Review: Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

How long has it been since I posted a proper review??? For FRACKIN' ever. That's how long. After a miserable slump, I finally chose to jump back into my Tournament of Books Reading Challenge (personal challenge), and I picked Bad Marie, by Marcy Dermansky, from my Nook stash.

Marie went to prison for six years after her boyfriend robbed a bank. She ends up the live-in nanny for a woman she grew up with. They can't quite be classified as "friends" because Ellen doesn't particularly like Marie. Ellen has even less reason to like Marie after she seduces her husband and essentially kidnaps her child.

And that's not spoiling anything.

In the beginning of this novel, Marie is an idiot. She kinda stays that way throughout, but she at least gains some semblance of maturity and selflessness from caring for Caitlyn, the little girl in the book.  While Marie makes stupid decisions that made my head spin, she is an endlessly interesting character. She doesn't really feel malicious, she's just kinda clueless and bored?? Numb??? Until Caitlyn.

There were highs and lows for me in Bad Marie. Marcy Dermansky's writing is most definitely a high. It's matter of fact and concise. There's not a lot of extraneous description or fluff. She tells a tightly-woven story which made me cringe in spots. With the newfound sensitivity to all things child (ever since I had my own), I really felt for Caitlyn during the parts of the book when Marie was just dragging her along for her own selfish, shitty reasons. She wanted this or that thrill, this or that false feeling of accomplishment. By the time the book ended I still wanted to slap Marie, but I felt like she had turned the corner toward doing the right thing. It's a testament to Dermansky's writing that I had such a visceral reaction to Marie's and Caitlyn's plight.

On the lower end, I felt there was a little too much "and it just so happened" in this novel. After Marie was released from prison, she just so happened to get a job with a friend who didn't really like her growing up? And that friend just so happened to be married to the novelist whose book Marie latched onto and re-read compulsively in prison? And Marie just so happened to meet two movie stars on her trek? REALLY?! So yes, I had a problem with that. It made me roll my eyes. Did it change my opinion of the book? Not really. Marie was the real basket case star here, and she was written very well.

My e-book copy of Bad Marie also includes some extra materials in the back: a short interview with Marcy Dermansky, a list of movies and books she's found influential. As it turns out, Dermansky is also a movie critic and highly influenced by French film. I'm certainly no expert, but I found this insight into the author very fresh and likable, and I'd like to know more about the films she finds worthwhile. There goes my Netflix queue, growing all the time. Call me a sucker for intertexuality.

I have to thank Marcy Dermansky and Bad Marie for pulling me out of my reading slump for a bit. This novel was just the thing: crisp writing and a short page count (167). I recommend it whether you're slumping or not, and I think it'd be great for discussion.

Write on, Ms. Dermansky! Right on!

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

Pub. Date: June 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: e-book
ISBN-10: 0062000063
Source: http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Review: Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

How long has it been since I posted a proper review??? For FRACKIN' ever. That's how long. After a miserable slump, I finally chose to jump back into my Tournament of Books Reading Challenge (personal challenge), and I picked Bad Marie, by Marcy Dermansky, from my Nook stash.

Marie went to prison for six years after her boyfriend robbed a bank. She ends up the live-in nanny for a woman she grew up with. They can't quite be classified as "friends" because Ellen doesn't particularly like Marie. Ellen has even less reason to like Marie after she seduces her husband and essentially kidnaps her child.

And that's not spoiling anything.

In the beginning of this novel, Marie is an idiot. She kinda stays that way throughout, but she at least gains some semblance of maturity and selflessness from caring for Caitlyn, the little girl in the book.  While Marie makes stupid decisions that made my head spin, she is an endlessly interesting character. She doesn't really feel malicious, she's just kinda clueless and bored?? Numb??? Until Caitlyn.

