The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
published May 2019 Flatiron Books
borrowed from the library

An unforgettable love story, a novel about past mistakes and betrayals that ripple throughout generations, The Guest Book examines not just a privileged American family, but a privileged America. It is a literary triumph.

The Guest Book follows three generations of a powerful American family, a family that “used to run the world”.

And when the novel begins in 1935, they still do. Kitty and Ogden Milton appear to have everything—perfect children, good looks, a love everyone envies. But after a tragedy befalls them, Ogden tries to bring Kitty back to life by purchasing an island in Maine. That island, and its house, come to define and burnish the Milton family, year after year after year. And it is there that Kitty issues a refusal that will haunt her till the day she dies.

In 1959 a young Jewish man, Len Levy, will get a job in Ogden’s bank and earn the admiration of Ogden and one of his daughters, but the scorn of everyone else. Len’s best friend Reg Pauling has always been the only black man in the room—at Harvard, at work, and finally at the Miltons’ island in Maine.
An island that, at the dawn of the 21st century, this last generation doesn’t have the money to keep. When Kitty’s granddaughter hears that she and her cousins might be forced to sell it, and when her husband brings back disturbing evidence about her grandfather’s past, she realizes she is on the verge of finally understanding the silences that seemed to hover just below the surface of her family all her life.

An ambitious novel that weaves the American past with its present, The Guest Book looks at the racism and power that has been systemically embedded in the US for generations. Brimming with gorgeous writing and bitterly accurate social criticism, it is a literary tour de force.

I picked up this title from the library as I had seen it marketed around the internet and it seemed to really be well received. And I love sagas, this is definitely one. But I have a strong dislike for "literary masterpiece" type of reads as those seem to be a total bore and a letdown and pretty much a political tirade or something similar. Or so I thought. I struggled getting into this novel, I really did. The very first sentence was a signal of things to come and I was not pleased. I was completely turned off and quite frankly, confused. At a long 5% later I was reading reviews of the book and totally trying to determine if I should keep going. Some readers were as confused and bored as I was and just stopped. Somehow it seemed you either loved or hated this one, so I wanted to keep going.

Looking back at my reading progress it seems somewhere between 5% and 20% I was able to dig in and start caring about these characters and that for me is the key to my enjoyment of a novel. It is definitely a wordy novel hence the term 'literary' but I was able to get on board with the tones and nuances of the passionate voice of this novel as a whole. This is a story of an upper class family the Miltons and is told through the eyes of different generations of the family which causes a bit of confusion as the narration changes. The women are all strong members of the Milton clan and they actually own a little island in New England. What to do with that island as the last generation is forced to come to terms with it and their place in today's America is the question. Is it a status symbol? Is it a part of them? How important is it to own an island? Why the hell should we care?

17 highlights on the kindle version means that were so many points getting a rise out of me that I was like, 'YES! THIS!'. There are things that define a family, which could be a stigma or a gift. The island could be either. Perception is a key theme to this novel: perceptions and prejudice of both race and wealth. This saga demonstrates how easily misperception can ruin a family and cloud a stranger's judgement. One of the main characters is Reg Paulding who is a black man on the outside of the Milton family, yet Moss Milton really wants to include Reg:
"Most people in the rest of the country would walk in here and see one black man sitting where he shouldn’t.” Moss shook his head stubbornly. “We are sitting together, and that’s the fact. Anything can happen from here on out. Anything is possible. Big ears, man. You gotta have big ears.”

The inclusion of an angry young man at one party has such debilitating repercussions and shows that those are too self-absorbed in their own hurt can never realize the good out of life. "No one knew what to do with him sitting there. Classmate? Roommate? Checkmate."  Reg's role is pivotal in the Milton saga whether he wants to be or not. He can treat it as a chess game but in the end it is life and then death. 

The shifting narration that was so hard to get used to in the beginning actually is a symbol in itself, as it is indicative that history repeats itself and generation upon generation we seem to make the same mistakes over and over, but under the guise of some new freedom that we feel is being trampled upon. What is real? What is imagined?




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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Washington Square Press (June 13, 2017)
borrowed from the library

In this entrancing novel “that speaks to the Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in us all” (Kirkus Reviews), a legendary film actress reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

This is an intriguing look at what could be going on behind the scenes in Hollywood -- think of Elizabeth Taylor and her many husbands and celebrity status through the years. This is a similar story but entirely fictional. And while I would not normally pick this type of story up to read, our book club had recommended it and I put it on my list at the library to hold for me when it became available.

