Kazoo Books

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Quality Used & New Books
Kazoo Books · 2413 Parkview Ave. · (269) 553-6506
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Reviews

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

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letpretendthisneverhappened11Reviewed by Sarah, 2/3/15

Well-known blogger, Jenny Lawson, creates a memoir that will have her readers laughing on every page. Lawson documents her childhood growing up in poverty-stricken rural Texas where her father, a taxidermist, fashions stuffed animals for his children out of the local road kill. Jenny captures her family with humor, but also tenderness. She brings this same blend to discussing her marriage and all of the changes that her husband ushers into her life. This is a quick and satisfying read!

Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

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Fiction / Hard-boiled / Noir
Originally pub. 1941 by Alfred A. Knopf
This edition, pub. 1989 by Vintage

Reviewed by Sarah, 6/2/2015

Mildred PierceThings have gotten a little rough for Mildred Pierce. Her hubby decides that the braless Mrs. Biederhof is more interesting than his current family and leaves Mildred to figure out her life. Thus, Mildred and her two little girls are suddenly alone. Did I mention that this is the 1930’s? Not a great time to be a single mom. With Bert gone, Mildred faces finding a job for the first time.   After taking a turn as a waitress, she realizes that maybe she could establish her own restaurant.

If this sounds like a novel about how to overcome obstacles, I have some unfortunate news. Mildred might be a surprisingly good entrepreneur, but she is also the mother to an elitist, unfeeling daughter who judges her mother even as her mother scrimps and sacrifices to make a good life for her child. In addition, she takes up with a man who values her money and her figure more than he values her selfhood. By working and achieving independence, she also achieves scorn for not being an upper class lady of leisure.

Cain, who’s known for his own brand of noir fiction, achieves something special with this novel. He creates a human woman having a human experience, something much more authentic then the “dame done wrong” or the “femme fatale”. He likes Mildred and so will you.

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

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The Mountain Between UsReviewed by Jean, 9/27/14

2010, Broadway Books

Sometimes a book gets traded in and we take a peek at it so we know what it is about. This happened to me this week with The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin. The book is so good that I ended up reading the entire thing.

Dr. Ben Payne is traveling back from a medical conference when he meets writer, Ashley Knox, at the Salt Lake City airport. She’s also traveling east for her upcoming wedding. When poor weather cancels their flight, he charters a plane for himself and because he knows she is in a hurry, offers the extra seat to Ashley. When the pilot dies of a heart attack in midflight, Ben finds himself crash landed in a harsh and remote wilderness in Utah with broken ribs, the pilot’s dog, and Ashley with a badly broken leg. As he struggles to bring the three of them to safety, Ben travels an internal journey as well. He questions decisions he’s made: the last fight with his wife, her dangerous pregnancy with twins, physical attraction to Ashley, and his ability as a man to keep them fed and warm long enough to find help.

The transitions between the present situation and Dr. Payne’s past are seamless and add essential information. Ashley’s humor and beauty contribute lightness and complications. The writing is approachable and interesting. This book looks like a rugged adventure story but is so much more. I highly recommend this adventure/love story. -Jean

Hurricane Fever by Tobias Buckell

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Reviewed by John, 7/29/15

Hurricane FeverPrudence “Roo” Jones, a former Caribbean Intelligence operative, just wants to relax and ride out the hurricanes on his catamaran in the islands, but after receiving a mysterious message and package from a dead colleague, he finds himself in the middle of a plot to infect the globe with a biotech virus, all with his orphaned teenage nephew along for the ride.

Roo appeared in Buckell’s previous book, Arctic Rising, but we now see him in his element, teamed up with a woman who says she’s his dead partner’s sister. He’s pushed to his limits to discover the secrets of a terrifying biological weapon that must be stopped while racing from the hurricanes that are the new norm in the near-future Caribbean.

Tobias Buckell grew up living on boats in Grenada and the Virgin Islands, so the setting, while exotic for many readers, is like going home to the author and the scenes set onboard boats and on the water are thrilling and authentic. Buckell remembers watching James Bond movies while growing up, some of which took place in the islands, and wondering where the local intelligence agents were; Hurricane Fever is Buckell’s answer to that question.

 

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