There were highs and lows for me in Bad Marie. Marcy Dermansky's writing is most definitely a high. It's matter of fact and concise. There's not a lot of extraneous description or fluff. She tells a tightly-woven story which made me cringe in spots. With the newfound sensitivity to all things child (ever since I had my own), I really felt for Caitlyn during the parts of the book when Marie was just dragging her along for her own selfish, shitty reasons. She wanted this or that thrill, this or that false feeling of accomplishment. By the time the book ended I still wanted to slap Marie, but I felt like she had turned the corner toward doing the right thing. It's a testament to Dermansky's writing that I had such a visceral reaction to Marie's and Caitlyn's plight.

On the lower end, I felt there was a little too much "and it just so happened" in this novel. After Marie was released from prison, she just so happened to get a job with a friend who didn't really like her growing up? And that friend just so happened to be married to the novelist whose book Marie latched onto and re-read compulsively in prison? And Marie just so happened to meet two movie stars on her trek? REALLY?! So yes, I had a problem with that. It made me roll my eyes. Did it change my opinion of the book? Not really. Marie was the real basket case star here, and she was written very well.

My e-book copy of Bad Marie also includes some extra materials in the back: a short interview with Marcy Dermansky, a list of movies and books she's found influential. As it turns out, Dermansky is also a movie critic and highly influenced by French film. I'm certainly no expert, but I found this insight into the author very fresh and likable, and I'd like to know more about the films she finds worthwhile. There goes my Netflix queue, growing all the time. Call me a sucker for intertexuality.

I have to thank Marcy Dermansky and Bad Marie for pulling me out of my reading slump for a bit. This novel was just the thing: crisp writing and a short page count (167). I recommend it whether you're slumping or not, and I think it'd be great for discussion.

Write on, Ms. Dermansky! Right on!

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

Pub. Date: June 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: e-book
ISBN-10: 0062000063
Source: http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Get Your Cheap E-Books!!!

20 E-Books for $20 dollars, y'all! HarperPerennial is running a sale on 20 e-books, each priced at 99 cents. You can get the books from iBooks, Amazon, B&N, or through your fave participating indie via Google E-Books. Click the image on the right to see more.

I picked up seven of the twenty available books:

• Bad Marie


• Kapitoil


• Who By Fire


• A Common Pornography


• Everything is Wrong with Me


• Postcards from a Dead Girl


• I Am Not Myself These Days

I am ridiculously excited. A couple of these are on my Tournament of Books reading list for my personal TOB 2011 Challenge and others just look yummy. Especially I Am Not Myself These Days by the illustrious Josh Kilmer-Purcell of Fabulous Beekman Boys fame.

Want to buy? Check out the Facebook page or just search any of these titles at your fave e-retailer.

Get Your Cheap E-Books!!!

20 E-Books for $20 dollars, y'all! HarperPerennial is running a sale on 20 e-books, each priced at 99 cents. You can get the books from iBooks, Amazon, B&N, or through your fave participating indie via Google E-Books. Click the image on the right to see more.

I picked up seven of the twenty available books:

• Bad Marie
• Kapitoil
• Who By Fire
• A Common Pornography
• Everything is Wrong with Me
• Postcards from a Dead Girl
• I Am Not Myself These Days

I am ridiculously excited. A couple of these are on my Tournament of Books reading list for my personal TOB 2011 Challenge and others just look yummy. Especially I Am Not Myself These Days by the illustrious Josh Kilmer-Purcell of Fabulous Beekman Boys fame.

Want to buy? Check out the Facebook page or just search any of these titles at your fave e-retailer.

Everything Beautiful Began After

I'm happy to report that I'm slightly ahead of the curve on this book. It's my understanding that it will be on tour in July, and as soon as I saw it on NetGalley I had to snap it right up.

Simon Van Booy has been a sentimental favorite of mine ever since his first short story collection, The Secret Lives of People in Love, came through when I was editing the Estella's Revenge E-Zine. Nancy from Bookfoolery and Babble adored it, and I followed shortly after.

I've said from the beginning that Van Booy has an old world feeling in his writing, and this one delivered in that regard. Set in Athens, Henry is a genius, drunkard, American, in love with Rebecca. Rebecca is a French ex-flight attendant, artist, in love with Henry. Henry is a British archaeologist, hottie, tortured soul.

