A Highly Unlikely Scenario

A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World 
by Rachel Cantor

Melville House: 1/14/2014
Trade Paperback; 256 pages
ISBN-13: 9781612192642
rachelcantor.com

In the not-too-distant future, competing giant fast food factions rule the world. Leonard works for Neetsa Pizza, the Pythagorean pizza chain, in a lonely but highly surveilled home office, answering calls on his complaints hotline. It’s a boring job, but he likes it—there’s a set answer for every scenario, and he never has to leave the house. Except then he starts getting calls from Marco, who claims to be a thirteenth-century explorer just returned from Cathay. And what do you say to a caller like that? Plus, Neetsa Pizza doesn’t like it when you go off script.
Meanwhile, Leonard’s sister keeps disappearing on secret missions with her “book club,” leaving him to take care of his nephew, which means Leonard has to go outside. And outside is where the trouble starts.
A dazzling debut novel wherein medieval Kabbalists, rare book librarians, and Latter-Day Baconians skirmish for control over secret mystical knowledge, and one Neetsa Pizza employee discovers that you can’t save the world with pizza coupons.

My Thoughts:

A Highly Unlikely Scenario is a Recommended highly imaginative comical adventure that veers into time traveling, mysticism, and saving the world. And definitely watch the Neetsa Pizza movie that should be made from A Highly Unlikely Scenario.

In A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World by Rachel Cantor we meet Neetsa Pizza employee Leonard who is employed as a listener. A listener listens to complaints over the phone and follows the proscribed script. He knows that "Clients must be relieved of their pain. It is a sacred calling to restore clients to optimal satisfaction. Pain is relieved through compassion. Compassion is best achieved in a White Room, and delivered through concentrated Listening, use of time-tested Listener algorithms, and liberal use of Neetsa Pizza coupons."

Leonard, who lives with his sister and cares for his nephew while working from home, is adapt at Listening, using the approved responses and nicknames, freely offering coupons, and meditating on the Pythagorean theory and Neetsa training material. The current world is run by fast food conglomerates. Leonard hasn't been out of a very limited area by his home for three years so even while his sister tries to tell him that there are problems out there, Leonard is in denial, thinking he can fix things while working for Neetsa Pizza from his white room. Listening is the perfect job for him, or rather it was until the day when his calls stopped coming in and instead of complaints he found himself talking to a strange man who is imprisoned, somewhere, and all of Leonard's training isn't working.

While there were parts of A Highly Unlikely Scenario that I enjoyed and found humorous, I began to lose interest in it half way into the novel. I'm sure that I'm likely not the target audience.  Even though it is being compared to A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy I wouldn't have made that comparison after reading it. But what I can really see happening with A Highly Unlikely Scenario is a movie. This could be a very funny, entertaining movie.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Melville House via Edelweiss for review purposes.

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

Random House: 1/14/2014
Hardcover, 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9780385344050
Flavia de Luce Series #6
www.flaviadeluce.com

On a spring morning in 1951, eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother, Harriet. Yet upon the train’s arrival in the English village of Bishop’s Lacey, Flavia is approached by a tall stranger who whispers a cryptic message into her ear. Moments later, he is dead, mysteriously pushed under the train by someone in the crowd. Who was this man, what did his words mean, and why were they intended for Flavia? Back home at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ crumbling estate, Flavia puts her sleuthing skills to the test. Following a trail of clues sparked by the discovery of a reel of film stashed away in the attic, she unravels the deepest secrets of the de Luce clan, involving none other than Winston Churchill himself. Surrounded by family, friends, and a famous pathologist from the Home Office—and making spectacular use of Harriet’s beloved Gipsy Moth plane, Blithe Spirit—Flavia will do anything, even take to the skies, to land a killer.

My Thoughts:

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley is a highly recommended transitional novel that marks both an ending and a beginning for Flavia.

At the end of the last novel, Speaking from Among the Bones, it was known that Flavia's mother, Harriet de Luce, was coming home. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches opens in 1951 with Flavia and her family are awaiting the return of her long lost mother at the train station in this 6th Flavia de Luce novel. It is clear at the start that her mother's body is arriving, bringing much needed closure since her mother has been missing for over 10 years. But even during this somber and solemn time, a mystery presents itself when a stranger whispers an odd message, “the Gamekeeper is in jeopardy” to Flavia and is killed shortly afterwards. And what does Winston Churchill's odd comment to Flavia mean?

Flavia is the precocious almost 12 year old sleuth in this series of YA novels set in England. A chemistry prodigy, Flavia continues to share her incredible knowledge while solving the mysteries that are swirling around her. There is a little less interaction with her sisters this time around.