It's a story within a story as Evelyn tells Monique the writer/journalist the sordid details of her life as she beds and weds various other power players she comes across during her movie making years. A novel that easily can be misconstrued as a light women's fiction read, it's really a story about how women can empower themselves to be the best that they strive to be. The relationships of the women shine a light on provocative themes such as homosexuality and divorce but also deal with everyday issues that we all deal with on a daily basis. I was very intrigued with all the people of Evelyn's life and the novel was very well written and even thought provoking. Complete with an ending I didn't see coming, but knew there was something there that was going to come out but this little twist was awesome and well done.

I don't really categorize this as historical fiction (debates as to whether one's life story can be historical when looking back) - but this title was nominated as a Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction for 2017 and for Book of the Month/Year 2017.

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The End of The Point by Elizabeth Graver
Harper: March 3, 2013
Hardcover 352 pages
Review copy provided by the publisher for review in the May 2013 Historical Novel Society magazine
Burton Book Review Rating: 3 stars


Synopsis:

A precisely observed, superbly crafted novel, The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver charts the dramatic changes in the lives of three generations of one remarkable family, and the summer place that both shelters and isolates them.

Ashaunt Point, Massachusetts, has anchored life for generations of the Porter family, who summer along its remote, rocky shore. But in 1942, the U.S. Army arrives on the Point, bringing havoc and change. That summer, the two older Porter girls—teenagers Helen and Dossie—run wild. The children’s Scottish nurse, Bea, falls in love. And youngest daughter, Janie, is entangled in an incident that cuts the season short and haunts the family for years to come.

An unforgettable portrait of one family’s journey through the second half of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Graver’s The End of the Point artfully probes the hairline fractures hidden beneath the surface of our lives and traces the fragile and enduring bonds that connect us.

If the author's intent was to focus on the genre of literary fiction and its skim the surface type of nuances, she succeeded. She presents us with the Porter family unit that summers in a fictional town of Ashaunt, Massachusetts and rarely leaves the setting. The family includes children's caregivers who were Scottish and we leave the Point to visit Scotland with the caregivers as a rare reprieve from Ashaunt. Other than that, the setting remains the same as the author focuses her story on the people in the family and their personal struggles. Bea, the caregiver who has no life outside the family she cares for; Helen, the precocious elder child; and later Charlie, who is Helen's son who suffers from depression and drug dependence. The eras evoke significance, as we begin in the 1940's and the war effort that was evident from the front porch of their summer escape; later wars and the sixties also lend background themes as causes to the eccentricities of the characters.

The prose reads fluidly, but once you get comfortable with the characters and the heavily foreshadowed plot told through third person, the events seem to stand still.  In the last third of the novel there seems to be a lull as the author focuses on characterization with a very observational ambiance. One sentence will describe a character's thought and in that same sentence offhandedly mentions that years later such and such happened. This constant peek into the future ruined whatever sort of wonder I had at what would happen to the characters. The novel portrays living at Ashaunt through the eyes of passing generations with a depressive slant towards the grim reality of persistent misunderstandings yet enduring constancy. Though it lacks the emotional impact I would have preferred, I did appreciate her descriptive style.

An "Online Exclusive" plus more!

In Times of Fading Light: A Novel by Eugen Ruge
Graywolf Press, June 11, 2013
Literary Fiction, 328 pages
Review copy provided from the publisher via Historical Novel Society for their Online Exclusive, this review expands on that linked review.
Burton Book Review Rating: 3 stars

Enthrallingly expansive in its geographical and temporal sweep, this story of a German family tells of years spent in exile, of the revolution of 1989 and beyond. The masterful narrative makes halt in Mexico, Siberia and East Berlin, climbing the summits and charting the abysses of the 20th century along the way. The result is both a stunning panorama and a monumental German novel that makes history itself tangible through the history of one family. A novel of immense stature, founded on its humanity, its precision and its humour.

In Times of Fading Light focuses on three generations. The grandparents, still convinced Communists, return to the fledging East Germany at the beginning of the 1950s to do their part in establishing the new state. Their son returns from the other direction, having emigrated to Moscow and found himself banished to Siberia. He returns with his Russian wife to a country mired in petit bourgeois values, yet also brings with him an unwavering belief that they can be changed. The grandson, meanwhile, feels increasingly constricted in a heimat that was not of his choosing, and heads to the West on the very day that his grandfather, the family patriarch, turns 90. The glittering lights of a political utopia that once shone enticingly seem to be gradually fading as time wears unwaveringly on.

Eugen Ruge's newly translated literary novel  lets the reader experience the atmosphere of the political upheaval of Germany's families while interspersing somewhat sarcastic reflections of their way of life. Following multiple characters during multiple time periods, the novel has a reminiscent quality to it as we explore the characters through different viewpoints. On display is a resilient family that slowly reveals their fractures through their personal despair and struggles of alcoholism, cancer, and marriage as we flip through the 1940's, 1990's and 2001.

