June Celebrity Book Club Recap
Hello, fellow book lovers! I had so much fun with this summer reading challenge. It forced me to read books outside of my comfort zone, and I enjoyed a few that I wouldn’t have normally picked up. Below, I rated the books from my favorites to least favorites. I hope you can add a few to your TBR and save yourself from reading the not-so-great ones.
P.S. Stay tuned for my next reading challenge. Until then, happy reading!
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Dua Lipa and her book club, Service95, selected this one. I’ll be keeping an eye on this book club from now on.
Quick Synopsis: Jean McConville, a single mom of ten, was abducted in front of her children and never returned home. She became one of the many who “disappeared” from Ireland during the Troubles. While the IRA was known to be responsible, everyone was scared and kept quiet, leaving the children to search for her for years.
Strong Points: While the content itself was interesting, my favorite part of this book was Keefe’s writing. He is such a brilliant storyteller. Each chapter started with the main action or crime that the chapter was going to focus on and then seamlessly worked its way to the beginning of how it happened, engaging the reader and making them want to read more and more. His research took four years, and he interviewed around 100 people and was turned down by many more, but this led to a first-hand account of this terrifying time in Ireland. Having only a basic knowledge of the Troubles and that time period in Northern Ireland, I learned so much.
Keefe has an impressive batch of books under his belt, such as The Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty and Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, and Rebels and Crooks, both of which are high on my TBR and both of which have gotten great reviews. It’s impressive to me when a writer can write a strong collection of nonfiction about completely different topics.
Weak Points: Nothing of note
Writing Style: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Flow/Pacing: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5
Highly Recommend
For Fans of: The Wager by David Grann, There Will Be Fire by Rory Carroll, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Long Island by Colm Tóibín
“Oprah” picked right with this one. Good job, "Oprah." Now, let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 15 years for the next Eilis Lacey book.
Quick Synopsis: Eilis is now married to an American Italian with two children and lives in a cul-da-sac with her in-laws. She is a long way from Ireland and has nobody but her family. One day, as her husband is at work, a man comes to her door, telling her his wife is pregnant and having Ellis’ husband’s child, and that once the baby is born, it will be her responsibility to raise it.
Strong Points: Tóibín’s writing has an easy, calming tone. It’s subtle and beautiful, like laying on a beach on a warm day with the sound of waves crashing on the shore and a gentle breeze cooling you. I could spend all day with his writing. It’s the type of book you want to savor. You know that sad, sad feeling when there are more pages on the left-hand side of the book than the right? That’s how I felt about this one toward the end.
Long Island is a follow-up to Brooklyn. Even if you haven’t read Brooklyn, I think there’s enough backstory that you won’t be lost.
Usually, I’m not the biggest fan of the type of suspense where the reader knows something that the characters don't, and you just want to shout “don’t open the door” because you know what’s behind it. However, with this one, I enjoyed the slow tension building up and watching it through each character’s POV. Can we talk about character development? *chef’s kiss*
Weak Points: Another book with no standout weak points
Writing Style: 5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 5/5
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Highly Recommend
For Fans of: Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, Table for Two by Amor Towles, and James by Percival Everett
The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne
This was a Belletrist book club pick. I would love for Emma Roberts to write a family memoir. She’s a little nuts, and I bet her book would be too.
Quick Synopsis: Growing up with a famous Hollywood producer as a father, Dunne was no stranger to celebrities coming over for dinner, and that becomes very obvious in his memoir about his. His chronicles describe his fabulous childhood and the tragic murder of his sister, Dominick.
Strong Points: He comes from a family of storytellers, and it’s obvious in his writing. While his childhood was pretty fabulous, his storytelling capabilities make it even more so. From his stories of his dad’s friends Sondheim and Sinatra, his first babysitter Elizabeth Montgomery (AKA Samantha from Bewitched), his famous aunt Joan Didion, and his best friend’s uncle JFK, it became apparent he was well-connected (and that was all within the first 50 pages!). His adventures were entertaining and had me simultaneously cringing and laughing.
Weak Points: The name dropping got to be a little much, especially after he reached his later years and wasn’t so well-connected to the new Hollywood crowd. It started to feel a little desperate, like his golden days were behind him and he was desperately trying to be relevant.
Writing Style: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
For fans of: Once Upon a Time by Elizabeth Beller, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue by Julie Satow, and My Mama, Cass by Owen Elliot-Kugell
Swift River by Essie J. Chambers
This was a Jenna Book Club pick. It definitely fits the celebrity book club pick stereotype of books with sad, poor families struggling to get by. It was just okay.
Quick Synopsis: Seven years after her father disappears, Diamond and her mother are struggling to get by. Ma can’t hold a job and doesn’t have a car, leaving her and Diamond to hitchhike everywhere in their small town. Diamond, being the only black person in the town, dreams about leaving and decides to take driving lessons. Meanwhile, Ma sets out to declare her husband legally dead to get his insurance money and start their lives over again.