And they're all tortured souls in some way-- haunted by death, betrayal, and crappy family. They find each other in a twisted love triangle heightened by the unlikely friendship that grows between George and Henry. Going into this novel, and from reading the blurbs, I really thought it would be about the love triangle. And that's not new! But it really isn't so much. A REALLY BIG EVENT, which I won't talk much about for fear of spoilers, changes the trajectory of this novel in a big, big way. All of a sudden it was no longer about a triangle, and it morphed into more of a story of triumph and overcoming grief and insurmountable psychological trauma.

This novel was gri-tty in spots. It wrung me out and left me feeling a little dazed, in fact. I seem to have read two of the most emotional novels I've ever had in my hands within a week of each other! ROOM made me tear up, as did this one, and both were laced with moments when I cringed, or cursed the characters in my head, or just felt downright pissed at the story arc. In a good way. I was invested.

Van Booy's writing shines in this one just has it has in his short stories. Because he does a good bit of description and sweeping figurative language, I was actually a little distressed that it would be too wordy and drawn out in the beginning. I was wrong, though! Dead wrong. The beautiful writing really helped sweeten the darker moments in this novel.

While I could pull out some quotes from the novel, I'm both lazy and a visual learner, so I'll share a video of Simon reading one of his short stories instead. His accent is dreamy, eh?



If you've ever wanted to try Simon Van Booy's work, you can't really go wrong with his short stories or this novel. But if you're more of a novel fan, I can't imagine that you wouldn't like Everything Beautiful Began After. If you don't like it, come back here and we'll Jello wrestle until I convince you.

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

• Pub. Date: July 1, 2011
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Format: e-book
• ISBN-13: 978-0061661488
• Source: NetGalley

Everything Beautiful Began After

I'm happy to report that I'm slightly ahead of the curve on this book. It's my understanding that it will be on tour in July, and as soon as I saw it on NetGalley I had to snap it right up.

Simon Van Booy has been a sentimental favorite of mine ever since his first short story collection, The Secret Lives of People in Love, came through when I was editing the Estella's Revenge E-Zine. Nancy from Bookfoolery and Babble adored it, and I followed shortly after.

I've said from the beginning that Van Booy has an old world feeling in his writing, and this one delivered in that regard. Set in Athens, Henry is a genius, drunkard, American, in love with Rebecca. Rebecca is a French ex-flight attendant, artist, in love with Henry. Henry is a British archaeologist, hottie, tortured soul.

And they're all tortured souls in some way-- haunted by death, betrayal, and crappy family. They find each other in a twisted love triangle heightened by the unlikely friendship that grows between George and Henry. Going into this novel, and from reading the blurbs, I really thought it would be about the love triangle. And that's not new! But it really isn't so much. A REALLY BIG EVENT, which I won't talk much about for fear of spoilers, changes the trajectory of this novel in a big, big way. All of a sudden it was no longer about a triangle, and it morphed into more of a story of triumph and overcoming grief and insurmountable psychological trauma.

This novel was gri-tty in spots. It wrung me out and left me feeling a little dazed, in fact. I seem to have read two of the most emotional novels I've ever had in my hands within a week of each other! ROOM made me tear up, as did this one, and both were laced with moments when I cringed, or cursed the characters in my head, or just felt downright pissed at the story arc. In a good way. I was invested.

Van Booy's writing shines in this one just has it has in his short stories. Because he does a good bit of description and sweeping figurative language, I was actually a little distressed that it would be too wordy and drawn out in the beginning. I was wrong, though! Dead wrong. The beautiful writing really helped sweeten the darker moments in this novel.

While I could pull out some quotes from the novel, I'm both lazy and a visual learner, so I'll share a video of Simon reading one of his short stories instead. His accent is dreamy, eh?



If you've ever wanted to try Simon Van Booy's work, you can't really go wrong with his short stories or this novel. But if you're more of a novel fan, I can't imagine that you wouldn't like Everything Beautiful Began After. If you don't like it, come back here and we'll Jello wrestle until I convince you.

