Two children from the same wealthy family disappear 14 years apart from their parents' summer complex in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. The story alternates between the summer of 1975 when 14-year-old Barbara Van Laar disappears from the children's summer camp on the Van Laar preserve and the summer of 1961 when 8-year-old Bear Van Laar disappears from the preserve.
The cast of characters include the weird Van Laar parents, both from moneyed backgrounds--Peter is a cold, controlling banker and Alice is a debutante who never grew a spine; wealthy friends of the parents, hardworking law enforcement, a convicted escaped rapist and serial killer, camp staff including the camp manager and groundskeeper, and town folk from the nearby blue-collar town of Shattuck, NY..
The resolutions for both disappearances were different than I expected and pretty interesting in themselves. I also thought the red herrings were terrific and really had me going down a variety of deadends.
I almost had a problem with stereotypical characters, but Moore managed to step back from the stereotype and make them real. The 1970s she depicts in rural NY was not really recognizable to me--being a teen in Colorado in the 1970s, but I figured that had more to do with location and regional norms than authorial sloppiness. In other words, I enjoyed the story so much I gave the author some slack.
Has anyone read any of the other books by this author?
Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until—betrayed and brokenhearted—she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America—but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.
I really enjoyed reading about these four women from worlds that I know so little about. Even when they are in the U.S., their experiences, being international women of color, barely intersect with my own reality. However, Kadiatou's story is the most powerful and compelling. She tells of her life in Guinea--unlike the other three women, she is not born into a wealthy family--and so she must work from an early age. She immigrates to the U.S., helped by her fiancée, and it was fascinating and sobering to read about the immigrant experience. The other women were interesting to read about, but hers was the story I really cared about...and deeply.
The ending is probably one of the most satisfying endings to a story that I have read in a very long time. It is beautiful and hopeful, life-affirming but not sugar-coated. We all dream our own dreams and what is good or right or just for one person is not necessarily what another person wants.
Also, the Author's Note at the end is brilliant and definitely worth reading. She says this about stories:
Stories die and recede from collective memory merely for not having been told. Or a single version thrives because other versions are silenced. Imaginative retellings matter. Literature does truly instruct and delight—or at least it can. Literature keeps the faith and tells the story as reminder, as witness, as testament. Stories help us see ourselves and talk about ourselves.
I also read but never blogged about the author's Americanah, which was also a 5-star book for me.
A Foreboding of Petrels, by Steve Burrows - #7 in the wonderful birder murder mystery series, this one was particularly interesting as the murder took place at a research lab in Antarctica, so it was interesting to learn about life down there, the logistics and how to deal with the extreme conditions, etc while watching Dominic Jejune, chief detective, figure it all out while on required leave from his job.
This is such a good mystery series--chock full of interesting side characters--and set in the marshy eastern coast of England. Small town stuff, birding stuff, science stuff. All good!
Apart from Reading...
I've started ice skating again. I was practically born on skates--with a Canadian mother, there was really no choice. I speed skated until age 11, then shifted to figure skating through high school. And then, I stopped skating except very occasionally, sold my custom skates since they no longer fit, and didn't skate for about 20 years...while the body aged. I bought a pair of skates and have been four times in the last two weeks, with two of my adult kids, and am really enjoying the change of pace. As I say, I have the muscle memory...just not the muscles anymore. Pictures of me on the ice will not be forthcoming.
Finished season three of The Gilded Age and cannot wait until season 4 is released later this year. What an exceptionally good show. I loved everything about it. Will start current season of Bridgerton soon.
Resumed watching Mad About You--Jamie and Paul are finally pregnant. I loved this show in the 1990's and am so impressed with all the great comedians that Paul Reiser induced to be on his show. We're talking Carl Reiner, Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Stephen Wright, and I know Carol Burnett shows up as Jamie's mom later on. And then, of course, there were the crossovers with other NBC shows: namely Friends and Seinfeld.
Set up to record the new Count of Monte Cristo on PBS, which starts on March 22. Gearing up to watch Death by Lightning about the assassination of President James Garfield.
Tried to watch How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, assuming it would be like Derry Girls, but too weird and spooky for me.
Watched the first two episodes of the rebooted Scrubs. Definitely a keeper!
Happy Spring! So glad we are back on daylight savings time--walks in the evening, reading on the back deck in the evening. Garden planning is underway.
Best wishes for a wonderful March full of good books!
