Bodies of Water

4.5 of 5 Stars

In 1960, Billie Valentine is a young housewife living in a sleepy Massachusetts suburb, treading water in a dull marriage and caring for two adopted daughters. Summers spent with the girls at their lakeside camp in Vermont are her one escape - from her husband's demands, from days consumed by household drudgery, and from the nagging suspicion that life was supposed to hold something different. Then a new family moves in across the street. Ted and Eva Wilson have three children and a fourth on the way, and their arrival reignites long-buried feelings in Billie. The affair that follows offers a solace Billie has never known, until her secret is revealed and both families are wrenched apart in the tragic aftermath. Fifty years later, Ted and Eva's son, Johnny, contacts an elderly but still spry Billie, entreating her to return east to meet with him. Once there, Billie finally learns the surprising truth about what was lost, and what still remains, of those joyful, momentous summers. (from Amazon.com)

I will admit I set this one on my shelf for a long time and it wasn't because I didn't want to read it. Any time Miss Greenwood releases a new book I am ready to devour it. She is one of my absolute favorite authors and I still pride myself in finding her book, by sheer luck, at a Barnes and Noble a few years ago. That being said, she's got a new book coming out, The Forever Bridge, and I'm ecstatic for its release. 

Bodies of Water does not disappoint. Greenwood treats the story with her signature pizazz and knack for capturing the right words. I was constantly impressed with the imagery of water throughout. Water becomes an extended metaphor throughout the entire novel. The story is captivating. A gift of Miss Greenwood's is to take a story that may seem predictable at face value but she captures the reader with her distinct prose. The character of Ted Wilson seems a little stereotypical, for example, but Miss Greenwood still manages to make it interesting. 

If homosexual romances offend you in any way, but you have read Miss Greenwood before and loved it, still give this one a chance. It may just alter your view of homosexual men and women. I think it was meant to be a twist in the plot, or at least a secret, since the synopsis on the back of the book doesn't really say anything about it. Whatever your response is to it I certainly hope it doesn't force you away from finishing the book. This is one book that explores the nature of love. What it really means to love and how freeing it is to follow your heart. Billie and Eva are a believable couple and their story is something that gives hope to any who long for love. 

I highly recommend this novel and any other work by Miss Greenwood. 

Grace

Woot Woot!

Unable to ignore the haunting photographs that 13-year-old Trevor Kennedy brings in to be developed, Crystal, a store clerk dealing with her own loss, finds her life colliding with this troubled boy whose family is about to be pushed to the breaking point. (from Google Books)

T. Greenwood is a favorite of mine. Her prose is pitch-perfect and heart wrenching. She manages to capture the human experience with a keen eye. I cannot rave enough about her. Her latest novel, Grace, is no exception. We return to Two Rivers to meet the Kennedy's and a teenage mother who just gave up her baby for adoption. The way their worlds collide is significant, dramatic, and so real. 

Kurt is a lovable character. One thing about Greenwood is that she is able to show character flaws in a beautiful light. Each of her characters are very human, realistic. The patriarch of the Kennedy family is flawed but he is heroic. He may not handle things the way he should. He doesn't realize until the end just how poorly he's treated his son, but the reader is left with a glimmer of hope that he has changed. His father is an ass and that seems to occupy a lot of Kurt's thoughts. 

Elsbeth is someone who made my heart ache. She longed for things she would never have. There was always such a sense of loss with her. And the juxtaposition between her and Crystal was a stroke of sheer brilliance on Greenwood's part. The woman who kept the baby when she was a teenager, married the boy, and stayed is yearning for freedom while Crystal, who gave up her baby and the boy who impregnated her won't have anything to do with her, wants that life. 

Trevor is an interesting character. I felt bad for him because he was the scapegoat for everything. And the topic of bullying has been a huge one lately, and I think Greenwood captured the significance of the problem perfectly. 

Crystal was probably my favorite character. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because, out of all the characters, she was the one who stood up for herself. She made her decision and went with it, rather than letting life happen to her. 

All of these characters encircle Grace. She is always in the background but she is such a poignant centerpiece for the whole novel. 

What I love about Greenwood is her characterization, among other things. Each character breathes with life and becomes more than just names squished between the pages in a book. They become people I am familiar with, like an old friend. Her plotting drives forward like an avalanche and I often wonder where she is going with things and then she throws in surprise curves that make you keep reading. 

Grace is compelling and dramatic and beautifully written. It is not escapist literature by any means, but it is enjoyable to read and her words carry you away on a comforting ride. I highly recommend this novel and any by T. Greenwood to anyone looking for intelligent reading.