Rating:

Snuggle -- Skewer

• Pub. Date: July 1, 2011
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Format: e-book
• ISBN-13: 978-0061661488
• Source: NetGalley

Is That a Book Holding Onto My Nosehairs?

Before you run screaming at the title of this post, it goes hand in hand with my old saying that I want a book to really grab me by the nosehairs. I think one might've finally done it. But I'm saying it very softly, never out loud, for fear that my reading mojo will turn tail and RUN again.

Yesterday was Greyson's and my mom's birthday. I can't believe Greyson is a year old already. And for the record, my mom is 56, but she's starting over at 1 this year. We had a good day with cake and treats (pictures to come), and while Chuck was napping with Greyson, I started a new-to-me book! It's no stranger to the Interwebs, and especially book bloggers, but I'm just getting to The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender.

I've really been surprised--and maybe I won't be by the time I'm done reading this book--at all the critical attention it's received. The premise doesn't feel new!!! Rose Edelstein discovers, on the eve of her 9th birthday, that she can taste emotions in food.

OK. That sounds sort of Sarah Addison Allen to me. A little Alice Hoffman.

But WHOA the attention this book has gotten. It was even a strong contender in this year's Morning News Tournament of Books! I suppose my biggest curiosity diving into this one is what makes it different (ie, more literary) from any number of other food-emotion books of a fluffier fare. Is there really any difference? Only reading it can tell me for sure, and so far, I'm game. Bender seems to have an approachable, easy-to-read style, and I can't wait to see where this one takes me.

In other news, my Great Expectations re-read seems to have stoked my reading fire. Not sure I'll finish that re-read this time around, though. I just re-read the book a year or two ago, and it's still pretty fresh. We'll see. I'm enjoying petting my pretty Penguin classics edition, though.

Finally, I've put Affinity on hold for only a short while. I'm really loving it, I just needed something different since it fell victim to a lot of work and life stress.

Happy Monday, y'all! How's your reading going?

P.S. I'm reading Lemon Cake on my Nook. A copy I downloaded from kobo.com. I actually started reading it yesterday on my iPhone--a testament to its awesomeness.

Is That a Book Holding Onto My Nosehairs?

Before you run screaming at the title of this post, it goes hand in hand with my old saying that I want a book to really grab me by the nosehairs. I think one might've finally done it. But I'm saying it very softly, never out loud, for fear that my reading mojo will turn tail and RUN again.

Yesterday was Greyson's and my mom's birthday. I can't believe Greyson is a year old already. And for the record, my mom is 56, but she's starting over at 1 this year. We had a good day with cake and treats (pictures to come), and while Chuck was napping with Greyson, I started a new-to-me book! It's no stranger to the Interwebs, and especially book bloggers, but I'm just getting to The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender.

I've really been surprised--and maybe I won't be by the time I'm done reading this book--at all the critical attention it's received. The premise doesn't feel new!!! Rose Edelstein discovers, on the eve of her 9th birthday, that she can taste emotions in food.

OK. That sounds sort of Sarah Addison Allen to me. A little Alice Hoffman.

But WHOA the attention this book has gotten. It was even a strong contender in this year's Morning News Tournament of Books! I suppose my biggest curiosity diving into this one is what makes it different (ie, more literary) from any number of other food-emotion books of a fluffier fare. Is there really any difference? Only reading it can tell me for sure, and so far, I'm game. Bender seems to have an approachable, easy-to-read style, and I can't wait to see where this one takes me.

In other news, my Great Expectations re-read seems to have stoked my reading fire. Not sure I'll finish that re-read this time around, though. I just re-read the book a year or two ago, and it's still pretty fresh. We'll see. I'm enjoying petting my pretty Penguin classics edition, though.

Finally, I've put Affinity on hold for only a short while. I'm really loving it, I just needed something different since it fell victim to a lot of work and life stress.

Happy Monday, y'all! How's your reading going?

P.S. I'm reading Lemon Cake on my Nook. A copy I downloaded from kobo.com. I actually started reading it yesterday on my iPhone--a testament to its awesomeness.