The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
365 pages

What’s it about?
It is 1941 and Hanni Kohn is desperate to get her 12-year-old daughter Lea out of Berlin and to safety.  Seeking out a renowned rabbi, she instead meets Ettie, his precocious teenage daughter.  Hanni and Ettie come to an unusual agreement.  Ettie will create a mystical golem to protect Lea on her journey.  For this, Ettie will get enough money for she and her sister to escape Berlin themselves.   Set in France during the second World War, this novel follows Lea and her protector Ava as they leave Germany and try to travel through France to safety.  In alternating storylines we also meet Victor and Julien, brothers who each escape capture as the Jews are being rounded up in Paris.  When Julien and Lea meet they vow to stay alive for each other.  

What did it make me think about?
 How much I love Alice Hoffman's writing and how thankful I am that she is such a prolific writer!

Should I read it?
 I am obviously a fan of Alice Hoffman and would read anything she wrote.  This novel takes on good versus evil and Alice Hoffman writes a very unique story.  This is a beautiful book!
​
Quote-
"Night after night, in the trees or in the grass, Lea dreamed of her mother.  She heard Hanni's voice in the wind, in birdsong, in falling leaves.
        I was with you when the roses bloomed with silver petals, when you saw Paris for the first time, when that you looked at you, when you learned prayers at the convent, when you ran through the woods.  
     Every time Ava took your hand, it was my hand that you held."

If you liked this try-
The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker
​​The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
​All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
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​9 stars

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American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings
378 pages

What’s it about?
 Lydia lives in present day Acapulco.  She is married to a journalist and has an 8-year-old son named Luca.  Lydia owns a bookstore and is not unaware of the drug cartels infiltrating the city.  She is able to largely ignore the problem until the cartel strikes her family and she is forced to flee Mexico to save Luca.  

What did it make me think about?
 It seems to me that this book was written with two goals in mind.  To be a page-turner and to make us feel something about the immigrants that arrive from the South.  It certainly achieves both goals.

Should I read it?
 This book will appeal to a mass audience.  It is a quick read with lots of action and a quick plot.  It was predictable! Everything you could think of that stereotypically happens to immigrants on there way North is thrown into the plot of this book.  But anyone looking for a quick read will enjoy this book.

Quote-
"She and Luca are actual migrants.  That is what they are.  And that simple fact, among all the other severe new realities in her life, knocks the breath clean out of her lungs.  All her life she's pitied those poor people.  She's donated money. She's wondered with he sort of detached fascination of the comfortable elite how dire the conditions of their lives must be wherever they come from, that this is the better option.  That these people would leave their homes, their cultures, their families, even their languages, and venture into tremendous peril, risking their lives, all for the chance to get to the dream  of some faraway  country that doesn't even want them."

***I wanted to read American Dirt for myself since it has generated so much controversy.    First, I absolutely agree that more books by people of color should be published and promoted by the publishing industry.  Second, does having the moral high-ground give anyone the right to bully, intimidate, and publicly shame an individual?  In a world that values words and ideas- are we really going to promote that only some people have the right to write about certain issues?

This may not have been one of my favorite books of the year, but I absolutely see why a publishing company would want it.  Publishing is a business and this book will sell. In my estimation Ms. Cummings achieved her goal.  She wrote a book  designed to sell a lot of copies and promote a particular viewpoint.  She wanted to make her readers see immigrants coming North as individuals- with compelling reasons for showing up at our border.  Maybe we should view this book as not the enemy- but as a catalyst for change.  Hopefully this novel will spark an interest in readers and we will see more novels published and promoted about Latin America.  Next on my list are In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.  
​
If you like this try-
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
​In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Chritsty Lefteri

​7 1/2 stars

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
356 pages

​What’s it about?
Margaret and John meet and fall in love. As they are planning their wedding John is suddenly hospitalized with debilitating depression.  Should Margaret carry on or escape from this union?  Margaret forges ahead and this novel looks at the repercussions of that decision.  

What did it make me think about?
 This is the story of one family living with mental illness. 

Should I read it?
 This was not an easy book to read.  Not because of the plot or the pace, but due to the subject matter.  I felt so badly for every member of the family- and make no mistake John's mental illness touched everyone in the story.  I would highly recommend this book.  If you read to enlarge your experiences then don't miss this one.
 
Quote-
​"A few months ago, a fog blinded me, thicker than ever before.  I slept in the monster's arms.  I felt it's breath on my neck, its scaled stomach rising and falling against my back, its head and face invisible as always.  I couldn't pretend anymore to Margaret that I was working.  The children receded into noises grating on my ears.   I stopped moving."

​I you like this try-
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
On Earth We're Breifly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

9 stars

Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout
304 pages

What’s it about?
 This novel revisits the character of Olive Kitteridge.  Elizabeth Strout won a Pulitzer Prize for her earlier novel, Olive Kitteridge, and I could not have been more pleased to spend some more time with Olive.   

What did it make me think about?
 How differently we all see the world.  

Should I read it?
So reading Olive's inner dialogue is enough to give you pause about judging others- and isn't that an amazing feat!  It would be so easy to pass judgement on Olive's actions, and yet when you get to know her you see how different her intentions are.  I have never, EVER been disappointed in a book written by Elizabeth Strout- and this book was no exception.  Olive is a porcupine of a woman, but a lovable one anyway.  If you are fan of Elizabeth Strout then run to get this book!

Quote-
​“When you get old,” Olive told Andrea after the girl had walked away, “you become invisible. It’s just the truth. And yet it’s freeing in a way.”

If you like this try-
Driftless by David Rhodes
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
​​The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

​9 stars