The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian - Not sure why I picked up this book long ago at a Friends of the Library book sale. I guess someone had recommended the author, as I also got his Midwives (which I enjoyed) and another book of his that I gave away before I could read it.
This one was painful to read, as the main character, Laurel, suffered a brutal attack while biking on a country road. She also is a swimmer, and the parallels to myself were just too close for comfort. The story revolves around photos left behind after the death of Bobbie, a formerly homeless man at the Burlington, Vermont shelter where Laurel works. Laurel (who is *also* into photography - like me) investigates the background of the photos.
This part of the story was based on reality - author Chris Bohjalian was inspired by and actually includes some of the photos taken by Bob "Soupy" Campbell, a man helped by the real Burlington shelter. The story of the real "Laurel" - Jessica Ferber - who investigated the real photos is far more interesting - she became rather obsessed with them too.
The book has a surprise ending, which I didn't see coming. It didn't help that the book include characters from The Great Gatsby, which I read so very long ago that I couldn't remember if they were real or not. "Double bind" is a term related to schizophrenia, and when the term was mentioned in the book (on page 215 out of 395 pages), it should have given me a clue.
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan - This nonfiction account was the inspiration for The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard, a fictional account of the same history, which I read as an advanced reader edition in 2018. Both tell the story of the Oak Ridge, Tennessee uranium separation site of the Manhattan Project to create an atomic bomb during World War II. Secret at the time (most working there had no idea what the project was), at its peak, it was home to about 75,000 people, many of them women. Author Denise Kiernan featured nine women of the many (women and men) that she interviewed for the book, intertwining their personal stories with that of Oak Ridge. Their chapters alternate with shorter, more scientific ones about "tubealloy," the project itself, which were a little harder to digest. Includes black-and-white photographs, 31 pages of endnotes, and a 19-page index.
Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer - This is described as "one of only two Heyer Gothic Regency romances." I think my mother read every single book written by Heyer - at least, I seem to remember seeing hardbound copies of her other books on our bookshelves when I was a kid, and I probably read at least one of them, but it probably wasn't this one. Originally published in 1968, my mother asked for this book for Christmas sometime after it was republished in 2009. I'm sorry, but I just don't see what the attraction was. The Regency romance subgenre, in the tradition of this book's author Georgette Heyer, was popular in the 1960s. This book is also described as Gothic because of its elements of suspense and horror. Another genre I don't particularly care for.
In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant - really liked this one, not sure why I waited so long to read it.
No One You Know by Michelle Richmond - did not like as well as some of Richmond's other books.
© Amanda Pape - 2020
© Amanda Pape - 2020
