“Perhaps there is a line in everyone’s life that, once crossed, imparts a certain truth that one has not been able to see before, transforming solitude from a choice into the only possible line of existence.”

Book Review:

Review by Jill I. Shtulman  (MAR 21, 2014)

“Perhaps there is a line in everyone’s life that, once crossed, imparts a certain truth that one has not been able to see before, transforming solitude from a choice into the only possible line of existence.” For four friends, that line was crossed during their late teenage years, when one of them was poisoned, perhaps deliberately, perhaps accidentally, lingering in a physical limbo state until she finally dies years later.  The young man, Boyang, remains in China; the two young women, Ruyu and Moran, move to the United States. Each ends up living in what the author describes as a “life-long quarantine against love and life.”

Kinder than Solitude is not primarily a mystery of a poisoned woman nor is it an “immigrant experience” book, although it is being hailed as both. Rather, it’s a deep and insightful exploration about the human condition – how one’s past can affect one’s future, how innocence can be easily lost, and how challenging it is to get in touch with – let alone salvage – one’s better self.

“To have an identity – to be known – required one to possess an ego, yet so much more, too: a collection of people, a traceable track lining one place to another – all these had to be added to that ego or one to have any kind of identity,” Yiyun Li writes.

In the case of Moran, who married and divorced an older man she still cares for, what she called her life “…was only a way of not living, and by doing that, she had taken, here and there, parts of other people’s lives and turned them into nothing along with her own.” Riyu, the most enigmatic and detached of the characters, is an empty vessel, unable to connect or to experience much pleasure or pain, who strives to receive an “exemption from participating in life.” And Boyang, a successful entrepreneur with a cynical sense of the world, has discovered that “love measured by effort was the only love within his capacity.”

This is a deeply philosophical book, one that delves into its characters, with an ambling narrative that shifts from the shared Chinese past to the present –China, San Francisco, the Midwest. It is not for everyone – certainly not for readers who are anticipating an action-packed, page-turning suspense novel. But for those who seek insights into the human condition and love strong character-based novels, Kinder Than Solitude offers rich rewards.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 16 readers
PUBLISHER:	Random House (February 25, 2014)
REVIEWER:	Jill I. Shtulman
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Yiyun Li
EXTRAS:	Q&A and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Pen/O’Henry Prize Stories 2010 edited by Laura Furman

Bibliography:

• A Thousand Years of Good Prayers: Stories (2005)
• The Vagrants (2009)
• Gold Boy, Emerald Girl: Stories (2010)
• Kinder Than Solitude (February 2014)

“…they prepared a feast, chocolate cocks and mashmallow pussies set upon a table…They started to sing as she approached..until she [Titania] grabbed one of the smallest of them, and ignoring its cries, reshaped it, molding its head into a pair of lips a little larger than human-sized and pulling its body into a hollow tube. She made it a pair of wings and…said, ‘You are made to a purpose.’”

Book Review:

Review by Betsey Van Horn  (APR 25, 2011)

In this phantasmagorical tale, Chris Adrian reshaped “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” into a mammoth, messy, tilted, erotic, meandering reimagining of Shakespeare’s comedy into an elaborate feast of faeries and monsters, Lilliputians and giants, demons and derelicts, heart-broken humans and a group of outspoken homeless people who are staging a musical reenactment of Soylent Green. And that is just a segment of the odd and atavistic population of characters that you will meet in this multiple narrative tale of loss, love and exile. As you enter San Francisco’s Buena Vista Park during this millennial summer solstice, the moon shines eerie and luminous over creatures large and small, and a thick wall of fog sluggishly spreads its fingers during the celebration known to the faerie kingdom as the “Great Night.”

Adrian’s visionary epic expands on his short story, “A Tiny Feast,” centering on King Oberon and the ruthless Queen Titania and their changeling son, Boy, who suffered from leukemia. At the start of this novel, Titania is inconsolable after the death of Boy and the subsequent departure of Oberon. She unleashes a malevolent force of magic by removing the controlling constraints of Puck, thereby allowing his demonic urges to run rampant through the park.

