Jerbear Shares Books

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Adult Book Review: The Fever

The Fever is the newest novel by Megan Abbott. Her previous book, Dare Me, has been on my to read list for the last year, but it just hasn't made it to the top of that list yet! When I saw this one in several "up-and-coming" blogs and news releases, so I put a hold on my library's copy! It's catalogued as an adult book, but the content and telling seem more Young Adult to me, OLDER YA, but YA none the less. The story drew me in from page one and I read it all in just a few sittings.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

The panic unleashed by a mysterious contagion threatens the bonds of family and community in a seemingly idyllic suburban community.

The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community.

As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town's fragile idea of security.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Adult Book Review: The Vacationers

The Vacationers showed up on numerous "Beach Read" lists so I had to throw my name in to the hold list at the library. I got a chance to read it over the fourth of July weekend and I read it in a day. It had a fairly slow start, but it got interesting about 70 pages in to the book. It was a fairly quick and enjoyable read.

My rating: 3 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

An irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca.

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

This is a story of the sides of ourselves that we choose to show and those we try to conceal, of the ways we tear each other down and build each other up again, and the bonds that ultimately hold us together. With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole.

JerBear Shares: Weekly Reads: The Vacationers

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Weekly Reads: The Vacationers

The Vacationers showed up on numerous "Beach Read" lists so I had to throw my name in to the hold list at the library. I got a chance to read it over the fourth of July weekend and I read it in a day. It had a fairly slow start, but it got interesting about 70 pages in to the book. It was a fairly quick and enjoyable read.

My rating: 3 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

An irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca.

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

This is a story of the sides of ourselves that we choose to show and those we try to conceal, of the ways we tear each other down and build each other up again, and the bonds that ultimately hold us together. With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole.

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