a perfect aura to immerse in the mystery that she creates from page one, with her signature style – “The creaking, jostling carriage,” “dusk made darker” by the dense pine and cedars, “heavy mist of the pacific and the clop of hoofbeats reverberating,” the rope burn that gaped on either side of his neck and the pocket watch – such is the symbolic portal that opens the moment you start reading The Price of Atonement. It is not just the style of writing that would keep you hooked, the exquisite prose and the characters evoke many emotions that linger long after you’ve read the last page. Fast-paced and packed with action, the story keeps getting darker as it proceeds. I could empathize with Iona and Willie. Leviticus too becomes worth loving as the mysteries fall apart.
Why is Leviticus searching for a particular spirit? What is his connection with the ghost? Why does he want her to cross over to the other world, willingly? What is the guilt that has brought him to Harbor Pointe? If you are an assiduous reader, you’ll find many hints to guess the answers to these questions. Iona would shock you but the reactions of Leviticus have been brilliantly described.
The Price of Atonement is much more than a mysterious story, it stirs human values that lie dormant within us till somebody ignites them. I finished reading it within a few hours, as I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended.
Dreamland by Patricia Furstenberg is a fascinating book – one of its kind, as it infuses new life into folklore and legends of the past. If you look at the mesmerizing cover of the book carefully, it conveys where it is going to transport you and how succinct the stories are. I’ve never heard the stories it tells, and therefore its charm doubled for me.
The stories speak about the art (cave paintings) that has survived wars, earthquakes and battles. Stories like ‘Ogling a Hen with Gold Eggs,’ Idyllic Edelweiss, Tough Luck at Lower Viseul have a magical appeal. Many legends from the regions of Romania come alive, and many of them tell how towns and villages got their names. Each story ends with a short piece of history to explain its significance. The prose is lyrical in many stories. There is poignancy, valor and discrimination embedded within the stories. It is a marvel how Furstenberg says so much within a 100 word story!
She seems to be a poet at heart. Her exotic style shines through such sentences:
“Spring’s shamrock changed its coat for a lustre-less pickle that turns to mulch through rainfalls.”
“Peaceful plains like a sleeping maiden naively awaiting the kiss of dawn’s brightest star.”
“Hope was a stern mistress.”
“Words whisper from a slab of red marble.”
“The mountain path like an emerald belt hugged the curves of Bargau Mountains whose tree-church sang of life and death.”
Patricia also shares beautiful pictures of the landscape, Romanian pottery, fortresses, churches and Banffy Castle. I enjoyed each moment of reading these stories.
‘Three-Penny Memories’ is a powerful and poignant reflection on Leonhard’s life, her relationship with her mother and emotional upheavals that made her resilient.
Packed with emotions, most of the poems are about her mother’s Alzheimer’s but that takes her back to her encephalitis and she dwells on the weird connection with her mother’s condition. As a caregiver, she lays bare her struggle with the failing memory of her mother. Her dilemma – “I’m always torn. Mom or career? Mom or marriage? Mom or my own sanity?” A “doting daughter” who hangs onto the false hope that “mother will recover” evokes an uncanny kinship with the reader.
“Never a mother except to my own.” Just one phrase sums up the poet’s woes. The anguish of “my broken womb” continues to haunt her thoughts, resurfacing in many poems. Pain and guilt mingle to produce intense poetry that tugs at your heartstrings.
While an ‘Ode to the Embryo’ wrenched my heart out, ‘An Unsanctioned Outing’ gave me goosebumps. It is brilliantly written with the metaphor of a bus. Leonhard’s love for her mother shines through ‘Mom’s Dreams’ and ‘The Phone of the Wind.’ What a befitting homage!
Some memorable phrases that stayed with me:
“Her memories linger as lint.”
“You shelter in my wound of wanting.”
Thank you! Happy reading!
Many thanks to all the readers who’ve read my latest release and shared their fabulous reviews of my poetry book – Fusion – my latest release
Emotional Shadows 