Meanwhile, three heartbroken people with doleful memories of forsaken loved ones are lost and trapped in the park on their way to a summer solstice party. The tangled backstories unleash the bitter coils of pain and loss, and the mortals and immortals eventually interlock with loose springs. Molly grew up in a pious, gospel-singing family, fuel for unresolved trauma that preys on her like a ghost, and she remains stuck and heartsick over the suicide of her lover, Ryan. Will is a tree surgeon who was dumped by Carolina, the only woman he has ever loved. Henry has a black past with memory holes; he was abducted as a child and has forgotten the terror of those years. Meanwhile, his obsessive cleaning and hand washing, which serves him well as a physician, has cost him a relationship with pediatrician Bobby, the man of his dreams and now ex-boyfriend.

Adrian flashes backward into the lives of the mortal three and alternates that with the captivity at the park and the faerie kingdom tale. There were shades of John Crowley’s Little, Big, as both books use some similar unrealistic elements and fantasy to enhance the realistic elements and emotional heft. However, Crowley’s faeries are more subtle and subconscious, and don’t violate the moral codes of humanity as wickedly as Adrian’s. Crowley also combines a Carrollian and Dickensian wit and artistry that would have been welcome in Adrian’s story.

The essential problem I had with this book is that the fantastic elements were crowded with too much symbolism, and I had difficulty getting a purchase on the concepts. The visual surrealism, rather than taking me seamlessly to a deeper consciousness and serving as a metaphor or counterpoint, began to pile up and distract me. I was often bewildered with the action and commotion of the faeries. Rather than surrendering to the story, I had a more cerebral and exhausting experience. I lost control of the narrative—or did Adrian?

I was taken with his scuttling energy and the peering furtive faces; I felt the oppressive weight of the shadowed victims. But I was also dizzy, blindfolded and drugged by too much screwball humor adjacent to tragedy, and the clarity I was seeking was etherized. Adrian’s prose is rich and layered with raucous, ribald wit and multiple motifs. It was eventually difficult to identify the core of the story. The fate of Molly, Will, and Henry was subverted by an anticlimactic ending amid black humor and zany twists of immortal madcap magic and erotic mayhem.

However, the story resonated with me at many turns. There is a bizarre and churlish glee to the prose and a willingness to take the reader to unknown zones of scary emotional wilderness. Despite the novel’s flabby focus, I shall inevitably look for more of this esteemed “20 under 40” writer’s works in the future. He captured me with his perversely baroque and insane merriment.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 1 readers
PUBLISHER:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (April 26, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Betsey Van Horn
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia page on Chris Adrian
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Not reviewed… but another take on Midnight Summer’s Dream: Magic Street by Orson Scott Card Some nod’s to Midsummer Night’s Dreams: The Hound in the Left-Hand Corner by Giles Waterford Welcome to Higby by Mark Dunn

Bibliography:

• Gob’s Grief (2001)
• The Children’s Hospital (2006)
• A Better Angel: Stories (2009)
• The Great Night (April 2011)

The situation with McCone was evidently much worse than when the medical professionals thought she was in a coma.

“I don’t understand why nobody noticed she was….in there,” Hy said. “Shouldn’t they have seen the eyeblinks and motion when they put saline solution or whatever it is they use to keep the eyes hydrated?”

“Initially she was in a coma; if the patient’s eyes are closed and hydrating normally, there’s no need to augment it. Anyway, now that we know she’s awake, as indicated by the good brain wave activity shown in the CT scans taken at SF General and here earlier today, our preliminary diagnosis is locked-in syndrome. ..”

Book Review:

Review by Chuck Barksdale (DEC 17, 2009)

Locked In, Marcia Muller’s 27th novel starring Sharon McCone, the owner of the San Francisco detective agency McCone Investigations, is somewhat of a departure in this enjoyable series started over 30 years ago (Edwin of the Iron Shoes). In her latest adventure, Sharon is attacked while entering her office building late at night after her car breaks down. She is shot and seriously injured by the intruder and becomes “Locked-In” where she is so paralyzed that the only thing she can move are her eyes. Her friends and family work together and separately as they look into their various cases to see who could have been responsible for Sharon’s attack while waiting and hoping to see if Sharon’s condition improves.

