Category: Uncategorized

Review: I Am No One by Patrick Flanery

I Am No OneI Am No One by Patrick Flanery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While this novel is essentially a thriller it is smart, thought-provoking and layered.

Jeremy O’Keefe is an unlikeable American university professor who has taught ten years at Oxford and has recently returned to teach in the US, ostensibly to be closer to the daughter he abandoned just prior to the 9/11 attacks. He receives troubling anonymous packages and warnings and soon realizes that he’s under surveillance, but by whom, and why? As the story unfolds, one wonders just how unreliable of a narrator he is. The reader sees that he has continually made ambiguous choices, yet he seems blithely unaware. Is he this stupid or is there more that he is up to?

I love how the author layers in the theme of surveillance, from Professor O’Keefe’s area of specialty (the Stasi in East Germany) to the mysterious new artist his daughter’s art gallery is featuring, to the new phone his daughter has given him. Jeremy has a peeping tom, yet he is a peeping tom himself.

Sharp, articulate and completely absorbing. It makes me think of how many ways all of us are being watched and how easy it would be to build a case of “traitor” against just about anyone if there was enough will and malice to do so. O’Keefe is indeed No One but also everyone.

I found myself pondering the nuances and layers of this novel long after I reached the end.

Thank you Net Gallery and Algonquin Books for the review copy.

View all my reviews

So thrilled to reveal this cover! Adrift at Sea

AdriftAtSea_website The first picture book to recount the dramatic true story of a refugee family’s perilous escape from Vietnam

It is 1981. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a fishing boat overloaded with 60 Vietnamese refugees drifts. The motor has failed; the hull is leaking; the drinking water is nearly gone. This is the dramatic true story recounted by Tuan Ho, who was six years old when he, his mother, and two sisters dodged the bullets of Vietnam’s military police for the perilous chance of boarding that boat. Told to multi-award-winning author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch and illustrated by the celebrated Brian Deines, Tuan’s story has become Adrift At Sea, the first picture book to describe the flight of Vietnam’s “Boat People” refugees. Illustrated with sweeping oil paintings and complete with an expansive historical and biographical section with photographs, this non-fiction picture book is all the more important as the world responds to a new generation of refugees risking all on the open water for the chance at safety and a new life.

Look inside!

The Fall Guy by James Lasdum

The Fall Guy: A NovelThe Fall Guy: A Novel by James Lasdun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love stories like this, that plunge me right in from page one. Matthew, a down-on-his-luck chef, visits Charlie and Chloe, his wealthy cousin and wife. At first everything seems idyllic, but as the story progresses, each character has secrets and motives that slowly unfold. The narrative is from Matthew’s point of view and at first you might believe everything he says, but again, as things progress, you have reasons to wonder if he’s being totally honest. And then it’s a matter of Chloe, who constantly surprises. And where is it that Charlie disappears to every day? Jealousy, murder, infidelity and voyeurism all play a part in the well-told tale and by the time you get to the last page you’ll still be wondering who the real fall guy (or girl) is.

I would have given it 5 stars, but there were a couple of too obvious clues near the end, making the ending more predicable than it should have been. That said, it was an extremely enjoyable read.

Thank you Netgalley and WW Norton & Company for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Kolach

I baked four Kolaches today. Want the recipe? Here it is, although I do a double batch at a time and add a couple of teaspoons of lemon extract to the dough. And I use butter instead of oil.

Kolach recipe
page 2
from this book

Kolach

I baked four Kolaches today. Want the recipe? Here it is, although I do a double batch at a time and add a couple of teaspoons of lemon extract to the dough. And I use butter instead of oil.