The Red Lotus

The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian (2020), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

It was all very dramatic because I was on hold for this book through the library but by the time it was published we were closed because of the coronavirus. Also, a friend had mentioned to me that the audio version was narrated by Rebecca Lowman, one of my favorite (possibly my very favorite) narrators. So I bought some extra Audible credits, and it was worth every penny.

Alexis is an emergency room doctor who met her boyfriend Austin when he came to the ER with a bullet wound. In a strange coincidence, it turns out that he works there too, but in a fundraising position. Six months later they are on a bicycling trip in Vietnam and Austin goes missing. I won't say much more about the plot because I don't want to give too much away, but the story really becomes intriguing when Alexis learns Austin lied about one of the reasons why he wanted to go to Vietnam.

On top of what happened to Austin, Alexis then has to deal with the fact of that lie and what it meant about the person she thought she knew. Having their relationship be fairly new is what made this storyline great. And there's more - there's a whole plot having to do with rats and disease and what Austin potentially had to do with it.

This book shouldn't have made me want to go on a bike tour of Vietnam, but it did and I don't even ride a bike. Vietnam sounded gorgeous though. The novel is very much in the same vein of Bohjalian's last couple of books, The Flight Attendant and The Guest Room, as opposed to his older books. A little bit mystery, a little bit thriller, very much character-driven. Alexis has some darkness in her past, but as an emergency room doctor she has learned to be calm in difficult circumstances. I really liked being immersed in her story, and Rebecca Lowman was the perfect narrator for her. (Honestly I think I like characters more when she narrates them.)

You probably know that Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors and I've read all of his books except I think The Water Witches. The only other one I've listened to on audio was Before You Know Kindness because I happened to come into a free copy of it. They are the kind of books I don't have the patience to stretch out into 2 weeks, which is how long it usually takes me for an audiobook. But thanks to the pandemic, I've been at home with nothing but knitting and puzzles to occupy me which has been the perfect environment for this. If you've liked his other recent books, you'll likely enjoy this one too. And if you're into audio, I do highly recommend that version.

Mr. Kiss and Tell

Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars #2) by Rob Thomas (2015), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

A young woman, close to death, was found in a field after being raped and beaten. She had been a guest at the Neptune Grand and when she regained part of her memory she accused a staff person from the hotel of the crime. The hotel hired Veronica Mars to investigate the claim, which is especially difficult since the afore-mentioned staff person has already been deported so Veronica can't talk to him. The victim herself, someone Veronica knows from her past, also isn't speaking much, refusing to tell Veronica who she was meeting at the hotel that night. With so few witnesses and a victim who won't talk, it's a tough case to crack, but of course we know that Veronica will get to the bottom of it.

The victim is Grace Manning, younger sister of Meg who died after the bus accident in season 2, leaving behind a newborn fathered by Veronica's ex-boyfriend Duncan Kane. Veronica remembers finding Grace as a child locked in a closet in her house by her religious fundamentalist parents. Now Grace is a young woman, an aspiring actress, and she won't say who her mysterious boyfriend is so that Veronica can talk to him about the parts of the evening that Grace can't remember.

Veronica enlists the help of her friend Mac and they spend a lot of time with security footage and hotel guest lists until they come up with a likely suspect. The tricky thing is that the person smuggled the unconscious Grace out of the hotel without it being on any of the footage, but these are smart women so they have a pretty good theory about how it happened. The hard part is finding evidence to support that theory, and as usual Veronica encounters a lot of surprises along the way and ends up in some fairly dangerous situations.

Meanwhile, Logan is on leave from the Navy and they are enjoying their time together. But when a tragedy occurs aboard his ship, he may be called back early and this causes some stress in their relationship. I fear it will never be smooth sailing for this couple, but at least this situation didn't have the drama that their early relationship did. Oh, and they got a puppy! That was a fun part of the story.

