Why Are You So Sad?

Why Are You So Sad? by Jason Porter
Penguin Group: 1/28/2014
Trade Paperback, 224 pages
ISBN-13: 9780142180587
thejasonporter.com

Have we all sunken into a species-wide bout of clinical depression?
 
Porter’s uproarious, intelligent debut centers on Raymond Champs, an illustrator of assembly manuals for a home furnishings corporation, who is charged with a huge task: To determine whether or not the world needs saving. It comes to him in the midst of a losing battle with insomnia — everybody he knows, and maybe everybody on the planet, is suffering from severe clinical depression. He’s nearly certain something has gone wrong. A virus perhaps. It’s in the water, or it’s in the mosquitoes, or maybe in the ranch flavored snack foods. And what if we are all too sad and dispirited to do anything about it? Obsessed as he becomes, Raymond composes an anonymous survey to submit to his unsuspecting coworkers — “Are you who you want to be?”, “Do you believe in life after death?”, “Is today better than yesterday?” — because what Raymond needs is data. He needs to know if it can be proven. It’s a big responsibility. People might not believe him. People, like his wife and his boss, might think he is losing his mind. But only because they are also losing their minds. Or are they?

My Thoughts:

Why Are You So Sad? by Jason Porter is a recommended satirical novel.

In Why Are You So Sad? Raymond Champs is going through a hard time. He is a senior Pictographer at the North American Division of LokiLoki, an Ikea-like store. The novel opens with Raymond in bed, pondering whether we have "all sunken into a species wide bout of clinical depression?" He tries to ask his wife about it but as she is less than encouraging him along these lines of thinking, he decides that what he needs is "an emotional Geiger counter that could objectively measure other people for sadness." But how does an average corporate desk jockey come up with a way to measure sadness?

Naturally, Raymond decides to write a questionnaire. He can have people at work take it under the auspices that it is from management. This would provide him with a random sampling of the data he needs to prove that we are all depressed. He knows that his co-workers are all compliant. "They do as they are told, like sheep waiting for paychecks. Corralled over to meetings that serve no purpose. Filling out forms they never hear about again. Sitting in on career development workshops with box lunches and guest speakers who had just flown in from the middle of the country. It was a natural fixture within the terrain, jumping through unnecessary hoops." And so he writes out his questions, many of them unconventional, sends the completed questionnaire to the copier and has 50 copies made.

Immediately his coworkers start answering the questions he poses on the form and putting their completed forms in a basket marked for them by Raymond's cubicle. Questions include, in part:
Are you single?
Are you having an affair?
Why are you so sad?
When was the last time you felt happy?
Are you who you want to be?
Is Today worse than yesterday?
If you were a day of the week, would you be Monday or Wednesday?
and more....

I did find the idea that a man might wonder if we are all as a species going through clinical depression intriguing. As Raymond's wife tries to talk him out of his mission, Raymond battles his depression by looking for answers and maybe empathy or camaraderie from others who feel the same way. (There is one scene in a movie rental store that had me thinking that it should have been re-written as an encounter in front of a Red Box because I don't even know of a store location anymore.)  While Why Are You So Sad? is smart and funny, I might find it funnier if I worked in a cubicle for a large corporation.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of The Penguin Group for review purposes.

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein

Norton & Company: 1/13/2014
Trade Paperback, 400 pages
ISBN-13: 9780393347883
www.jennifercodyepstein.com

In this evocative and thrilling epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each will shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption.

My Thoughts:

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein is a historical fiction novel focused around WWII. It is recommended, especially for those who enjoy historical fiction set during WWII that focuses on characters living in Japan.

Although The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein opens in America, most of the focus in on Japan, starting just before to just after WWII with a concluding chapter set in 1962. After introducing us to an American couple, Cam and Lacy, the novel mainly follows the Reynolds and Kobayashi families and their interconnected lives. We originally meet them at a dinner party in Japan. The main character is (supposed to be) Yoshi, daughter of a traditional father, Kenji Kobayashi, and his Westernized wife, Hana. Kenji is a builder who works for Anton Reynolds, who is living in Japan with his wife and their son, Billy. Even the American couple play into the interconnectedness when we realize that a ring Lacy gave to Cam before he flew a mission over Japan ends up in Yoshi's possession.