Since this is the sixth book in the series most readers will already be acquainted with Flavia and her proclivities and investigative skills.  I will admit that I was less enchanted with Flavia in her first book (I found her annoying). I like her much better now, later in the series. This was a great addition to the franchise of books, but is also a transitional book. By the end of the book it is clear that changes are in store for Flavia, changes which can only enhance future escapades. And make no mistake, clearly there will be future adventures and mysteries for her to solve.

I am not giving The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches my highest rating simply because of the transitional nature of this story.

Excerpt

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Random House via Netgalley for review purposes.

The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Viking; 1/7/2014
Hardcover, 384 pages
ISBN-13: 9780670024780   
suemonkkidd.com
 

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

My Thoughts:

Very Highly Recommended historical fiction

"Everything she knew came from living on the scarce side of mercy."(location 8)


The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd mixes fact with fiction as it explores the life of Sarah Grimke and slave Hetty “Handful” Grimke in Charleston, South Carolina. Starting in 1803 on Sarah's eleventh birthday when she is given Hetty, ten, as her own waiting maid, The Invention of Wings follows real facts from the life of Sarah Grimke and her sister, Angelina, and mixes these facts with the fictional character of Hetty. Sarah Grimké was real historical figure. As a daughter of a slaveholding Southern family her early support of abolition (and feminist causes) made her a controversial figure.

The narrative is told in chapters that alternate between the voices of Hetty and Sarah. This juxtaposition of their very different voices and circumstances is used to full advantage by Kidd. She gives individual voices to both women and shows how each of them are oppressed. It is in vastly different ways, but both women are constrained and enslaved by the times and the system they are born into. Grimke, however, has the ability to muster the courage to break loose and speak out against the system without the horrendous punishments that are inflicted upon Hetty and the other slaves. 

This is a fictionalized account of Grimke's life, however, Kidd tries to follow the facts, using some artistic license and grafting fact to fiction, while remaining true to the broad historical facts of Sarah's life. There are other real, historical figures written into the story as well. At the end Kidd includes a list of numerous historical resources she consulted should readers want to further explore the life of the Grimke sisters, as well as several other different areas covered in the book (historical quilts).

Besides the admirable character development, Kidd is an accomplished writer. Here she has masterfully composed an astute novel that seamlessly blends both the facts and the fiction and will keep readers engrossed to the end.

Just savor Hetty's description of water: "First time I saw it, my feet hopped in place and I lifted my hand over my head and danced. That’s when I got true religion. I didn’t know to call it religion back then, didn’t know Amen from what-when, I just knew something came into me that made me feel the water belonged to me. I would say, that’s my water out there. I saw it turn every color. It was green one day, then brown, next day yellow as cider. Purple, black, blue. It stayed restless, never ceasing. Boats coming and going on top, fishes underneath." (Location 324)

The Invention of Wings has been chosen as an Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection.

"People say love gets fouled by a difference big as ours. I didn’t know for sure whether Miss Sarah’s feelings came from love or guilt. I didn’t know whether mine came from love or a need to be safe. She loved me and pitied me. And I loved her and used her. It never was a simple thing. That day, our hearts were pure as they ever would get." (Location 647

Day before the storm came, a still feeling weighed on the air. You felt like you were waiting, but you didn’t know what for. ( Location 767)

Excerpt

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Viking via Netgalley for review purposes.

The End and The Long Road

The End: A Postapocalyptic Novel by G. Michael Hopf

Penguin Group; 1/7/2014
Trade Paperback, 384 pages
ISBN-13: 9780142181492
The New World Series #1
www.gmichaelhopf.com

What would you do to survive?

Young Gordon Van Zandt valued duty and loyalty to country above all, so after 9/11, he dropped out of college and joined the Marine Corps. This idealism vanished one fateful day in a war-torn city in Iraq. Ten years later, he is still struggling with the ghosts of his past when a new reality is thrust upon him and his family: North America, Europe and the Far East have all suffered a devastating Super-EMP attack, which causes catastrophic damage to the nation’s power grid and essential infrastructures. Everything from cell phones to cars to computers cease to function, putting society at a standstill.
With civilization in chaos, Gordon must fight for the limited and fast dwindling resources. He knows survival requires action and cooperation with his neighbors, but as the days wear on, so does all sense of civility within his community—and so he must make some of the most difficult decisions of his life in order to ensure his family’s safety. 

