Book Review – All We Ever Wanted

All We Ever Wanted is the story of parenthood in a digital age. Nina and Kirk Browning’s privileged son, Finch, finds himself tangled up in a mess that could disrupt his promising future when a drunken photo of Lyla Volpe, the daughter of a middle class, single dad, Tom, gets passed about from Finch’s phone.

After reading some heavy hitters, I was grateful Book Club selected some chick litty, domestic fiction. I needed a mindless read – one where no one gets murdered or taken captive. While this book was deeper than I expected, it was still the 3.5 I was looking for – something a little better than average, but nothing crazy.

Book 34:
All We Ever Wanted
by Emily Giffin

Genre:
Domestic Fiction

Published:
June 2018

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, All We Ever Wanted is the story of parenthood in a digital age. Nina and Kirk Browning’s privileged son, Finch, finds himself tangled up in a mess that could disrupt his promising future when a drunken photo of Lyla Volpe, the daughter of a middle class, single dad, Tom, gets passed about from Finch’s phone.

Favorite Quote(s):

“I cherished our filterless relationship and considered it the truest measure of a best friend, greater than pure affection. Who was the person you trusted enough to be your most transparent self with, in both good times and bad?” 

-Emily Giffin, All We Ever Wanted

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None yet.

Pages:
331

My Overall Rating:
3.5 – Given its genre, this was another quick read. I really appreciated the normalness and relativity of the plot to today’s society. Unfortunately, I think this type of issue is too common and awareness needs to be raised of it. The way Nina and Lyla have been treated by men/boys is unacceptable, yet women are so often misled to believe their being treated this way is their own fault. This is why Finch’s character made me absolutely bonkers. I have Finches in my life, and I hate that, in some respect, I was their Lyla. That being said, Lyla’s character was incredibly believable for me. Still, there were aspects of the plot that were cheesier than necessary, but I suppose that comes with the genre. It was a great book. I would recommend it, but it wasn’t anything crazy in my opinion.

Book Review – The Color Purple

The Color Purple is about two sisters, Celie and Nettie, who hold their bond tightly despite their rough childhood and the journeys their lives take them on. Set in the early 20th century, Nettie becomes a missionary in Africa while Celie becomes child wife living in the South. This creates very different experiences and viewpoints on life for the sisters, but one thing holds true: they are loyal to their family no matter the time, distance or silence between them.

The Color Purple is a book I’d heard of but knew nothing about. I was excited when it was posed as an option for our August Book Club selection, and it quickly gained my vote. I like the idea of being “well-read”, and I don’t think you can truly do that without dipping into some of the older, more classic reads. It was a delight to borrow this one from the library and cross it off my list.

Book 27:
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker

Genre:
Epistolary novel, Fiction, Domestic Fiction

Published:
1982

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, The Color Purple is about two sisters, Celie and Nettie, who hold their bond tightly despite their rough childhood and the journeys their lives take them on. Set in the early 20th century, Nettie becomes a missionary in Africa while Celie becomes child wife living in the South. This creates very different experiences and viewpoints on life for the sisters, but one thing holds true: they are loyal to their family no matter the time, distance or silence between them.

Favorite Quote(s):

“You ast yourself one question, it lead to fifteen. I start to wonder why us need love. Why us suffer. Why us black. Why us men and women. Where do children really come from. It didn’t take long to realize I didn’t hardly know nothing. And that if you ast yourself why you black or a man or a woman or a bush it don’t mean nothing if you don’t ast why you here, period.

I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ast. And that in wondering about the big things and asting bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, he say, the more I love.” 

-Alice Walker, The Color Purple

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” 

-Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Awards (based upon my brief research):
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1983)
National Book Award for Fiction (1983)

Pages:
288

My Overall Rating:
3.5 – I think somewhere deep in the colloquial language there is a great story here. I see why this book is so highly praised – the overall story is one we all need to hear – it is just one that was a definite struggle for me. I’ll admit, I have a hard time reading books written in colloquial language in the first place, but this one also lacked standard grammar, and therefore, I struggled even more to follow. There were points I had to read and reread before really understanding who that part was even about.

Book Review – For One More Day

For One More Day is about Charles “Chick” Benetto, a product of a divorce, forced to choose between his mom and dad. His thirst for his father’s love leads him to baseball where he has a very short, very successful stint before getting injured, falling into a deep depression, surrendering to alcoholism and, eventually, attempting to end his life. Within the attempt, he enters the space between life and death where he spends one more day with his deceased mother and gets the chance to tie up loose ends and make wrongs right before living to tell about his experience.

Book 22 was one I snatched up at a little free library simply because I knew the author was at least decent. I generally follow a typical reading schedule between Book of the Month and book club, and I wasn’t planning on reading this one at this point, but I needed a quick read to fill in some space while waiting on the arrival of a book. So I grabbed this 200 pager off my shelf and devoured it in two days.