Based around the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, this is a fictional account and none of the characters are based on any real historical figures. Epstein includes many period details, including the use of language which some readers may find offensive.

Epstein does an admirable job developing her characters, but, after the opening chapter with Cam and Lacy, whom I liked, I was then introduced to the characters that would compose the bulk of the novel and none of which I really liked or felt any emotional connection to. Some I actively disliked. I liked Yoshi and Billy, whom we first meet as children, but not enough to carry this novel for me. It might have appealed more to me if Epstein had chosen to carefully follow a couple characters through this time in history rather than jumping from person to person and place to place. The ring appearing through the whole novel didn't work as a unifying element for me at all. It felt contrived and predictable.

There are parts of this novel that work very well. It is notably well written and captures period details beautifully (language use aside). But, I'll have to admit that, in the end, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment was just okay for me. From the reviews out there, though, I may be one of the few people who didn't love The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein.

The paperback edition is newly released this January.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book from the Norton & Company for TLC review purposes.

Excerpts
 
TLC Tour 

What We've Lost Is Nothing

What We've Lost Is Nothing by Rachel Louise Snyder

Scribner: 1/21/2014
Hardcover, 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9781476725178

In her striking debut novel, Rachel Louise Snyder chronicles the twenty-four hours following a mass burglary in a Chicago suburb and the suspicions, secrets, and prejudices that surface in its wake.

Nestled on the edge of Chicago’s gritty west side, Oak Park is a suburb in flux. To the west, theaters and shops frame posh houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. To the east lies a neighborhood still recovering from urban decline. In the center of the community sits Ilios Lane, a pristine cul-de-sac dotted with quiet homes that bridge the surrounding extremes of wealth and poverty.

On the first warm day in April, Mary Elizabeth McPherson, a lifelong resident of Ilios Lane, skips school with her friend Sofia. As the two experiment with a heavy dose of ecstasy in Mary Elizabeth’s dining room, a series of home invasions rocks their neighborhood. At first the community is determined to band together, but rising suspicions soon threaten to destroy the world they were attempting to create. Filtered through a vibrant pinwheel of characters, Snyder’s tour de force evokes the heightened tension of a community on edge as it builds toward one of the most explosive conclusions in recent fiction. Incisive and panoramic, What We’ve Lost is Nothing illuminates the evolving relationship between American cities and their suburbs, the hidden prejudices that can threaten a way of life, and the redemptive power of tolerance in a community torn asunder.

My Thoughts:  

What We've Lost Is Nothing by Rachel Louise Snyder is an incredible, very highly recommended debut novel.

In What We've Lost Is Nothing, Rachel Louise Snyder details what happens to the people over a 2 day period after all the homes on their neighborhood street are burglarized during the day.  The street is Ilios Lane, a cul-de-sac in an area of Oak Park, Illinois, well known for its Diversity Assurance program. When one of the residents optimistically writes that "What we've lost is nothing" in reality it is not quite the truth. The neighbors may have lost things that could be replaced, but what the burglaries really opened the door to were hidden secrets, repressed emotions and attitudes that were all just below the surface.

As the news crews follow the story and the online community is weighing in with their thoughts and opinions, the neighbors find themselves part of a larger discussion. Clearly the neighbors have lost the feeling of security and safety they thought they had in their own homes.  This encroachment on their homes really left them feeling violated. The neighborhood is awash in suspicions, insecurities, and hidden racism. 

Who is to blame? Could the perpetrators be the nearby poor black neighborhoods? Why is one neighbor lying about his vacation? Why was the teenage daughter of a neighbor home? Are the tough-looking Cambodian teens part of a gang? And why don't the parents speak English?

