Everything Here is Beautiful

by Mira T. Lee
July 8-Aug 5, 2018


If it's possible, this is a story of mental illness told in a beautiful, personal way. Beautiful because of the slow pace with a frantic undertone, and personal because the author succeeds in describing Lucia's illness in a way that actually makes sense. To Lucia, she is rational. To the reader, we see both sides – Lucia's, which explains away the demons – and Miranda's, which rationalizes the treatment of the illness.

“It seems silly, right? To be crying when everything's fine?
Well, why not, I figure, because if pain and tears were correlated, surely we would've all drowned by now.”

I need to stress the push and pull feeling of how the story is told. On one hand it's a gradual reveal, almost to the point of impatience (i.e., move it along). On the other, there's a sense of urgency to strike before more damage can be done. A good character-driven, family story is right up my alley, and for four, very different people, each one had a thoroughly-told narrative.

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Fierce Kingdom

by Gin Phillips
July 4-7, 2018

A super quick read, not necessarily because of the intended suspense. I am not really a fan of thrillers or this genre in general, but was intrigued by the short length and light investment while on vacation.

A woman and her 5-year old son are at the zoo near closing time. They know all the ins and outs of the place. As they make their way to the exit they hear gun shots and find a place to hide. OK, sounds good, right? My first issue is that terror is not an enjoyable feeling for me when I'm reading. Especially when it involves children. The second issue, and this is a big one, is how Joan decides to handle the situation. Now I understand that no one could predict how she would react in a terrifying life or death situation, but I gotta believe it wouldn't be anything like this. In the beginning, Joan communicates with her husband via cell phone as she shares news of their hiding and tries to learn more of the situation. But suddenly she thinks the light on the phone will get them caught, so she throws her phone away. WHAT?! I get that it makes for a more dramatic story, but it's just not plausible. It's her only connection to the outside.

Finally, while I'm the first to criticize a plot for wrapping up neatly in a bow, this one just stops at the most uninformative moment. What the hell happened to the baby in the garbage can? What happened to the woman with the bad knee?? I can probably assume that everyone made it out safely, but aren't books like this supposed to not have happy endings? Overall, an extremely flawed delivery on a decent premise.

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