I thought this was a little better than the first book, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line. It was a more interesting mystery with a more satisfying conclusion and I think the plot was better crafted. Rebecca Lowman is one of my very favorite narrators and I'm always happy to listen to her. Some people who reviewed this on Audible seem to hate her and it's true that she reads very differently than Kristen Bell, but she's still great. And it didn't have the awkward feeling that Veronica Mars is talking about herself in third person. All in all, this was a very fun and satisfying book to listen to and now I feel prepared to watched the new season of Veronica Mars when it comes out later this month.

Say What You Will

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern (2014), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

As if high school wasn't difficult enough, Amy has cerebral palsy and needs help getting between classes so she always has an aide with her. For senior year, she decides to hire other students as aides rather than adults in an attempt to possibly, finally, make some friends. One of her aides is Matthew, whose constant counting and hand-washing have made socializing a bit challenging for him as well. Amy and Matthew understand each other and become friends right away, though slowly they both realize that their feelings are something more.

What I love the most about this story is the message about how many kinds of disabilities there are - and how many of us don't fit into the mold one way or another - but how it's just more visible with some people than others. Amy couldn't get around very well, or talk without using a device, but she was super smart and determined and fearless. Matthew was outwardly perfectly fine, but paralyzed by obsessive-compulsive disorder. They were both misunderstood by others but totally got each other in a fundamental way. Best of all, they both challenged and helped each other in the most important parts of their lives.

Being described as The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor & Park is a pretty tall expectation to live up to, but the comparison makes a lot of sense and I think fans of those other books will love this one too. Personally, I didn't love it quite as much, but it was still one of the best teen novels I've read in a while. As with those two other books, the strength is in the characters, self-aware but still flawed, and the way their relationship builds throughout the novel.

I found myself quite attached to both of these characters. It's hard not to feel for Amy, with the physical challenges of her life and how they have affected her socially, not to mention her well-intentioned but overbearing mother (who was a pretty interesting character herself.) And Matthew, who was so clearly holding himself back from so much in life, and just needed Amy to help him see it. It wasn't all smooth sailing, of course - they are teenagers, after all, and prone to miscalculations and hurt feelings. But McGovern handled those situations brilliantly.

There comes a point in many in teen books in which there is a great misunderstanding. Someone sees or hears something, makes assumptions, and it causes a rift that blows everything out of proportion and doesn't get resolved until the end, at which point I'm thinking, in exasperation, "Had you just asked the person what happened instead of assuming, none of this would have happened." I realize that occasionally these situations may occur in real life, but I for one don't have the restraint to not ask, for instance, "What what you doing with that girl last night?" or "Why didn't you call me?" It is like characters just don't want an explanation, and think nothing of ending an important friendship over something they haven't bothered to understand. But here, when a great misunderstanding occurred, the characters actually confronted each other with these questions, and it all goes to show that the plot can move forward without the characters in ways that are so obviously contrived. This alone elevated this book in my esteem.

The audiobook is narrated by Rebecca Lowman, who I wish I could pay to move into my house and read to me all the time. Sometimes I forget that there are actually other narrators who I've enjoyed. It's a problem. She did a great job here, of course. The chapters alternate between characters and one of Lowman's strength is how well she does male voices.

Whether you read or listen, Say What You Will is a must for anyone who enjoys teen fiction.

Landline

Landline by Rainbow Rowell (2014), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

In Rainbow Rowell's highly-anticipated new novel for adults, a woman mysteriously makes contact with a younger version of her husband through the old yellow telephone at her mother's house. Georgie McCool is supposed to be leaving for Omaha with her husband and kids to stay with his family for Christmas. But something has come up at work and she decides not to go at the last minute. She is a tv writer, so her schedule isn't a shock to Neal, but this seems like the last straw and he packs up the kids and goes without her. Later at her mother's house, her cell phone dead, Georgie uses the old phone in her room to try to call her husband, but instead reaches the 22-year-old version of him. It was another significant time in their relationship and Georgie wonders if she has been handed this strange opportunity for a reason: is she meant to fix their marriage? Or prevent it from ever happening?

The premise is strange and remains unexplained, but if you can just suspend your disbelief it actually works quite well. This isn't a story of action - it's mostly about Georgie and Neal's relationship from its earliest days. Not until late in the book is there any real action. It felt sort of like time stopped so that Georgie could figure everything out. It didn't actually stop, of course. Her coworker and best friend Seth tried to get her to come to work as she languished around her mother's house depressively in Neal's old Metallica t-shirt. She just resisted everything that was happening around her, continuing to wear her dirty clothing - or her mother's clothing - in her refusal to go back to her empty house.

Some major elements of the story were predictable, one thing in particular that I figured out really early on, and I am not the most astute of readers. I just waited for Georgie to also figure it out, which she did eventually. This didn't bother me. Landline isn't a suspense novel, after all; it's a novel about relationships, and they are often predictable.

As always, the best part of a Rainbow Rowell book is her language. George refers to Neal's lips as "a testament to cell division." When her younger sister Heather asks about whether she had fallen in love before Neal, she says "Maybe I came really close to falling in love, cumulatively, over two or three relationships." I also love the nostalgia she invokes with her references to Crayola Caddies and Mork.

I pre-ordered the audiobook when I learned that Rebecca Lowman would be narrating. Rainbow Rowell and Rebecca Lowman are becoming inextricably linked in my head, which is sort of a problem and the reason I haven't yet listened to Attachments. I guess I could read the print version, but that's not how I experience Rainbow Rowell. You can see my dilemma.

It's tough to compare to Rowell's other books that I've read because it's for adults and, therefore, inherently a bit different. I still love Eleanor & Park more, and maybe even Fangirl, but still....it's Rainbow Rowell and she has a magical way with words that just captivates me every time. I feel like she could write about the most boring non-fiction topic out there (the history of adhesives? how to clean upholstery? ocean bottom sediment?) and it would be a pleasure to read because she would say such unique things about it in a way that we could all relate to. Yes! I'd say. That is exactly what ocean bottom sediment is like, when you really think about it. Rainbow Rowell is magic, like a landline that connects you to fifteen years ago.

Dark Places

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (2009), narrated by Rebecca Lowman, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins, and Robertson Dean

Everybody remembers the 1985 Prairie Massacre of Kinnakee, Kansas. A teenager named Ben Day killed his mother and two younger sisters as part of a ritual Satanic sacrifice. Only 7-year-old Libby survived. Libby is now 31 and barely functional. She isn't able to work - many days, she can't even get herself out of bed - and she's running out of money. The profits she made from her book Brand New Day have run out, and she needs to find another source of income. Then she meets a guy named Lyle who offers her a hefty fee to come speak at a meeting of a group called the Kill Club and Libby seizes the opportunity, not realizing it will bring up questions and make her finally confront her past.

Libby has never questioned the events of that night, or her own damning testimony which put her brother behind bars. But faced with the members of Lyle's club, many of whom are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby begins to have doubts of her own. She begins to seek out people from her past to find out what they know about the events of that night, including her deadbeat father, her aunt who took her in after the murders, and her brother's friends. Her present-day story alternates with her brother's and mother's account of the last day leading up to the murders (and yes, there are four narrators, but I'm not going to spoil anything by revealing what that's all about.)

Many of us were first introduced to Gillian Flynn through her 2012 hit Gone Girl, and indeed that is what drew me to this earlier novel. Though Dark Places doesn't present the same kind of game-changing twists, it is still very well-crafted and among the top crime novels I've read. I liked the focus on Libby as the lone survivor of a long-ago crime from which she will never really recover, and that despite the sympathy her situation demands she's not someone you'd really want to be friends with. Since she was so young at the time of the murders, there was a great deal she didn't know about what was happening in her family, and Flynn quite deftly revealed those stories to us in the flashbacks just as Libby was discovering them for herself through her investigation. When the truth was finally revealed it wasn't what I would have guessed and I found it quite satisfying.

The audio was very well done - again, I could listen to anything read by Rebecca Lowman, who completely outshone her fellow narrators. They were all perfectly good, and I was happy to listen to all of them, but Lowman is my favorite and few others can compare to her as far as I'm concerned. I'm always a bit worried about listening to crime rather than reading it - I'm always afraid I'll get distracted and miss something important - but this was a great choice. I'll consider audio again for the next book by Gillian Flynn, an author I'll definitely continue to read.

Fangirl

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (2013), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

Cath and Wren are twin sisters who grew up sharing a mutual love of a series of books starring a magician named Simon Snow. All through high school they wrote fan fiction together, but eventually Wren's interest began to wane and Cath continued on alone. The sisters decided to go to the same college and Cath was surprised to find that Wren didn't want to room with her. Feeling awkward and alone, Cath moved into her new dorm with a stranger who seemed to hate her. Her roommate's boyfriend Levi was always hanging around too. Cath couldn't adjust to campus life, felt alienated from Wren, and constantly worried about her emotionally fragile father, left at home alone. Even more concerning, the final volume of the Simon Snow series would be published soon and Cath absolutely must finish her version before the official version hits shelves.

This is one of the very best representations of starting college that I've ever read. I love how out of her element Cath felt. I love that she stocked up on power bars and peanut butter so she wouldn't have to face the dining hall. I laughed out loud at the scene in which Levi told Cath about some alpaca mittens knit in Ecuador that he bought outside the Student Union. It's a little thing, but really took me back to my own early college days.

The romance is the best. Where the hell was Levi when I was young enough to date him? I don't think a boy so perfect actually exists, but he is very convincing. Cath, on the other hand, seemed weirdly prudish. I could accept it if there was an explanation, but there wasn't - for us, or for Levi, who continued to be extremely patient. I mean, they barely kissed. Still, experience their romance slowly growing was the most wonderfully satisfying part of the novel.

On a more serious note, Rowell did a great job of handling difficult issues like Wren's excessive drinking, their father's mental illness, and the abandonment of the girls by their mother. That's a lot of serious issues for one book, but they are expertly woven into the story.

The audio was fantastic. At this point I'm pretty sure I could listen to Rebecca Lowman read her grocery list. She's incredibly talented at making subtle differences in the characters' voices, enough to tell them apart but not enough to be awkward or exaggerated. Unfortunately, I found myself drifting off during the Simon Snow excerpts and I don't know why. They were short and interesting, and narrated by a British man (except in those instances where Cath was reading them out loud). I think the change of pace between the regular story and the excerpts was just tough for me on audio.

Another excellent novel from the author of Eleanor and Park. I'm going to go back and read (or listen to) The Attachments, which she published a couple of years ago. If you like YA books, Rainbow Rowell should be required reading!

Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013), narrated by Rebecca Lowman and Sunil Malhotra

Eleanor is the new kid at school, encumbered not only by her newness but by her size, the redness of her hair, and her limited wardrobe. When she boarded the school bus on her first day there was one vacant seat - next to an Asian kid named Park. As the other kids on the bus laughed and jeered at Eleanor, she and Park sat quietly next to each other every day, not talking. Until finally they did.

The two did not fall in insta-love. They begin by tolerating each other, then by sharing comics and music and, eventually, friendship. Quickly that turns to romance and they become devoted to each other. But there are complications. Eleanor lives in a very troubled household with her meek mother, abusive stepfather, and several younger siblings with whom she shares a bedroom. She lacks a lot of things that are basic to most teenage girls: a phone, washing machine, privacy for bathing, a toothbrush. Batteries for her walkman. Permission to have a boyfriend.

Park lives with his parents and younger brother. Their household is pretty stable, though not perfect. Park never quite lives up to the expectations of his father, a veteran who expects his son to be more manly than he has turned out so far. Park's mother runs a beauty salon out of the house and is fiercely protective of Park.