Wilhelm and Charlotte the communists, their son Kurt the smart one with the weak writer's hands, Kurt and Irina's son Alexander the drifter, and Alexander's son Markus the screwed up kid, all come and go just as the fragments of the time lines come and go. Each family member seems disappointed in the next family member, and through all the jumping of timelines we know some of the story before we technically get to it, as with the major event of Wilhelm's ninetieth birthday party. Everyone is expected to attend this grand event, and before we get to this major event of the story there is a back and forth that is somewhat difficult to keep track of.

The novel starts off with Alexander tending his elderly father Kurt when we learn Alexander is struggling to accept his own diagnosis of inoperable cancer. Here he finds letters and notes from Kurt which resurface at the end of the novel, but not to the degree this reader would have liked. Kurt's father Wilhelm is overly proud of himself and his Communist views, but there is a bit more history of his immediate family that is missing yet alluded to.

The narration shifts from Kurt and Irina, to Wilhelm and Charlotte, and to Alexander and his son as we anticipate an epic ninetieth birthday party for Wilhelm. I would have liked to know what really happened during that Nazi era to Kurt and his brother besides prison but we must fill in the blanks ourselves. Wilhelm is utterly disappointed in his life and he wonders what was the point of it all as the Wall comes down, and yet Kurt wonders too (eighty million people dead!) so we witness the search for identity all set against different backdrops of Germany's society- deftly showing the parallels of the generations - and we realize dejectedly that it is all the same thing in the end. The novel reads as if we were flipping through clippings of the characters’ memories so that we can relate to them all, but the constant jumping to another person and time frame is jarring. The writing itself is clear and precise, honest and blunt, but I question the change of tense in the last chapter. Some situations were a bit crude, but fleshes out the novel as it grasps the demons of reality for this family.

The Darlings by Cristina Alger
Viking/Pamela Dorman Books
February 16, 2012
Hardcover, 352 pages
9780670023271
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: 4.5 stars

A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.
Now that he’s married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.
But Paul’s luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie—will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?
Cristina Alger’s glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover—or cover up—the truth. With echoes of a fictional Too Big to Fail and the novels of Dominick Dunne, The Darlings offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society—a world seldom seen by outsiders—and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.

Wall Street crumbles, the financial crisis consumes every one's retirement, and the American dream as we know it has become a nightmare. To stay off my soap-box to write this review is tough, as I blame these exact movers and shakers of Wall Street and their business partners as the reason most of us are struggling to pay our bills. In the wake of Bernie Madoff, the author brings us a fictional wealthy family, the Darlings, and all of their acquaintances and co-workers to bring us the story we thought we knew. And even though we find it difficult to feel sorry for these overbearing and pretentious people, the author writes it so well that we really want to know what happens to the Darlings when the bottom finally drops out. And we all know it will, because we are living in the recession that Wall Street helped create for its fellow Americans.

With each introduction of yet another character, the inevitable drop doesn't come quick. Instead we watch via the myriad of characters with bated breath.. waiting, reading, and somehow falling in love with the story that we know ends with the tragic fact that just one victim of millions is that the widow down the street no longer has a life savings to live off of. Paul Ross, General Counsel, is married to his boss's daughter, and Paul is the one we focus on, as he is the one who was innocently roped into this intense financial mess the firm created. We can easily root for this gentle Southerner who was inadvertently trapped in a New York minute by his wife's family. Some of the intricate details of the financial world come into play here, but I was lucky enough to have passed two securities exams back in the day, so much of it was old-hat to me. And a lot of New York and Long Island are featured, which is where I grew up (as a figure of speech). These behind-the-scenes montages could become boring to some, but I was sucked into the story from the opening scene when Morty jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The story develops around the investigation of Morty's hedge fund business, with the SEC closing in on this fraudulent business and the media itching to get out in front of the looming debacle of what Morty left behind.. which is the Darling family business.. except who was going to take the fall? Would they set the innocent Paul up as the sacrificial lamb? Or is everyone going down? As a New Yorker herself, the author gives us a refreshing angle at how the other half lives - making no apologies, and leaving nothing to the imagination and simply writes it in a matter-of- fact style. She doesn't try to force empathy onto any of the characters, she simply tries to shed light on the puzzle of how the dominoes may fall. There were so many characters I was impressed with the weaving of them all, as the web threatened to snag them all. Cristina Alger deftly writes us an evocative story that is a bit like a taste of forbidden fruit.. you know it's not going to be a happy ending, but still it's one you know is going to have a twist.. and it is so much fun getting there. Even though the final scene seemed a bit abrupt and contrived, this was an enticing story and I would definitely be interested in what comes next from this author.

Read an excerpt.