The Long Road: A Postapocalyptic Novel by G. Michael Hopf
Penguin Group; 1/7/2014

Trade Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9780142181508
The New World Series #2

The End was just the beginning of the new world…

Only six weeks have passed since a super-EMP attack devastated the United States, but already, life has changed dramatically. Most of America has become  a wasteland filled with starving bands of people, mobs and gangs. Millions are dead and millions more are suffering, with no end in sight.
For Gordon, Samantha, Sebastian, Cruz and Barone, the turmoil and chaos they dealt with in the early weeks after the attack will seem trivial in comparison to the collapse of society that plays out before their eyes. Uncertainty abounds as they all travel different paths in search of a safe place to call home. The only thing that is definite is that The Long Road will take its toll on all of them.

My Thoughts:

Recommended - if you are looking for sheer, mindless escapism of the postapocalyptic variety - sans zombies.  
So-so if you require good writing and character development along with a shoot-em-all-up plot.

The End and The Long Road are both postapocalyptic novels by G. Michael Hopf. The novels have several storylines in the narrative, but begin by mainly follow former marine Gordon Van Zandt and his family after a super EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack against the USA. Gordon immediately realizes what is happening and takes measures to secure supplies for his family. As he knew would happen, society immediately begins to break down. Unless a group of people can somehow manage to work together to protect their members without infighting, it is every man/family for themselves.

Originally self-published novels they are now being released by Plume/The Penguin Group in anticipation of the pending third installment of the story to be published soon.


Pros: The plot is interesting and will keep you engrossed in the story development and action. The movement of the scenarios in both of these books progress swiftly along. Whether you find the actions of characters believable or not at least the various storylines keep up a quick pace. It's always interesting to speculate what would happen to society and people under these kind of circumstances. Hopf includes all sorts of crazy groups and leaders. The Long Road is better than The End.

Cons: Someone got out their binos. If you read my reviews, you will know what this means. I may have to make a New Year's resolution or enact a rule that I will not read books where binos are produced.
Lots of violence and not all of it seems to be entirely necessary for forward movement of the plot.
The writing isn't the best.  I would have set the first book aside well before the 50 page mark if I hadn't agreed to read it for a review. The second paragraph in The End would have been enough, but the following passage would certainly have ended my reading: "Hayley was small for her age, very girly with long, blond curly hair and very fine features. She was definitely all-girl and loved everything princess." (The End, pg. 16) especially when Gordon loved the same things about his wife: "He loved everything about her from her small frame and long, wavy blond hair to her light green eyes and full lips."(pg. 19) I sure would have liked to know something else about her, like maybe some character traits, besides her looks.
There are many other examples before the 50 page mark, so be forewarned: not good writing.

I might be tempted to say it would be a good airplane book - mindless escapism to keep you busy - but with the EMP hitting and sending planes falling from the sky...

TLC Book Tour


Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher and TLC for review purposes. 

Out of the Woods: A Memoir of Wayfinding

Out of the Woods: A Memoir of Wayfinding by Lynn Darling

HarperCollins; 1/7/2014
Hardcover, 288 pages
ISBN-13: 9780061710247

A powerful, lyrical memoir of self-discovery full of warmth and wry humor—a book that combines the soul-baring insight of Wild, the profound wisdom of Shop Class as Soulcraft, and the ad venturous spirit of Eat, Pray, Love

When her college-bound daughter leaves home, Lynn Darling, widowed more than a decade earlier, finds herself alone and utterly lost. Freed of her parental responsibilities, she has no idea what she wants or even who she is. Searching for answers, she leaves her apartment in New York City and moves to a cranky little house in the middle of the Vermont woods, her only companions, a new dog and a compass. There she hopes to develop a sense of direction—both in the woods and in her life.

As she finds new ways to get lost in her own backyard, Darling meditates on her past and on the challenges that aging poses to love, work—not to mention fashion—and the way she sees herself. She has just begun to chart a new course for the future when an unexpected setback unsettles her newfound balance.

With rare insight and remarkable honesty, Out of the Woods reveals how honing the skills of navigation—literal and metaphorical—smoothed one woman's path through the uneven course of life. It is a story at once universal and deeply personal—in the words of writer Geraldine Brooks, "both a compass and a manifesto for navigating the often-treacherous switchbacks of the second half of life."