Strong Points: It sucked me into the story and made me empathize with the characters and their situations. I was anxious for Diamond to have to be the adult in the family and felt sad for Ma that she was emotionally unavailable to do so.
Weak Points: I’m not the biggest fan of authors adding letters or other media to the book, let alone from a character the reader doesn't know. It takes me out of the main story and feels like lazy writing. Find a way to meld the character into the plot or make the other media work in a creative way beyond just sticking letters from underdeveloped characters that don’t add to the plot.
Writing Style: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Flow/Pacing: 3/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Eh, Recommend
For fans of: Malas by Marcela Fuentes, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, and The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
We Were the Universe by Kimberly King Parsons
This is Parsons’ debut novel on the heels of her successful story collection, Black Light. I think this could have worked as a short story. There wasn’t enough of a plot to fill the almost 300-page book. Strike one for Dakota Johnson’s book club.
Quick Synopsis: Kit, a young mother who misses the freedom of being single and childless, goes on a trip with her best friend after he’s been dumped.
Strong Points: Kit’s commentary on being a mom was pretty funny at times. Especially when she took her child to the park or to the grocery store.
Weak Points: I really wanted to like this more. During the first 25 pages, I was all in. Kit was hilarious, but it got old fast. I have two big gripes about this one:
Number one: If there’s one word that sums up this book, it’s babbling. A whole lot of nothing took place, but a whole lot of babbling sure did. Not babbling that actually added to the story or maybe helped develop the characters in any way.
Number two: The constant flashbacks were too much. Kit and her child would be walking, and all of a sudden, she’s talking about a walk she took with her sister. It’ll babble on about that meaningless walk, and then five pages later it’ll go back to the present day, and they’ll arrive at home from their walk. Then it’ll remind her of a time she arrived home ten years ago and flashes back to that meaningless story for another five pages. If these flashbacks added to the story, then it would be a different point, but they never did. Not a fan.
Writing Style: 2/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 2/5
Flow/Pacing: 1/5
Overall Rating: 2/5
Not Recommend
For Fans of: House-Mates by Emma Copley Eisenberg, All Fours by Miranda July, and Worry by Alexandra Tanner
The Unwedding by Ally Condie
Just as I suspected, Reese is a hack and/or has a bad taste in books. This would make a great limited series on Hulu that everyone would obsess over for six months.
Quick Synopsis: Ellery and her husband were supposed to spend their twentieth wedding anniversary at a luxurious resort in Big Sur. Ellery decides to go alone after her husband files for divorce. To make matters worse, most of the resort is rented out for a wedding. Feeling lonely, Ellery walks by the pool late one night to find a dead body floating in it. To make matters even worse, a storm rolls in, creating a mudslide and trapping all of the guests and the dead body at the resort. Nobody can go in or out. To make matters even worse than they already are, another guest dies. Who will stop this madness?!
Strong Points: The author did a good job creating this setting. I would love to go to one of these wellness spas for a weekend where you get messages and eat healthy foods. I can only imagine the tools that go to these places. I would love it!
Weak Points: Buckle up; a rant is coming your way.
This should come with a warning on the cover stating, “WARNING: This book may cause you to want to pull out your hair with frustration over this silly plot and even sillier characters.” Apparently, this author is well known for her YA novels, and this is her first attempt at adult fiction. Condie needs to go back to YA because she and her editor aren’t cut out for the adult fiction world. The dialog was cringy and unnatural. Let me share a recap of a scene that takes place in the first 50 pages:
The main character crashes a rehearsal dinner and runs into the bride as soon as she walks in, immediately blurts out that she is crashing her rehearsal dinner. The bride replies that it’s okay and that it’s a bigger wedding than what she wanted, but her friends and family are important to her. She goes on to word-vomit (mind you, this is within the first minute of them meeting) that her fiancé Ben’s parents died in a car accident and he doesn’t have any siblings. Then the main character thinks to herself, “Two beautiful people are marrying each other, you wouldn’t expect such tragedy in their lives." That doesn't even make sense! Then the bride’s mom calls the bride over, and the bride says, “She’s stressed out and paying for everything because, well, you know, Ben’s parents can’t help out." STUPID! UNREALISTIC!
I would have to count on two hands the number of times she describes the men as “extremely handsome." It’s like she doesn’t know any other adjectives to describe the male characters.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get invested in the story. It was completely unengaging. The worst part is that the most obvious character was the killer. I kept thinking, “There’s no way that they would be the killer. It has to be a red harring.” No wonder it has 3.35 stars on Goodreads. Yikes!
One last thing, I promise. Who names their main character, Ellery? That is not a name.
Writing Style: 1/5
Characters: 1/5
Plot: 0.5/5
Flow/Pacing: 1/5
Overall Rating: 1/5
Not Recommend
For Fans of: One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware, The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley, and How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
“It is not those who inflict the most but those who suffer the most who will conquer,’ MacSwiney declared.” - Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe