The Searcher by Tana French - suspense/mystery, local book club. Didn't really care for this one.
Sunshine by Marilyn Dane Bauer - advance reader edition, early reviewer, children, realistic fiction - This is a sensitive book on a tough topic - a young boy meeting the mother who left him and his father when the boy, Ben, was only three. Ben has a plan to visit his mother for a week, on her remote north Minnesota island, so they can get to know each other better and he can convince her to come home. Ben's dog, Sunshine, comes along for the week - only Sunshine isn't real.
Newbery Honor Book winner Marion Dane Bauer realistically depicts the fragile relationship between an estranged (and abused) mother and her scared (and angry) son. The cover cleverly depicts the title Sunshine as a shadow dog.
Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore - historical fiction / contemporary realistic fiction (in terms of themes), local book club - The author grew up in Odessa, Texas, and the set the book there in 1976. Larkspur Lane is in Gardendale (in Ector county outside Odessa). The Whitehead ranch is near Pennwell (west of Odessa). I was in Odessa for the first (and hopefully last) time recently, and it feels just as Wetmore describes it.
The book is told from the point of view of four main characters:
- Gloria (Glory) Ramirez, a Mexican girl who was molested by roughneck Dale Strickland.
- Mary Rose Whitehead, a rancher’s wife who rescued and defended Gloria, and testified in court on her behalf, causing stress with her husband Robert. She moves to Larkspur Lane because she doesn't feel safe alone on her ranch.
- Corrine Shepherd, a teacher living on Larkspur Lane who’s grieving. Her husband, Potter, recently died of cancer.
- Debra Ann Pierce, a lonely young girl who roams the Larkspur Lane neighborhood and befriends former roughneck Jesse Belsen, a young man from out-of-state living in drain pipe and working at the nearby Bunny [strip] Club to earn enough money to buy back his truck.
Other minor narrative voices (just one chapter each) are:
- Ginny, Debra Ann's mother, who abandoned her as a child;
- Suzanne Ledbetter, wife of an oil field manager and Avon/Tupperware saleswoman on Larkspur Lane; and
- Karla Sibley, a 17-year-old new mother who works for Evelyn at a cafe in Odessa.
I found this book somewhat depressing because it was so accurate about the attitudes of so many men towards women, especially here in Texas, even today. Here is a great review of the book that summarizes the themes with each character: https://www.tzerisland.com/bookblog/2020/3/30/valentine-by-elizabeth-wetmore.html, and here is an excellent essay by the author on why she wrote the book: https://www.harperreach.com/this-damn-book-an-essay-on-valentine-from-elizabeth-wetmore/.
© Amanda Pape - 2021
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