Eleanor was one of the most genuine and likable characters I've come across. She is fat, pale, and redheaded, quickly dubbed Big Red by her peers. She has a believable level of self-esteem, enough to get by but not much more than that. She writes lyrics from songs she's never heard on her book covers because it's music she wants to hear but doesn't have access to. (Oh, how I remember that from the 80s! The options were radio or buying cassettes and if you weren't near a decent radio station and had no money to buy cassettes you were screwed. I feel your pain, Eleanor!) She is wonderfully clever. In describing a mean girl from school she says, "She's what would happen if the devil married the Wicked Witch and they rolled their baby in a bowl of chopped evil." When Park asks why she likes him so much, one of her reasons is "You look like a protagonist."

And Park? I mostly liked Park because of how much he appreciated Eleanor. Knowing some teenage boys in my time, I was doubtful of his acceptance of this outlier. But he has his own problems with self-acceptance. He is, after all, the only Asian kid in their part of Nebraska. (His younger brother takes after their white father.) He is also unfortunately pretty. Park is convinced that nobody outside of Asia finds Asian guys hot. His many moments of charming awkwardness frequently included inadvertently insulting Eleanor when trying to complement her. "She should smile like that all the time," Park thought. "It made her face cross over from weird to beautiful."

Eleanor and Park had the perfect kind of sweet high school romance that made me super nostalgic for something I never had. I mean, who really had that kind of romance in high school? But we all wanted to. It was sweet without being saccharine, innocent without being too innocent and, like all good romances, doomed. (Which you learn in the very first paragraph of the novel.)

The only thing that could make this book any better is being read well, and the audiobook definitely delivered. My new favorite narrator Rebecca Lowman (of Rules of Civility) read Eleanor's chapters, while Park's were narrated by Sunil Malhotra, who I would happily listen to again. Both readers made the sweet parts sweeter and the clever parts funnier.

I'm so happy that Eleanor and Park is the big popular YA book this year (so far!). I love dystopias, but sometimes you need some real kids in the real world, having themselves a little romance. Rainbow Rowell is understandably being compared to John Green, and I'm very happy to learn that this is actually her second book, and she has a third coming out this fall. Also? Super bonus: Eleanor and Park has playlists.

Rules of Civility

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (2011), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

On the last night of 1937, Katey Kontent (accent on the 2nd syllable) and her roommate Eve go to a nightclub to ring in the New Year. There they meet a man named Tinker Grey. The three become friends and the novel follows their friendships, romances, and careers through 1938.

I don't want to say much about the plot because so few things actually happen and I think it's nice to not know all of those things before you start. The book is less about the plot anyhow than the characters and their lives and what that year was like for them. It's told from Katey's perspective, so it's more tightly focused on her life. Since some of the major plot points are about Tinker and Eve this is an interesting perspective.

Partway through I began reading The Great Gatsby again, and realized how much like Jay Gatsby Tinker Grey is. He's a bit mysterious, his acquaintances unsure of his background and he's some larger than life. I guess that would make Katey this novel's Nick Carraway, but she's less marginal to the novel than he was to Gatsby. We get to know Katey fairly well and I liked her a lot, although I didn't feel like I knew her as well as I frequently know a first-person narrator.

The novel was quite atmospheric, like dipping into someone else's life in another time. Even reading about Katey's job as a secretary at a law firm was fascinating, but it got even better as she took charge of her career and moved on to a magazine job. The writing was beautiful as well, which made the audiobook an even better experience. It was enjoyable just listening to each sentence.

If you can get the audio, I highly recommend it. Rebecca Lowman spoke with a slightly low, slightly husky voice that was just perfect. Her distinctions between characters meant that I always recognized who was talking, but the voices weren't exaggerated. It was an excellent production.

Rules of Civility has been on my list to read since it first came out. I kept hearing how good it was - and I fully intended to get around to it - but the description never quite pulled me in. Instead I kept buying copies of it for other people who then told me how much they liked it. Recently I've been trying to prioritize books that have been on my radar for a while, and my recent subscription to audible.com is making my reading much more manageable. If any of you have been putting off this book like I was, I'll just add one more voice to the chorus and urge you to make time for it. You won't be disappointed!