Indians on Vacation

 Indians on Vacation by Thomas King

Mimi and Bird, a middle-aged indigenous couple, are on vacation in Prague. This is one of many trips they've taken in an attempt to discover something about Mimi's uncle Leroy, who left home when he was young, taking the family's sacred medicine bundle with him. He sent postcards home from various locations around the world and Mimi, following his path, hopes to find out more about his life after he left or maybe even find the bundle itself. 

Mimi is an enthusiastic traveler who loves to explore the cities they visit; Bird just wants be home. His grousing about it wore a little thin but the story was interesting otherwise with alternating chapters about other trips they've taken, Bird's youth, and Mimi's mother. And then there are the demons Bird fights continually: catastrophizing, self-loathing, depression, despair, and touchiness. Mimi names them all - Kitty, Eugene, twins Didi and Desi, and Chip - which starts Bird seeing them as actual (though invisible to anyone else) people. His encounters with them are the funniest parts of the book. 

I liked the book's off-beat feeling but didn't find it as hilarious as other reviewers have. Indeed it was quite sad, but Mimi's endearing character and Bird's demons made it real and relatable. 

Not too dark and not too funny, just a good story.    

Fellowship Point

Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark

This is one of those wonderful books that when I finished I wished I could read again for the first time. I will read it again, as an old friend then, but there won't be that sense of discovery, of surprise at finding a treasure. I loved the two main characters and narrators Agnes and Polly, in their eighties and friends for years, and the beautiful location, an unspoiled point of land on the coast of Maine.

Agnes, an unmarried author of children's books, and Polly, wife to a demanding husband and mother of 3, grew up spending their summers at family 'cottages' on The Point. They worry about development ruining the natural beauty of the place, especially the large sanctuary of land, "the Sank", that sits between the houses and the sea. Home to various bird species, including a colony of eagles, and varieties of flowers and trees, it is the heart of Fellowship Point and they want to protect it for future generations. Leaving it to a land trust is one possibility, but because of by-laws set when the houses were first built, nothing can be done without the agreement of all the homeowners together. That's going to be a problem.

A third narrator enters the picture when Maud, assistant to Agnes' editor, asks Agnes to write a memoir, an idea Agnes won't even consider. Maud's story - she has a 3 yr old daughter and a mother who suffers from bouts of mania/depression - adds another layer to the story as she becomes an integral part Fellowship Point life.

This beautifully written story, it's engaging characters and stunning location are a gift. By the time I'd finished I could say with Agnes "I feel so saturated with Maine...". The trees, the wind, the eagles, the water, the characters - I felt saturated with all of it and was truly sad to come to the last page. This one is going on my Favourites list.

A few quotes:

"They were too old not to be friends. Fallings-out were for those who had time to meet new people."

"People had no manners anymore, or even a notion of their utility - how good manners evened out the imbalances between personalities, how they bolstered the shy by making it clear what to do, and how they held the aggressive in check."

"...she still loved the sound of eagle wings beating the air. They cleaved the atmosphere and created temporary yet provocative blank spaces that drew the imagination upward to explore their wake."

Upgrade

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

A novel about gene-editing in humans. Like the future isn't terrifying enough already. 

Logan Ramsey is an agent for the Gene Protection Agency. Gene editing became illegal after scientist Miriam Ramsay, Logan's mother, believing she could increase food production in poorer countries, infected crops with modified genes she'd engineered. Crops died, famine followed, and 200 million people starved to death.

Logan, who'd been working in her lab at the time, went to prison for two years for his part in the disaster and now works with the agency to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. In the course of a routine investigation (if any of this can be called routine) he is infected with unknown genes; in essence, his DNA is hacked, and no one knows what it will do to him or what he might become. He's detained in a lab and subjected to continual testing, but someone breaks him out and they join forces to find out who did this to him and why. Logan has to cope with the frightening changes taking place in his body and mind, and face a revelation about his mother and how it has led to him being in this precarious situation.   

