Her Last Death

Author: Susanna Sonnenberg
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Scribner, 2008
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend*

Synopsis: Her Last Death begins as the phone rings early one morning in the Montana house where Susanna Sonnenberg lives with her husband and two young sons. Her aunt is calling to tell Susanna her mother is in a coma after a car accident. She might not live. Any daughter would rush the thousands of miles to her mother's bedside. But Susanna cannot bring herself to go. Her courageous memoir explains why.

Glamorous, charismatic and a compulsive liar, Susanna's mother seduced everyone who entered her orbit. With outrageous behavior and judgment tinged by drug use, she taught her child the art of sex and the benefits of lying. Susanna struggled to break out of this compelling world, determined, as many daughters are, not to become her mother.

Sonnenberg mines tender and startling memories as she writes of her fierce resolve to forge her independence, to become a woman capable of trust and to be a good mother to her own children. Her Last Death is riveting, disarming and searingly beautiful.

Review: *I waffled on whether or not this should be a "Recommend" or "Do Not Recommend." Perhaps it receives both. If you are offended by "vulgar" language/sex/drug use, a book that is about a negligent mother who is heavily into cocaine and promiscuous sex is probably not your best choice of reading material. Therefore, I don't recommend Her Last Death. If you want to see what all the crazy is about, then read it. This is well-written, and my awestruck self couldn't read the pages quickly enough.

As a mother, there is simply no way I would raise my daughters as Susanna's mother raised hers. In fact, this memoir left me feeling sorry for Susanna and wondering how she could even "turn out" somewhat normal given her childhood, and it also left me wanting to read her mother's memoir. What happened in her past that made her the way she was? It's very strange.

I hung in there with Susanna and accepted her flaws, but I wanted there to be more about her revelation to change and how she did it. The lesson makes a memoir a memoir, and it just wasn't developed enough.

The Girl on the Train

Author: Paula Hawkins
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015
Pages: 336
Rating: Highly Recommended

Synopsis: Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

Review: I love a good psychological thriller. I'd love to get inside this author's head and figure out how one writes such an engrossing and twisted novel. 

And the Good News is. . .

Author: Dana Perino
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 256
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: From her years as the presidential press secretary to her debates with colleagues on Fox News' The Five, Dana Perino reveals the lessons she's learned that have guided her through life, kept her level-headed, and led to her success, even in the face of adversity.

Thoughtful, inspiring, and often surprising, AND THE GOOD NEWS IS . . . traces Dana Perino's unlikely journey through politics and television. It's a remarkable American story-made up of equal parts determination and clear-eyed optimism.

From facing professional challenges and confronting personal fears to stepping up to a podium for a President, Dana has come to expect the unexpected and has an uncanny ability to find the good news in any tough situation. AND THE GOOD NEWS IS . . . takes us from her Western childhood in Wyoming and Colorado to a chance meeting on an airplane that changes her life entirely. Then, with refreshing honesty and humor, she recounts her frustration with a string of unsatisfying jobs and living circumstances until a key career tip leads her back to Washington, D.C. to work for the Bush Administration.

Dana also shares here her best work and life lessons-tips that will help you to get your point across convincingly while allowing your own grace and personality to shine through. As someone who still believes in working together to solve the problems our nation faces, Dana offers clear, practical advice on how to restore civility to our personal and public conversations. The result is a fascinating read that can help anyone become more successful, productive, and joyously content.

Review: I liked this and found it to be an interesting read. People's stories interest me so of course I enjoyed this. My husband loves watching The Five and when I saw this book was out, I wanted to read it just to learn more about her. It was well worth my time.

If I have one criticism it's that she packed a lot into one volume. Furthermore, the structure of this could be better organized. And the Good News Is starts out strong with stories about her formative years and background which is a logical beginning. Rather than weaving advice into how to advance your own career as she talks about climbing the ladder herself and launching her own cararer. Then, Perino offers what seem to me to be pretty typical and nothing new tips. Write a thank you note after an interview, don't bite the hand that feeds you, network. It's all very run of the mill stuff, although I will admit I liked her personal examples, and I don't disagree with her advice. I would have preferred this book be broken into sections. Overall, this seems like a final draft with a little bit of work yet to be done. However, once the reader gets past that, the information is interesting and solid.

Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule

Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015
Pages: 400
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival imagines the inner life of Julia Grant, beloved as a Civil War general’s wife and the First Lady, yet who grappled with a profound and complex relationship with the slave who was her namesake—until she forged a proud identity of her own.

In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met dazzling horseman Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents permitted them to wed, and the groom’s abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony.

Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistress’s closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule became Julia’s eyes to the world.

And what a world it was, marked by gathering clouds of war. The Grants vowed never to be separated, but as Ulysses rose through the ranks—becoming general in chief of the Union Army—so did the stakes of their pact. During the war, Julia would travel, often in the company of Jule and the four Grant children, facing unreliable transportation and certain danger to be at her husband’s side.

Yet Julia and Jule saw two different wars. While Julia spoke out for women—Union and Confederate—she continued to hold Jule as a slave behind Union lines. Upon the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jule claimed her freedom and rose to prominence as a businesswoman in her own right, taking the honorary title Madame. The two women’s paths continued to cross throughout the Grants’ White House years in Washington, DC, and later in New York City, the site of Grant’s Tomb.

Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule is the first novel to chronicle this singular relationship, bound by sight and shadow.

Review: Had I realized this was written by the same author as Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, I probably wouldn't have read it. However, this just goes to show you. . . I really liked Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule. It was well-researched and plausible. 

Chiaverini makes several references to Elizabeth Keckley as Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker, which readers might ordinarily find odd, that such a minor character was mentioned by name and multiple times. However, knowing she was the subject of a prior novel written by Chiaverini, it's almost funny because it's not a necessary reference and there's no mention of her book by name.