What We've Lost Is Nothing goes on to explore a plethora of emotions and attitudes swirling around the neighbors who are all now victims. The main family Snyder follows is the McPhersons.  Michael feels he should be the one to organize the neighborhood and be a liaison with the police. Susan actually works for the Diversity Assurance program and believes it is a great idea. Their daughter, 15 year old Mary Elizabeth was home during the burglaries. She and another neighborhood teen were experimenting with ecstasy at the time. Mary Elizabeth's brush with fame on the TV news leaves her open to the attention of high school bad boy Caz. The emotional rollercoaster everyone is on is heading for a major crash.

This dynamic debut novel is expertly crafted and smoothly moves from one character to another, carefully revealing the truth behind everyone's words along the way. It could be that Snyder's background as an investigative journalist worked to her benefit in this novel. She presented what we needed to know as expediently and succinctly as possible while also allowing the tension to exponentially build up to the final conclusion. And the conclusion was wholly unexpected but in many ways the novel was leading up to something of that magnitude.
 
I really enjoyed this novel!

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Scribner for review purposes.

 

Excerpt

Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker

Worthy Publishing: 1/21/2014
ebook, 304 pages
ASIN: B00B13A23U
teddekker.com

My name is Christy Snow. I'm seventeen and I'm about to die. I'm buried in a coffin under tons of concrete. No one knows where I am. My heart sounds like a monster with clobber feet, running straight toward me. I'm lying on my back, soaked with sweat from the hair on my head to the soles of my feet. My hands and feet won't stop shaking. Some will say that I'm not really here. Some will say I'm delusional. Some will say that I don't even exist. But who are they? I'm the one buried in a grave. My name is Christy Snow. I'm seventeen and I'm about to die.

First in the newest series from Ted Dekker, a master of suspense, whose books have sold 9 million copies, Eyes Wide Open is a raw adrenaline rush from the first page to the last.

My Thoughts:

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker is a compilation of what was originally a 4 part novel now joined together. The original four parts include: I. Identity; II. Mirrors; III. Seer; and IV. Unseen. In this novel two teens Christy Snow and Austin Hartt are mistakenly/maliciously imprisoned in a psychiatric ward. The procedures for admitting patients to this psych ward are unconventional, as are the treatments that patients must undergo.   Both Christy and Austin are in danger of losing track of who they really are.

This is a fast paced, tension filled novel that is a quick and easy read. Since it is by Ted Dekker there are also Christian elements embedded in the story and especially in the climax. I have enjoyed immensely several novels by Dekker in the past and had high hopes for this novel.

Unfortunately, while I did enjoy the novel, I'm going to have to admit that I simply couldn't suspend disbelief and overlook several facts presented right at the start. Both Christy and Austin are 17 year old orphans. They can't remember their lives before age 13 when they entered the orphanage. Both have a trust fund that gives them $2,000 a month, starting when they turned 17. Gulp. Perhaps it is because I am an adult with adult children, but I simply can't accept these facts about these characters, and make the novel work for me. 

I have a suspicion that Eyes Wide Open would work much more successfully as a YA novel with its worthwhile message concerning self-esteem. Even with the message, the characters weren't hitting the mark for me which lessened my enjoyment of the novel. A So-so novel. I've enjoyed many of Dekker's other books much more.
  
Eyes Wide Open is the start of a new series of novels by Ted Dekker called the Outlaw Chronicles.

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

Pandemic

Pandemic by Scott Sigler

Crown Publishing: 1/21/2014
Hardcover, 592 pages
ISBN-13: 9780307408976
scottsigler.com

And now in Pandemic, the entire human race balances on the razor’s edge of annihilation, beset by an enemy that turns our own bodies against us, that changes normal people into psychopaths or transforms them into nightmares.

