We may have been given complimentary copies and/or access for review purposes to any products, and/or visual or audio media mentioned below. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.
Books: The Block Party & Little Monsters
Today we are recommending Block Party by Jamie Day. This is a delicious soap opera of a novel about a neighborhood street full of secrets. There is the sexy widow whose husband drowned under mysterious circumstances, a college dropout who knows his way all too well around a computer, and an alcoholic mom who just can't resist taking another drink, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There isn't a person on this block who isn't keeping at least one juicy secret.
This book is an extremely fast-paced, exciting, and totally addictive read! Make sure you have plenty of time to read when you start it because once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it down again until you finish it. It's that addictive! If you like a story teeming with high drama and plenty of exciting twists and turns, this book is a great choice.
Today we are talking about Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur. This is also a story about secrets except this time, they are family secrets. After the death of their mother, Ken, and Abby were raised by their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer whose works always came before his children. Now, on the surface, Ken seems like a well-adjusted successful man whose perfect family will help him achieve his political dreams but nothing will ever be good enough for Ken, and all the women in his life are somewhat under his control. Even Abby, a talented artist, is forced to live in a home/studio that should be hers but instead is owned by her brother.
On the eve of their father's 70th birthday, he strives to make one last breakthrough discovery completely disregarding his fragile state of mental health. Meanwhile, his children along with Ken's wife, who is also Abby's former roommate, try to keep their own respective secrets in the midst of planning a party for their father's milestone birthday. Aside from all that, there is also a mysterious stranger with an unknown connection to the family hanging around. All will come to a head on the night of the party.
Although it's true that women have historically been kept down by the patriarchy and even now there are plenty of men telling women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies, this book takes things to the extreme. Both of the male main characters are horrible irredeemable human beings while the women are multifaceted and capable of changing and growing. The woman in the book are all feisty tough, take-charge, confident people. Even if they don't start out that way, they end up that way.
While it's great to read about such admirable women as these, it does seem kind of one-sided that there is only one sort of decent man in the book, and he isn't even one of the major characters. However, if you are interested in reading a book that is extremely pro-woman and extremely anti-man, you would definitely like this book. Just be warned that the book is set in the lead-up to the 2016, election so if Hilary Clinton's loss and everything that followed is still upsetting to you, the characters' steadfast faith in her ultimate victory may stir unpleasant memories and perhaps not so deeply buried emotions.
And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.
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