My Thoughts:

Very Highly Recommended
 
Lynn Darling explains in the introduction the genesis of why she wrote  Out of the Woods: A Memoir of Wayfinding:
"I was forty-four when my husband died and fifty-six when my daughter entered college. I was getting old, and I didn’t know how to do that. So many people seemed to do it badly, and yet every once in a while, I would see something in the eyes of an old woman that intrigued me—a kind of triumph, a knowingness. I wanted to know where that look came from. I wanted to gather the tools that would enable me to grow old with grace. (Location 96)

She creates for herself a “metaphysical” list of tasks she needs to accomplish for this next portion of her life: “get sense of direction; find authentic way to live; figure out how to be old; deal with sex; learn Latin.” This is a wonderful way to introduce her memoir of a certain time in her life while she overcame certain hurdles and challenges. Not only does her daughter, Zoe, leave for college, but Lynn moves out of New York City to an eclectic, ramshackle house in Woodstock, Vermont. 

Lynn shares her struggles with her solar power system, getting a puppy, making friends with her new neighbors, walking in the woods, fighting cancer, gaining her sense of direction, and making peace with her choices. This is her honest reflections of where she feels her life is going and how this journey of self-discovery veered off in a different direction once she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment. 

Since I can identify with Lynn in several ways (although by all outward appearances not in similar ways at all) I appreciated the struggle she found herself in and the steps she took to deal with her new situation. It is hard to see your children move on and no longer need you. It is also hard to deal with changes in your life as you age.  I think Lynn  is right when she contemplates charting this new course and decides "Perhaps in the end that is what wayfinding amounts to: learning how to allow for accident, and make way for blessing." (Location 119) 
Almost all of us can find ourselves wounded in some way and seeking the blessings that are also there, amidst the pain and accidents.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins via edelweiss for review purposes.


Quotes:

I chose the house in spite of its warts but because of them, because the house’s cranky unfinished state reflected my own. One life was over and another was beginning, and I was no longer any of the things I had been, no longer young and not yet old, and because I had to figure out everything all over again, everything—from where to live, to how to dress, and who (or even whether) to love, because I had no idea of what to do next, and the middle of the woods seemed the best place to get one. I thought that I would see things more clearly from a place that had no part in my past, the way you climb a tree to get a perspective on the surrounding terrain, to put a name to the strange country into which you have wandered. I moved to the house at the end of the road to make a new home, a new life, and it was only later that I would see that I had gone to ground, the way an animal does, because I was wounded and beaten and in need of retreat. (Location 65)

Growing old meant inevitable loss, yes, but that wasn’t all it meant. Perhaps there wasn’t anything to be done but to live through this time, to take possession of my grief, to claim sovereignty over my own sadness. (Location 1543)

Who was this woman who was no longer lashed so tightly to the world of men; what did it mean to be finally getting old, to live alone, to be invisible in a way that I had not been since I was a teenager? I was nervous, but I was excited as well. “You only begin to discover the difference between what you really are, your real self and your appearance when you get a bit older,” Doris Lessing said in an interview in Harper’s in 1973. “ (Location 1637)

We were lying: my mother had never been happy for more than twenty minutes at a time. She ran on fury and worry and the neediness that children who have never been properly loved carry with them for the rest of their days. (Location 2876)

Phoenix Island

Phoenix Island by John Dixon

Gallery Books; 1/7/2014
Hardcover; 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9781476738635
www.johndixonbooks.com 

The judge told Carl that one day he’d have to decide exactly what kind of person he would become. But on Phoenix Island, the choice will be made for him.

A champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. He can’t seem to stay out of trouble—using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies. His latest incident sends his opponent to the emergency room, and now the court is sending Carl to the worst place on earth: Phoenix Island.

Classified as a “terminal facility,” it’s the end of the line for delinquents who have no home, no family, and no future. Located somewhere far off the coast of the United States—and immune to its laws—the island is a grueling Spartan-style boot camp run by sadistic drill sergeants who show no mercy to their young, orphan trainees. Sentenced to stay until his eighteenth birthday, Carl plans to play by the rules, so he makes friends with his wisecracking bunkmate, Ross, and a mysterious gray-eyed girl named Octavia. But he makes enemies, too, and after a few rough scrapes, he earns himself the nickname “Hollywood” as well as a string of punishments, including a brutal night in the “sweatbox.” But that’s nothing compared to what awaits him in the “Chop Shop”...

My Thoughts:

Phoenix Island by John Dixon is the first novel in what looks like a new series of novels that should appeal to the older end of the YA market. It is the basis for a new, upcoming CBS adaptation, Intelligence. It is highly recommended.

In Phoenix Island Carl Freeman is a 16 year old orphan who has been battling bullies as long as he can remember. His fighting ability, and he is a champion boxer, has landed him in trouble repeatedly with the authorities.  His juvenile delinquency record has landed him in trouble for the last time. Carl is being sentenced to Phoenix Island. The island is located out of the USA, and therefore out of US jurisdiction, somewhere off the coast of Mexico. He's told it's a juvenile detention facility, a last chance boot camp for delinquents. He must stay there, sans any contact with the outside world, until he is 18.