The books in this series are normally told in the first person perspective of Sharon McCone and although that still happens in this book (as we get to feel Sharon’s frustrations and other emotions that no one else hears), this book is also presented in several other third person perspectives. This includes Hy Ripinsky, Sharon’s long term lover and husband who of course is very concerned but who also has many resources from his own company. Sharon’s nephew and employee Mick Savage is also a key character as he not only uses his computer expertise to help in the various investigations, but also does field investigations for which he is not nearly as comfortable. Other perspectives are provided by Rae Kelleher, a long time friend of Sharon, and now part-time operative as she now usually spends more time writing novels and being with her husband (and Mick’s father) singer Ricky Savage. She comes out of semi-retirement to look into some of the cases that Sharon was working to see if anyone is a likely suspect. Other operatives working the case whose perspective is provided include newer operatives Julia Raphael and former FBI investigator Craig Morland. Of course other long time characters are present in the book, including Sharon’s other family members and other members of Sharon’s firm, but they are all presented from the perspective of the many characters mentioned previously.

Hy and the operatives work hard to solve the case of Sharon’s attack while continuing to work on the cases they been hired to do and that may hold the answer to Sharon’s attacker. Of course, they are all concerned for Sharon’s well-being and even use some of Sharon’s eye-blinking yes or no counsel during their visits. The reader of course is still getting Sharon’s perspective on all of these “conversations” as well as her frustration and concern about whether she will ever improve.

The many changing perspectives were not too difficult to follow especially since Sharon was still prevalent throughout the book. However, the various cases being followed by the different characters did at times get a bit confusing especially since they became related as the operatives looked further into the cases.

As I’ve stated in prior reviews, Marcia Muller is my favorite female author, although I generally prefer the earlier books in the series. I think some older fans of the series have not been as faithful but I think this series is still very good. This book, although different from others in the series since it has varying perspectives (and something she borrowed from her husband Bill Pronzini’s Nameless series) is still very enjoyable. Locked In is another great addition to the series.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 34 readers
PUBLISHER:	Grand Central Publishing; 1st edition (October 15, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Chuck Barksdale
AMAZON PAGE:	Locked In
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Marcia Muller
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	We have reviewed many of Marcia Muller’s books in the past: The Ever-Running Man Vanishing Point The Dangerous Hour Dead Midnight Cape Perdido Cyanide Wells Point Deception

Bibliography:

Stand-alone Mysteries:

• Point Deception (2001)
• Cyanide Wells (July 2003)
• Cape Perdido (July 2005)

Sharon McCone Mysteries:

• Edwin of the Iron Shoes (1977)
• Ask the Cards a Question (1982)
• The Cheshire Cat’s Eye (1983)
• Games to Keep the Dark Away (1984)
• Leave a Message for Willie (1984)
• Double (1984)
• There’s Nothing to Be Afraid Of (1985)
• Eye of the Storm (1988)
• There’s Something in a Sunday (1989)
• The Shape of Dread (1989)
• Trophies and Dead Things (1990)
• Where Echoes Live (1991)
• Pennies on a Dead Woman’s Eyes (1992)
• Wolf in the Shadows (1993)
• Till the Butcher’s Cut Him Down (1994)
• A Wild and Lonely Place (1995)
• The McCone Files: collection of short cases (1995)
• The Broken Promise Land (1996)
• Both Ends of the Night (1997)
• While Other People Sleep (1998)
• A Walk through Fire (1999)
• McCone and Friends: collection (1999)
• Listen to the Silence (2000)
• Dead Midnight (July 2002)
• The Dangerous Hour (July 2004)
• Vanishing Point (July 2006)
• The Ever-Running Man (July 2007)
• Burn Out (October 2008)
• Locked In (October 2009)
• Coming Back (October 2010)

Elena Oliverez Mysteries

• The Tree of Death (1983)
• The Legend of the Slain Soldiers (1985)

Joanna Stark Mysteries:

• The Cavalier in White (1986)
• There Hangs the Knife (1988)
• Dark Star (1989)

Collections:

