jenknox's Reviews (494)

Beth Hoffman's writing has a way of inviting the reader in and making her feel right at home, right there with the protagonist. Reading Looking for Me, I felt I was Teddi's best friend, nudging her along to follow her dreams, laughing with her at the comedy of human behavior, cringing with her at the pain and familial divides, and wondering with her at the bittersweet beauty and mysteries of life.

This novel, much like Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, is told with heart and charm. But Looking for Me has its own feel. It's a character-driven tale but more, it's scenic in a way most books only touch on. Looking for Me comes alive. The details of the furniture and the strong turning-point images, such as a young Teddi on the side of a road with her masterpiece, are so alive visually that I dreamed them at night.

I listen to books I really love on Audible after I read the text, which I'm doing now with this book. The narrator in the audio version is amazing, too, and she enhances the tale. Do read, do listen, do experience this remarkable book.

I was so immersed in this fictional book, mostly narrated through letters. Dori G, who is a young woman still under her mother's thumb, endearingly curious about and sheltered from the world, trades heated yet tender letters with the painter. As the correspondence between Pollock and this dynamic young woman opens up, so do the lives of the characters in the confidential tone that only a life in letters can offer. I love this form of storytelling, but I'm often disappointed in books that attempt it. Not so with What May Have Been. I was 'in there' for the romantic banter, the details revealed about their lives outside of one another; I was there devouring each word of each letter.

An endearing tale about a woman who is truly living by the wind. Merrill is a bumbling but endearing character whose voice is addictive from the get. I was excited to follow her. She tells it like she sees it, she travels (taking thorough note of her surroundings), she makes mistakes, she seems not to know what she wants then know then not know again, she listens and doesn't, she learns and relearns; she narrates her story with the intimacy of a diary and the details of a keen observer. Merrill is full of life and fun to follow. So follow her.

Bonnie ZoBell's The Whack-Job Girls surprised me at every turn. ZoBell is a master with the pen. Her stories begin with something shocking, occasionally disconcerting, but they twist and move with immediacy. This book keeps eyebrows raised and eyes wide. It is incredibly difficult to put down.

To put it plainly, this collection is freaking amazing! Fowler is an artist that defies the constraints set by the artists before her. She writes observant characters, she utilizes fantasy and fable, and she weaves everything together with the keen attention of any good literature. She engages the reader with social and societal critique, questioning and redefining roles. Fowler finds beauty in the hidden and breaks apart the glamor of what is not really real, but what we often adopt as our reality. In other words, she blurs the line between reality and the reality of our fantasies.

I really enjoyed the honest feel of the narrator. I think anyone of any age can relate on some level to the young narrator's journey toward self and environmental acceptance. This is a well-written, epistolary-style work that is both intimate and affective without compromising that necessary ingredient: a clear, strong storyline.

I really enjoyed this book. The action moved well, and there was a lot of personality to the narrator. There was something so familiar about this book, something comforting and predictable. A perfect bedtime book.

I loved a few of the stories. Five stars to "The Great Divorce" and "The Faery Handbag." I kept trying others and couldn't stick with them. I do admire Link's ability to defy genre, bringing a literary presentation to the surreal, the ghostly. The dreamy feel of this book could easily dilute the story, but Link doesn't let that happen. Brava! An interesting book.