It becomes clear immediately that Phoenix Island is not quite the boot camp/rehabilitation facility that Carl thought it would be. It is run with military precision and organization by a squad of sadistic "drill sergeants" who make life on Phoenix Island hell for the kids there. Added to that the other kids there are encouraged to torture the weaker kids. It's a whole system built upon the bullying that Carl so consistently has hated and fought against his whole life.

All the kids sent there are orphans. This is to guarantee that no one will be looking for them should any "accident"happen to the kids sentenced there. They are all expendable. As the viciousness increases, Carl knows he must find a way out.

This thriller is a page turner that can be compared to Lord of the Flies but also clearly pays homage to several other movies and books as the story progresses. Since Dixon is a boxer his inside knowledge of the sport lends a real authenticity to Carl's moves and thoughts as he fights. There is a lot of military influence in the twisted society that exists on Phoenix Island, so there is the whole vocabulary and organization that goes along with that. It's also a violent book so I wouldn't hand it to a younger teen.

The writing is certainly good and the action kept the novel moving at a frantic clip. I did have a few "Oh, really? Really" moments in the action as various twists in the plot can into play. The twists seemed to jump, flip, and morph the plot into something else. It was certainly an entertaining book and perfect for escapism. The ending definitely promises a continuation of the story. It will be interesting to see if Intelligence is anything like Phoenix Island.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Gallery Book via Netgalley for review purposes.

In the Blood

In the Blood by Lisa Unger   
Touchstone; 1/7/2014
Hardcover, 352 pages
ISBN-13: 9781451691177
lisaunger.com 

Lana Granger lives a life of lies. She has told so many lies about where she comes from and who she is that the truth is like a cloudy nightmare she can’t quite recall. About to graduate from college and with her trust fund almost tapped out, she takes a job babysitting a troubled boy named Luke. Expelled from schools all over the country, the manipulative young Luke is accustomed to controlling the people in his life. But, in Lana, he may have met his match. Or has Lana met hers?

When Lana’s closest friend, Beck, mysteriously disappears, Lana resumes her lying ways—to friends, to the police, to herself. The police have a lot of questions for Lana when the story about her whereabouts the night Beck disappeared doesn’t jibe with eyewitness accounts. Lana will do anything to hide the truth, but it might not be enough to keep her ominous secrets buried. Someone else knows about Lana’s lies. And he’s dying to tell.

My Thoughts:

In the Blood by Lisa Unger is a complex, suspenseful psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the end: Very Highly Recommended.

Lana Granger is a gifted student who is a senior in childhood psychology at Sacred Heart College in The Hollows of upstate New York. Lana herself intimates right at the beginning that there are secrets about her that no one knows and she plans to keep her secrets. We soon learn that her mother is dead and her father is on death row for the murder. We know that she was a troubled child. But it appears that Lana is doing well now if she can just keep walking the tightrope of lies she has told.

Lana's psychology professor and mentor, Langdon Hewes, encourages her to apply for a babysitting job. It all seems innocent enough. Rachel Kahn needs someone to babysitting her volatile, gifted, emotionally disturbed 11-year-old son, Luke. Luke attends a nearby school for disturbed children during the day but his mother just needs a little help with him before she gets home from work. Lana and Luke immediately feel an unspoken bond with each other. While Lana's troubles are being resolved with therapy and medication, Luke seems to be much more out of control and beyond the reach of help than Lana was at his age. 

When Lana's roommate, Becky, is reported as missing she is the second girl that Lana has known at college who has disappeared. As the investigation to find Becky picks up speed, Luke is playing a strange game with Lana that is taking a strange turn. 

The narrative switches back and forth between two stories. The main story which is the bulk of the plot is that of Lana. The alternate narrative is in the form of diary entries by an unnamed mother with a very troubled son. Unger does a magnificent job pacing the plot. Both narratives slowly reveal more facts and troubling information, which slowly allows the reader more  enlightenment to discern what may really be going on. But be forewarned: There is a brilliant twist to the plot.

The writing was simply excellent. I loved the alternating stories between Lana's problems and the diary entries. I liked the character of Lana even when I didn't like her and knew she was hiding something. She admitted she was a liar and had secrets right at the beginning. I was impressed with In the Blood right to the ending where it took a completely unexpected turn.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Touchstone via Netgalley for review purposes