• Deceptions: 7 Stories (1991) (includes a Sharon McCone, Eleana Oliverz)
• Time of the Wolves: Western Stories (July 2003)

Written with Bill Pronzini:

• Double (1984) (A Sharon McCone and Nameless Detective Mystery)
• Beyond the Grave (1986) (A John Quincannon/Elena Oliverez Mystery)
• The Lighthouse (1987)
• Duo: Collected Stories (1998)

“Even if the Last Nightingale could be revived/ How would it tolerate the cure? Knowing that Life merely awaits/To devour it again.’  Presumed suicide note in the pocket of Tommie Kimbrough’s last victim, washed ashore near ‘Golden Gate.'”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Jana L. Perskie (JUL 24, 2009)

It is Wednesday, April 18, 1906, 5:12 A.M. Sergeant Randall Blackburn makes his way back to the City Hall Station after a long night’s beat patrolling San Francisco’s seamy waterfront district, the “Barbary Coast.” He is dissatisfied with his job and his life. Blackburn is permanently assigned to the dangerous district, a strip of “bottom-feeder saloons and dead-end flophouses.” Since he lost his young wife and daughter during childbirth, a year ago, the police chief deems the sergeant’s life more expendable than the lives of his fellow colleagues, who have families and more to lose if business gets really rough.

Aside from the normal violence the sergeant deals with every night, a string of heinous murders is terrifying even the toughest Barbary Coast inhabitant. A serial killer, known as “The Surgeon,” is on the loose and hard at work. The murderer, thought to be a woman, kills her victims, all men, by knifing them at the back of the neck, splitting the spinal cords with a thick blade. She finishes the job, postmortem, by castrating her victims with precision and skill. Not a single corpse was robbed. On several occasions, a “small framed woman” was seen hurrying away from the crime scene.

As Blackburn wends his way back to the station, the ground rocks beneath his feet, throwing him to the ground. The massive tremors, heaving streets, enormous fires, the victims’ screams, the terrible destruction and death, are vividly described by the author. The chaos is unimaginable. Many of the city’s inhabitants believe that the Great Earthquake is the day of reckoning for the immoral masses, especially for those along the Barbary Coast.

For hours before the earthquake hits, and for a short time afterwards, twelve year-old Shane Nightingale, hides in the kitchen cupboard and witnesses the violent deaths of his adoptive mother and sisters at the hands of a brutal killer. The earthquake provides cover for the monster, as he takes the time to overturn tables, chairs and a large breakfront on top of the dead woman, making it look like they were killed during the quake. Shane is traumatized and filled with guilt at not having saved his new mother and foster sisters.

The boy wanders the streets and meets Sergeant Blackburn under the most unusual of circumstances. For me, the relationship between the boy and the lonely cop is the heart of the story – believable, fascinating and touching. As Blackburn discovers, Shane has a real knack for crime solving. The policeman wonders what kind of prior existence Shane has lived to understand the nature of crime and the minds of those who commit them.

The pace is fast and picks up even more as the city’s inhabitants cope with the earthquakes aftermath and the police, Blackburn in particular, track down the “Surgeon” before she/he can kill again.

This historical thriller is loaded with suspense. The characters are well developed and sympathetic, except for the serial killer, of course. It is a relatively short book but loaded with surprises – lots of twists and turns. And author Anthony Flacco’s afterward, called “Dossier: The Last Nightingale” is fascinating. Highly recommended.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 6 readers
PUBLISHER:	Ballantine Books (June 12, 2007)
REVIEWER:	Jana L. Perskie
AMAZON PAGE:	The Last Nightingale
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Anthony Flacco
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Another historical serial killer: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith More books set in historical San Francisco: The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler The Daughter of Joy by JoAnn Levy

Bibliography:

• The Last Nightingale (June 2007)
• The Hidden Man (June 2008)

Nonfiction:

• Checklist for Murder: (2005)
• Tiny Dancer: The Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim’s Journey from Afghanistan (2005)
• The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murder (November 2009)

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“Never mind that their convictions flew in the face of the first law of criminal investigation—facts must flow from demonstrable evidence, and not the other way round, where the evidence is massaged or explained to fit a set of predetermined perceptions.”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky (JUL 11, 2009)