To some, Doctor Margaret Montoya is a hero—a brilliant scientist who saved the human race from an alien intelligence determined to exterminate all of humanity. To others, she’s a monster—a mass murderer single-handedly responsible for the worst atrocity ever to take place on American soil. 
All Margaret knows is that she’s broken. The blood of a million deaths is on her hands. Guilt and nightmares have turned her into a shut-in, too mired in self-hatred even to salvage her marriage, let alone be the warrior she once was.
But she is about to be called into action again. Because before the murderous intelligence was destroyed, it launched one last payload — a soda can–sized container filled with deadly microorganisms that make humans feed upon their own kind.
That harmless-looking container has languished a thousand feet below the surface of Lake Michigan, undisturbed and impotent . . . until now.

My Thoughts:

Pandemic by Scott Sigler is the third and final book in his Infected trilogy. This is a satisfying, highly recommended conclusion to the science fiction/horror series started in Infected and Contagious.


After the first two books I wasn't sure exactly what direction Sigler could possibly take to bring this series to a conclusion. Although Sigler has a prologue to summarize the story so far for readers it doesn't really do justice to everything we've all been through to reach this point. I never would have guessed the events in Pandemic. If you've read the first two you know you will be reading this one. If you haven't read the first two, then you'll need to get started now. 

Not wanting to spoil the story for anyone, it's safe to say that the alien threat is not quite over and Doctor Margaret Montoya is being called back into action to serve her country. The real question is if she is up for the task. Her marriage may be ending and she's frozen in a depression, obsessively checking out social media for negative comments about her previous actions. She has saved the world once already but may not be up to the new threat.

Sigler understands social media and his astute choice to include it in his novel gives Pandemic a cutting edge, up-to-date feel that can sometimes be lacking in new releases set in present times.  There is one hole is this final novel of the series and that is a main character that we love. There simply wasn't a character to take the place of Perry Dawsey and Dew Phillips - although Tim Feely came close. The narrative is told from the point of view of several different characters, but it was easy to keep track of who was who. Mostly it is all about the strategic maneuvers,  confrontations, and violent conflicts this time around.

Be forewarned that there is a lot of blood and guts and language and horrific actions here so the series is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. If you can't get through the opening pages (which has a young crew member cauterizing the end of her cut off arm with a blow torch) then it is best to not continue.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Crown Publishing for review purposes.

Small Space Garden Ideas

Small Space Garden Ideas by Philippa Pearson

DK Publishing: 2/3/2014
Trade Paperback, 256 pages

ISBN-13: 9781465415868

Perfect for people who have little space to garden, whether a doorstep, balcony, or part of a wall. Small Space Garden Ideas is full of creative ideas for making use of every growing space available. From windowsills and hanging baskets to rooftop containers and vertical gardens, Small Space Garden Ideas shows you how to create a dream garden, through step-by-step projects from start to finish.

My Thoughts:

Small Space Garden Ideas by Philippa Pearson has some great step by step projects/ project ideas and includes all the information you will need to undertake them. It is very highly recommended.

Let's face it, winter is the time of year when gardeners turn to gardening books and plan projects for the coming growing season. In Small Space Garden Ideas Philippa Pearson will give you some great ideas for projects you might just want to undertake this year, especially if you have limited garden space or want to try and take full advantage of the space you have available. All the projects are presented from start to finish including a materials list, tools and equipment needed, step by step instructions, suggested plants and care instructions, and gorgeous photos of the results.
 
More importantly, however, is all the information you need is presented right by the project. Additionally there is a plant guide to assist in choosing plants at the back and an index. While my garden space is not very limited, there were several projects that I'd love to do.

I love the clever-why-didn't-I-think-of-that idea of starting plants in plastic cups with domed lids and "Shooter Shelves" that turn ordinary plastic gutters into a growing space.

I love the "Living Picture Frame." It could easily go on a fence along with the "Air Plant Canisters" project. I love the way both of these planters look and have some real on-the-fence potential. The "Planted Wall" project caught my eye too. I like the "Lampshade Chile Planter" take-off on hanging planters.  The "Slate Box Planter" is another good idea as well as an attractive project.