Undressing the Moon

Rating: 5 out of 5 Broken Pieces of Glass

 

Piper Kincaid has never been able to forget the summer she turned fourteen--or understand its consequences. At thirty and diagnosed with breast cancer, Piper is drawn back to that time and filled with regret. As she attempts to reassemble the fragments of her history, what emerges is the kaleidoscopic portrait of a young woman whose indefatigable spirit prevails, despite shattered dreams. An evocative, richly-told novel of coming-of-age and coming-to-terms, Undressing the Moon finds grace in wreckage and hope in a broken life. 

---From Amazon.Com

 

I always rave about T. Greenwood. She never fails to impress nor does she ever disappoint. Undressing the Moon is an earlier novel of hers that was reprinted because of demand. Every time I go to Barnes and Noble I check to see if she's suddenly released a new book because it seems that is the way I find her. By accident but on purpose. 

Greenwood has a knack for imagery. The colors in this novel are vivid and unique. Piper, the main character, has a voice her mom says is the color of "holiday." Piper's mother makes stained glass art. Throughout the book, Greenwood uses the broken glass, their colors, her mother's art as a symbol for mending broken things. It is all really quite genius. 

 

Some people might label Greenwood's novels as depressing and heavy, but I feel they are a breath of fresh air. She seems to understand the human condition in ways that only a keen writer can. She said in an interview: "I think that we are all defined, to a certain extent, by our childhoods. My childhood memories are so vivid: the tragedies as well as the happy times. I am who I am because of the sorrows I suffered as a kid as well as the bliss. Fictional characters are no different. I almost never write about adult characters without understanding where it is that they came from. What haunts them...The very nature of narrative is that there needs to be conflict. Problems. Trouble. I simply figure out what my characters' problems are and then see them through them." She tackles sensitive issues delicately and with precision. Nobody wants to read a story about a happy family with no problems. And we all can relate, in some way, to her characters. Sure, I was never abandoned by my parents. Sure, I was never in an intimate affair with a teacher. Sure, I have never had cancer. But I understand the struggle and the fight that Greenwood's characters endure. While her characters may not be likable (I never did side with her protagonist in This Glittering World) and Piper isn't always the ideal, I think that is what makes them human. You find yourself rooting for them simply because you want them to get through. And that is the beauty of Ms. Greenwood. 

 

Two Rivers still stands as my absolute favorite Greenwood novel, but I cannot say I have a least favorite. They're all excellent. If you're looking for books with depth, beautiful writing, and something to say about human nature, go find T. Greenwood at your local library or bookstore. I gave Undressing the Moon 5 out of 5 Broken Pieces of Glass. 

Thank you, Ms. Greenwood, for always producing amazing literature. I look forward to reading more of your novels, and I would love to, someday, attend one of your writing workshops so I could glean an inkling of your gift from you.

Attitude of Gratitude #1

I'm going to do something this November to celebrate Thanksgiving. EVERY DAY I'm going to post three things that I'm thankful for. Today, I put up Thanksgiving decorations at my parents' house and I was in that mindset, then I went to work and everything was Christmas. It was as if we had completely skipped over November and Thanksgiving. Let's not even think about being grateful for anything before we focus on Christmas and Santa and gifts.

So here it begins.

Today I am grateful for:

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE

Her new album, Ceremonials, was released in the US/Canada today, and it is amazing! It's little things like this that make a mundane day exceptional.

T. Greenwood

I just started Undressing the Moon and it is already sucking me in. Her writing never ceases to amaze me. I've spread her novels out because I like to relish every word. She has been a sweet discovery and will always be a favorite author of mine. 

Paigey

My coworker, Paige, pretty much made my day today. Every time I work with her is a new adventure. She is such an optimistic, sweet, vibrant, and funny girl. I wish I could be more like her. 

This Glittering World

Rating: 5 out of 5 Arizona Snowstorms

One November morning, Ben Bailey walks out of his Flagstaff, Arizona home to retrieve the paper. He finds Ricky Begay, a young Navajo man, beaten and dying in the newly fallen snow. Unable to forget the incident, especially once he meets Ricky's sister, Shadi, Ben begins to question everything, from his job as a history professor to his relationship with his fiancee, Sara. Ben decides to discover the truth about Ricky's death, in hopes of filling in the cracks in his own life. Yet the answers leave him torn between love and responsibility and between his once-certain future and the choices that could liberate him at a cost. "This Glittering World" is the book T. Greenwood's fans and critics have been waiting for - one that cements her reputation as one of today's most eloquent and impressive talents.
(Courtesy of Amazon.com)

T. Greenwood never ceases to amaze me. This is the third book of hers that I have read, and, while it wasn't my favorite of hers, it still managed to astound me.