In John Lescroart’s A Plague of Secrets, San Francisco-based criminal defense attorney Dismas Hardy once again takes center stage, along with his close friend, Abe Glitsky, the head of San Francisco’s Homicide Department, and Hardy’s investigator, Wyatt Hunt. Hardy’s latest client, thirty-two year old Maya Townshend, is a wealthy woman whose husband makes millions in the real estate business. She also owns Bay Beans West, a popular coffee shop. When the shop’s manager, Dylan Vogler, who sidelines as a marijuana dealer, is found shot dead, suspicion falls on Maya. An aggressive homicide inspector, Debra Schiff, contends that Maya had a strong motive to want Vogler dead and a flimsy alibi to account for her whereabouts during the shooting.

Schiff is concerned because Maya’s brother is Harlen Fisk, a former cop and member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and Maya’s aunt is Mayor Kathy West. With connections like these, it will be difficult to nail her. However, Debra is willing to go the extra mile to insure that Townshend is arrested, even if it means widening the probe with the help of federal attorney Jerry Glass. Because of a serious personal issue that has is preoccupying Abe Glitsky, he gives Schiff more leeway than he normally would in such a high profile matter. Fearing that his sister is being railroaded, Fisk asks Dismas to be Maya’s criminal defense attorney; she will need Hardy’s considerable skills and courtroom savvy to get out of this mess. When another body turns up, the stakes are instantly raised. Although there is only a small amount of physical evidence pointing to Maya, the circumstantial evidence is damning.

Unsurprisingly, political shenanigans, underhanded tactics, and jockeying for favorable media attention all take precedence over the dispensation of justice. Hardy fears that “the entire courtroom drama could unfold as a large multi-tentacled conspiracy fueled by drugs and moral turpitude in high places.” On the plus side, Hardy is an old pro who has rarely lost a case, and he is not easily intimidated. In addition, he knows how to navigate the difficult terrain of a criminal trial with the best of them. The most absorbing scenes are those that take place in the courtroom. Diz and his opponent, assistant DA, Paul Stier, both try to score points with the jury and attempt to stay on the “good” side of the ill-tempered and sardonic Superior Court judge, Marian Braun. If Maya is innocent, then it is reasonable to assume that she was framed by a clever perpetrator. This is the famous SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense. While Hardy and his team search for the “other dude,” the only clear thing about this murky case is that a number of witnesses are lying, including Maya herself.

This is not one of Lescroart’s best works. The complex plot generates few sparks and most readers will not be sufficiently invested in the lifeless Maya to care very much about her fate. Rather slow moving at times, A Plague of Secrets lacks the freshness, character development, and thought-provoking themes that have made Lescroart so popular in recent years. Although red herrings abound to keep readers guessing, this novel lacks the electricity and originality that would have lifted it above the mundane.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 59 readers
PUBLISHER:	Dutton Adult (June 30, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	John Lescroart
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	More reviews of books in this series: Damage Betrayal And a review of his stand-alone thriller: The Suspect

Bibliography:

• Sunborn (1981)

Auguste Lupa Series:

• Son of Holmes (1986)
• Rasputin’s Revenge (1987)

Dismas Hardy / Lt. Abe Glitskey Series:

• Dead Irish (1989)
• The Vig (1990
• Hard Evidence (1993)
• The 13th Juror (1994)
• A Certain Justice (1995)
• Guilt (1997)
• The Mercy Rule (1998)
• Nothing But the Truth (1999)
• The Hearing (2001)
• The Oath (2002)
• The First Law (2003)
• The Second Chair (2004)
• The Motive (2005)
• Betrayal (February 2008)
• A Plague of Secrets (June 2009)
• Damage (January 2011)
• The Ophelia Cut (May 2013)

Wyatt Hunt / Insp. Devin Juhle:

• The Hunt Club (2006)
• Treasure Hunt (January 2010)

Gina Roarke / Insp. Devin Juhle:

• The Suspect (January 2007)

Music by the author:

• As the Crow Flies (2003)