Book Bites: COMMUTERS and HUSH MONEY

I’ve toyed with the idea of reviewing books on my blog for a long time. I enjoy reading reviews on other people’s sites, and I do sometimes use reviews when deciding what books to purchase next.

However, I’ve decided that the best thing for me to do is not leave reviews, per se, with a ratings system and all that, but instead to just talk in general terms about the books I like and why I liked them.

This, therefore, is my first Book Bites post, in which I’m going to talk about books I’ve recently read and enjoyed, and why.

First up is Commuters by Emily Gray Tedrowe (website)

This book is basically the portrait of a family in crisis, and let me just say right now that I love portrait-of-a-family-in-crisis books. I love looking into the little intimate details of important moments in the lives of normal people. I love books like Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Ian McEwan’s Atonement, which take the reader so deeply into the hearts and minds of the characters that you start to feel a tad voyeuristic.

Similarly, Commuters took me into its characters’ lives right at a turning point for everyone involved — the marriage of one family’s matriarch, Winnie, to the patriarch of another family, Jerry. The problem? 1) Winnie and Jerry aren’t spring chickens, and the pomp and circumstance of their late-in-life wedding makes the upright citizens of previously peaceful Hartfield uncomfortable. 2) Jerry is the extremely wealthy head of Trevis Corp., and his family doesn’t like the fact that suddenly, this outsider is in the position to intrude on the family finances.

(Hartfield, by the way, is a train ride’s commute from New York City, and both cities feature in the book.)

The book begins with this controversial wedding, and continues through the aftermath via the eyes of three alternating narrators — Winnie herself; Winnie’s daughter, Rachel, whose husband is only just recovering from a head trauma, the medical bills for which have nearly bankrupted them; and Jerry’s twenty-something grandson, Avery, who has just gone through rehab after a wild few years in Chicago. These characters endure  so much in the space of a few months — vicious financial and legal struggles, love and loss, betrayal, trying and failing and trying again to make something of yourself, all those great, rich things we all experience in life. What makes it special in this case is the complexity and realism of these characters, the imperfection of their relationships, and the vivid settings of these two cities, which become characters themselves.

I won’t get into any more plot-specific details, because it’s both heartbreaking and surprising to see where Tedrowe takes these characters, but I will say that the ending is bittersweet and perfect. I finished the book completely satisfied, and I had that quiet, eloquent ache in my throat that I always get when leaving characters I hate to leave, and when I know a story will stick with me for a while. It’s not the kind of story that screams and insists for attention, but one that quietly worked its way into me and settled there for a few cozy autumnal evenings. Tedrowe’s writing is lyrical and clear, the settings of Hartfield and New York City — both so integral to the plot — are richly described, and you know that old, worn-out phrase, “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry?” Yeah, well, I totally did. And it was wonderful.

Next up, Hush Money by Susan Bischoff (website)

This was so much fun. It was one of those books I read almost entirely in one sitting. (I’m attributing the fact that I couldn’t stay awake to read it all in one sitting to the abysmal performance of the Texas Rangers at Saturday’s game, due to which I was grieving.)

In a voice that practically leaps off the page, Bischoff introduces us to the world of the Talents through the eyes of her heroine, Joss. Talents are people born with extraordinary gifts, also called Talents. For example, one person’s Talent could be telepathy, or the ability to manipulate fire, or any number of things.

The problem with being a Talent is that the National Institutes for Ability Control (NIAC) find Talents and bring them to government facilities, where they’re supposedly taught how to safely harness and develop their powers, but really, they’re mistreated and tortured. So, if you’re a Talent, you’d better keep quiet, or you might be the next one to get snatched.

Enter Joss, the main character of Hush Money, who lives her life as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. She doesn’t want to be noticed. She doesn’t want to have friends. Having friends is dangerous. Having friends could alert the NIAC to your presence. Joss is a Talent herself, and she doesn’t trust many people, outside her family (and the dynamics of Joss’s family are just delightful, by the way; I especially loved her younger sister, Jill). Joss does, however, have a huge crush on Dylan, a member of Marco’s crew. Marco is one of the more despicable characters I’ve ever met, and spends his time bullying anybody he feels like bullying — and worse.

Hush Money goes back and forth between the perspectives of Joss and Dylan, as both of them uncover more and more of the sinister, Talent-snatching plot unfolding around them. Joss is a complex, flawed heroine who starts to grow into herself toward the end of the book, which makes me really excited about where Bischoff’s going to take Joss in the next two books. (Hush Money is, happily, only Book One of the Talent Chronicles). Plus, Joss is hilarious. Her snarky, sarcastic sense of humor elicited quite a few laughs, but that humor covers layers of complicated neuroses that make her seem real. Dylan is a suitably dreamy love interest (although I dearly want to know more about him), who is also very real, caught up in Marco’s life of crime while wanting out, while also wanting to stay in, hating Marco and also loving him at the same time (he’s his bro, after all).

The side characters are all extremely entertaining. There are a few I’m dying to know more about, but I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own. Like I said, I love Joss’s family, and the fact that, while they’re extraordinary people, they’re a very ordinary family. Bischoff’s dialogue sparkles and shines. The story grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. (Also, I have to say that I love how Bischoff’s teenaged characters actually curse. Because most teenagers curse. A lot.)

I’m so excited to see where Bischoff’s going to take this story next. No spoilers, of course, but the end of this first book creates so much delicious potential for further exploring the world of the Talents, the goals of the NIAC, and who in Joss’s Talent-rich town of Fairview keeps turning in kids to the NIAC. And I also can’t wait to watch Joss’s continued progression from someone so frightened she has a hard time standing up for anyone, much less herself, to one of the more extraordinary Talents around.

Tags: Book Bites, Reading