It's written in the abrupt, almost in-your-face style I've seen in other detective novels and I can't say I like that kind of writing, but there were moments that stood out, like this one for its great imagery:

"A violence of black skies, wind, and rain - the final nail being hammered through the heart of autumn."

And this one, simply because it's exciting to learn such things:

"While there are approximately twenty-five thousand known genes, the variance of their interactions approaches infinity. And beyond the known genes, our genome contains numerous control regions and so-called junk DNA, which aren't junk at all but a collective, self-adjusting web of systems, evolved under the selective pressure of existence for more than three billion years. It added up to a system of unimaginable complexity, one where any single change - let alone thousands - might express itself in dozens of unforeseen ways."

Both the plot and the science were mesmerizing. I stayed up too late reading, needing to find out what would happen to him. If the concept of hacking DNA peaks your interest, I think you'll like this chilling, but believable, sci-fi story - a story that may not be fiction much longer and perhaps isn't even now.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

Elsa, 7, has been hearing stories about the Land of Almost Awake from Granny for as long as she can remember. Its Seven Kingdoms are inhabited by a number of mystical creatures: wurses, norweens, enphants, snow angels, sea angels, a monster, a dragon, and a brave hero, Wolfheart, who once destroyed the evil Shadows and saved the Seven Kingdoms.

Granny is Elsa's best and only friend, and when she dies Elsa is heart-broken and angry. But Granny leaves Elsa a puzzle to solve involving many of the eccentric residents who live in their apartment building and Elsa, though still mad at her for leaving, can't resist. As one clue leads to another, she begins to understand that each resident's story is part of Granny's fairytale. People and events in the Land of Almost Awake are symbolic of things that actually happened in their shared history. Elsa will find consolation in unraveling the truth and in the friendships that develop along the way.

It's sad and funny and complicated, about family and sacrifices made to serve a greater good. Like the other Backman books I've read it's a good story, well told and quirky in all the best ways. 

Haven

 Haven by Emma Donoghue

The story of three monks who set out by boat from an established monastery to search for an uninhabited island on which to found another. Artt, a priest and scholar the other two call Father; Cormac, advanced in years but still handy with tools; and Trian, a boy whose parents abandoned him at the monastery because he was different; are led by Artt's vision to a small and barely livable island of mostly rock. It has only one tree, little soil for planting, and no fresh water - but Artt believes that if God has chosen this place, He will provide what is needed to survive there.

Cormac builds a cistern to collect rain water and grows a few greens in a shallow garden, while Trian hunts birds and catches what little there is from the sea for food. Hunger becomes a constant companion and distraction from the tasks Artt has set for them. Trian is to begin a new copy of the Scriptures and Cormac to carve a cross from stone to mark the island for Christ. Shelter for themselves and the meagre supplies they brought with them must wait.

They struggle through the summer, but as the weather cools and birds leave the island, Cormac begins to doubt they can survive the winter. And he questions Artt's decisions, who refuses to let them go for supplies, insisting "We've looked our last on the filthy world."

Tension builds slowly, so slowly I found myself looking ahead to see if something, anything, was going to happen, but as their situation become more desperate and Artt's sanity more doubtful, it got intense.

A thoughtful story that raises questions about isolation, faith, and the line between blind obedience and common sense. Trian and Cormac got into my head and my heart and will stay there a long time I think. Wonderful characters. Great story. 

The Cartographers

 The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

What a riveting story...if you're open to a bit of magical realism. At the first sign of it I was inclined to roll my eyes, but once I reminded myself that I read fiction because I want to experience different realities and stretch my imagination, I settled in to enjoy the story. And then I had a hard time putting it down. 

Nell Young, cartographer, was fired from her job at the New York Public Library by her own father after they disagreed on the value of some old maps. Seven years later, when her father is found dead in his office, Nell finds one of those maps hidden in his locked desk drawer and sets out to discover why it was significant to him. What she uncovers is beyond anything she could have imagined - a stunning family secret, a conspiracy of silence that threatens to become dangerous, and an empty town that exists in defiance of the laws of physics. 

I was drawn to this book by the promise of maps and libraries, but with its unusual plot and mounting tension it was even better than I expected. Good reading.