Book 22:
For One More Day
by Mitch Albom

Genre:
Fiction

Published:
September 2006

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, For One More Day is about Charles “Chick” Benetto, a product of a divorce, forced to choose between his mom and dad. His thirst for his father’s love leads him to baseball where he has a very short, very successful stint before getting injured, falling into a deep depression, surrendering to alcoholism and, eventually, attempting to end his life. Within the attempt, he enters the space between life and death where he spends one more day with his deceased mother and gets the chance to tie up loose ends and make wrongs right before living to tell about his experience.

Favorite Quote(s):

“But there’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.” 

-Mitch Albom, For One More Day

Awards (based upon my brief research):
New York Times Best Seller

Pages:
197

My Overall Rating:
4 – This book was a surprise to me. I’d read Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie (which I gave a 3), and expected this book to be similar. In so many ways, it was, and in so many ways, it wasn’t. I don’t understand Albom’s fascination with the dying, but I really appreciated what he drew from Chick’s experience in the story. It was hard and heart-warming at the same time, and the ending was not at all what I expected.

Book Review – Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Just Mercy opened my eyes to the massive injustices within the criminal justice system. It made me mad, frustrated and sad that we live in a world where it’s better to be guilty and wealthy than innocent and poor. I highly recommend reading this book.

I didn’t intend to pick two books in a row related to the criminal justice system, but I did intend to go on two road trips with my husband and, therefore, had to land on a few audio books we could both enjoy during our time in the car. This 18th book was my first choice of audio book because it was also our June selection for book club. Plus, I picked it up at a Little Free Library and I generally prefer to have read all of the books on my bookshelf. In other words, book 18 killed three birds with one stone.

Book 18:
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson

Genre:
Autobiography

Published:
October, 2014

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Just Mercy is about attorney, Bryan Stevenson’s, work as founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Per their description, “The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.” The book details numerous cases, focusing much of its text on the story of Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to die for a murder he didn’t commit.

Favorite Quote(s):

“Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”

-Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Awards (based upon my brief research):
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction

Pages:
314

My Overall Rating:
4.5 – This book opened my eyes to the massive injustices within the criminal justice system. It made me mad, frustrated and sad that we live in a world where it’s better to be guilty and wealthy than innocent and poor. After reading Orange is the New Black, Just Mercy further confirmed my feelings that our criminal justice system is not only unideal, but it’s unfair, inappropriate, and ultimately messed up. I highly recommend reading this book. I didn’t place it at a 5 because you have to be ready to read some heavy content and be willing to learn. There were times we had to pause and look things up. Had I not been prepared for that, going into it, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did.

My Husband’s Overall Rating:
4.5 – My husband, too, gave the book a 4.5. He agreed it was a phenomenal book and we learned so much from it. He, too, said there isn’t really anything keeping him from giving it a 5, but for some reason, we both stuck to our 4.5s.

Book Review – Mercy

Published in 1996, this book was born into a world where Kevorkian was actively practicing physician assisted suicides despite the media’s attention. This controversial topic is not one that gets me jazzed, but I was still intrigued as to how the plot would play out…

This next book was our March book club book. This isn’t one I would have picked myself – I don’t love Jodi Picoult’s approach to writing, but what I love about book club is that it encourages me to try books I would not have picked up otherwise. I could easily hang out in one genre were it not for book club or Book of the Month, so I’m grateful I have resources pointing me back to the things I “don’t like”, saying “try again”.

Book 11:
Mercy
by Jodi Picoult

Genre:
Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Legal Story

Published:
1996

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Mercy is about a man, Jamie, who confesses to his cousin, Cam, a police chief of a small town in Massachusetts, that he killed his terminally ill wife out of mercy. The book jumps into a murder trial while exploring the depths of love, loyalty and morality amongst the obvious plot, but also intertwined in several smaller, co-existing stories. It examines the lines of emotions and ethics – what’s too far? What’s not far enough?

Favorite Quote:

I once heard someone on a bus say that this guy had gotten under her skin. And it struck me as a remarkable thought – that someone would affect you so deeply they’d always be a part of you.

― Jodi Picoult, Mercy

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.

Pages:
400

My Overall Rating:
2.5 – Published in 1996, this book was born into a world where Kevorkian was actively practicing physician assisted suicides despite the media’s attention. This controversial topic is not one that gets me jazzed, but I was still intrigued as to how the plot would play out. I was disappointed that much of the book was filled with other, co-existing stories that weren’t given enouch attention to matter and didn’t affect the murder trial I’d anticipated reading about. I think Picoult could have written the same plot with half the amount of pages and engaged readers with a deeper connection by doing so, honing in on the murder trial and cutting out the superfluous stories.