Fiction Review Catch-Up

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Rating: 4.0

Historical Fiction

A young nurse named Frankie follows her older brother to serve in Vietnam. She works in a front line makeshift hospital where she sees up close the brutality of war. There is friendship with other nurses, love with a soldier and a doctor, and a return to her country that rejects her and doesn't recognize the fact that she served.

I liked everything about this book except that there was a little too much drama in Frankie's life to seem realistic. Everything that could happen to a number of women serving in Vietnam happened to Frankie. 

Kristin Hannah is a great historical fiction writer. This book is a page turner. It is worth reading for the education on the Vietnam War, especially as it applied to women who served. 

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Rating: 4.5

Literary Fiction

The Covenant of Water takes place in the Saint Thomas Christian Community in Kerala, India where three generations of a family suffer from a strange "condition" -- in each generation, at least one person will drown. The family tries to figure out the cause of the mysterious affliction. A secondary story about a Scottish surgeon who opens a leprosy sanctuary in Kerala was interesting too. 

This book is a commitment at 736 pages, but I would recommend it you like long family sagas.

Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Rating: 4.5

Historical Fiction

This book takes place in Maine around the year 1789. A midwife named Martha Ballard (she was a real person), is summoned as an medical expert in a suspected murder case when a body is found frozen in the river. Martha keeps a diary which proves useful in court. Martha was a compassionate midwife who tended to most of the women in small town. She was not afraid to speak up so that justice was served. Fast paced and very well written book.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Rating: 4

Family Life Fiction

During the COVID quarantine in 2020, a mother of three adult daughters recounts the story of a summer in her youth spent performing stock theater in Michigan. While they harvested cherries on their family farm, she told them of the escapades of her relationship with a currently very famous movie star. It was a middle-aged woman's look back at what her life may have turned out to be as well as her decided contentment with the way things were.

James by Percival Everett

Rating: 4

Fiction: Satire

The slave (Jim) in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is re-imagined as an intelligent, learned man named James. When he makes his escape, he gets tangled up with Huck and they have to float down the Mississippi River together. They fear for their lives as they get into one mess after another. This was a very well-written book. The perspective of James gives you much to think about. I enjoyed this one.