I know we're going to start another terrarium and/or an aerium for displaying air plants. What I'd really like to try is the "Hanging Ball of Succulents" project or maybe the wicker ball globe of air plants. The bird feeders made from cups, mugs, and bowls along with the seedcake hangers will all be likely be made in some form here and put into use.

Obviously Small Space Garden Ideas by Philippa Pearson is packed full of great gardening projects for small spaces!

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

Little Failure

Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart

Random House: 1/7/2014
Hardcover, 368 pages
ISBN-13: 9780679643753

After three acclaimed novels, Gary Shteyngart turns to memoir in a candid, witty, deeply poignant account of his life so far. Shteyngart shares his American immigrant experience, moving back and forth through time and memory with self-deprecating humor, moving insights, and literary bravado. The result is a resonant story of family and belonging that feels epic and intimate and distinctly his own.
 
Born Igor Shteyngart in Leningrad during the twilight of the Soviet Union, the curious, diminutive, asthmatic boy grew up with a persistent sense of yearning—for food, for acceptance, for words—desires that would follow him into adulthood....
In the late 1970s, world events changed Igor’s life. Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev made a deal: exchange grain for the safe passage of Soviet Jews to America—a country Igor viewed as the enemy. Along the way, Igor became Gary so that he would suffer one or two fewer beatings from other kids. Coming to the United States from the Soviet Union was equivalent to stumbling off a monochromatic cliff and landing in a pool of pure Technicolor.
Shteyngart’s loving but mismatched parents dreamed that he would become a lawyer or at least a “conscientious toiler” on Wall Street, something their distracted son was simply not cut out to do. Fusing English and Russian, his mother created the term Failurchka—Little Failure—which she applied to her son. With love. Mostly....
Swinging between a Soviet home life and American aspirations, Shteyngart found himself living in two contradictory worlds, all the while wishing that he could find a real home in one. And somebody to love him. And somebody to lend him sixty-nine cents for a McDonald’s hamburger.
Provocative, hilarious, and inventive, Little Failure reveals a deeper vein of emotion in Gary Shteyngart’s prose. It is a memoir of an immigrant family coming to America, as told by a lifelong misfit who forged from his imagination an essential literary voice and, against all odds, a place in the world.

My Thoughts:

Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart is a very highly recommended memoir.

Many people only know Gary Shteyngart as a successful writer but in this humorous memoir, Little Failure, he proves he is gifted at whatever form his writing takes. Little Failure follows Shteyngart from his childhood to the present. Born Igor Shteyngar in Leningrad, at age 7 Gary immigrated to the USA with his parents in 1979. He was an asthmatic child and the struggle to handle this looms large in his early life. It was clear to him even before his mother gave him the American/Russian nickname "failurchka" or "little failure" that he was never going to live up to his parent expectations.

What he experienced would be a steep learning curve for any non-English speaking child. He had to try to learn English and Hebrew all in a new, foreign country while simultaneously listening to his parents seemingly fight constantly. Traumatic would be an understatement. Following, always with self-deprecating humor, his struggles in school, with classmates, with women, and on and on, Little Failure offers stories and insight into how Shteyngart views his family and the world around him. He always feels he is "A Little Failure of the first order" as he struggles with the dichotomy that is his life.

What Little Failure does best, beyond being an outstanding memoir, is show that Shteyngart is an exceptional storyteller whether the stories are fiction or nonfiction. Even if you have or haven't read Shteyngart, and/or love or dislike his writing, those who like to read memoirs are going to enjoy this one. It is certainly entertaining, but also emotional, honest, and poignant.   It only helps establish the bond between writer and reader that the chapters open with cleverly labeled pictures from Shteyngart's life that add  a personal touch.

I'm going to have to admit that I started  Super Sad True Love Story and set it aside without finishing it. After reading Little Failure I think it's time to give it another try. He noted that after he completed this memoir, he reread his three novels and was "shocked by the overlaps between fiction and reality." His memoir could give me a new insight and appreciation for his fiction.

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

Excerpt