I hated Ben Bailey. The main character drove me nuts! Usually I get all mad when I can't stand the main character in a book, but then I looked at why I don't like him. He's certainly flawed: he never stands up for himself and when he does it backfires, he is caught in a loveless relationship, he's passive-aggressive, he cheats on his girlfriend, he is always a victim, he doesn't really make things happen they just sort of happen to him and around him. I was hoping some redemptive quality would pop up in there by the end, but it never happened. Then I realized I was okay with that because it makes him human. I may have disliked him as a hero of a story but he leaped out of the pages. Maybe I saw a lot of myself in him. That, my friends, is the beauty of Ms. Greenwood's writing. It is effective and hits so true to home that it is impossible not to walk away unchanged.

At first I didn't understand the different colors but then Greenwood brought in the tapestry analogy and it all made sense. I am reminded of the Robert Frost poem "Fire and Ice." Ben Bailey's world will either end in fire or ice. While he desires "ice" he may have to settle for "fire." Read it and see if that makes sense to you.

The ending surprised me. I kept waiting for Sara to find out about Ben and Shadi and confront him and tell him to take a hike. But it didn't happen. Of all the characters, I sympathized with Sara the most, but even she was easy to hate sometimes. In fact, there was not a single likable character in here, but I was not put off by that. Greenwood is a master of creating human characters that are so believable and realistic and flawed that it feels like you are reading about an old friend. And that, my friends, is why I will continually go back to read T. Greenwood.

I just had an Aha! Moment, too. The title, This Glittering World, alludes to the Native American struggle to decide between two worlds (Native and White). Ben Bailey has his own struggle of which "world" to belong to. So it is ironic that he is a white who longs to belong with a Native American. Now I have an even greater appreciation for the brilliance behind this book. I give it 5 out of 5 Arizona snowstorms.

The Hungry Season

I discovered T. Greenwood quite by accident. She was a lucky find though. For some reason I picked up Two Rivers and decided I just had to read it. And I was glad I did. It was a significant book with amazing writing.

I knew Greenwood was coming out with a new book, but I was a slacker and did not know when it was to be released. So I was browsing at Barnes & Noble (a thing I love to do and am well-known for...when friends ask me what I'm doing most of the time the answer is...hanging out at B&N...sad to be so predictable...) and, again, happened upon Greenwood's latest book by accident. It was a sweet surprise. I barely even read, registered, thought about what the book was about because I knew I just had to read it.

Greenwood writes beautifully. Her descriptions are vivid, her characters are realistically portrayed and each have identifiable flaws, and she actually uses symbolism and parallelism! All these things are must-haves for a good book. Symbolism is becoming a lost art in literature, but Greenwood proves that it can make a comeback and there is a place for it.

Enough gushing about this awesome talent (of which I am jealous). The plot of the story, which I really read after I purchased the book (if you know me you know this is really strange for me to do) really hit home for me. It's about a family who take a summer trip to Lake Gormlaith in Vermont in the aftershock of losing their daughter and sister (respectively). The whole time we don't really know what happened to Franny. We just know she is no longer alive and the family is trying to pick up the pieces and stay together.

One of the interesting things about this story is the idea of HUNGER. Greenwood says, in the back of the book, that she became fascinated with it because it is the basest of human needs and something we take for granted. Within the book, the writer father named Sam discovers how hunger plays in religions and cultures with fasting and such. And there were some fanatics who starved themselves on purpose to gain euphoria and something like nirvana.

So there is the idea of literal hunger, right? But then here's where it gets interesting. Greenwood explores the idea of figurative hunger. Each of the characters hunger for something different. Mena, the mother, hungers for affection from her husband. Sam, the father, hungers for the return of his creative juices and the virility (through most of the book he battles impotence)of his youth. Finn, Franny's twin brother, hungers for peaceful sleep, normalcy with his parents, and trust. Throughout the story, each of them try to fulfill their hunger but they go about it the wrong way.

The family is grieving the loss of Franny and, instead of exploring their grief as just plain grief, Greenwood uses HUNGER to explain what they are feeling. When I realized this I came to understand feelings I myself have felt over the last two years.

There is another character, Dale, who also hungers. She is a psychotic fan of Sam's. The reader gets to see her gradual dive into the deep end as she goes from mere fan to stalker to lunatic. She hungers for completion through Sam. I tend to think she sees him as a father figure because her father was never there for her. It's hard to say, though, what is really driving Dale. She, too, goes about fulfilling her hunger in the wrong ways.

I will not spoil the book by telling you how it resolves. Greenwood is a good enough writer that she doesn't really have to feed you the answers but, somehow, you just know. While I don't know which book of the two I've read of hers I like better, I definitely loved this book. It was hard to read at times. I found myself relating to Finn on a figurative level (he turns to drugs for help which is something I will never do and did not do during my own grieving at the loss of my sister). In fact, I found myself relating to all the characters in some way.