Review: 'The Butterfly Lampshade'

©2020 All Rights Reserved Lynne Perednia

The Butterfly Lampshade
By Aimee Bender
Literary Fiction
Doubleday

 A young girl knows enough to lock herself into her bedroom at night when her mentally ill mother is having an episode. When her mother is hospitalized, the girl then lives with her aunt, uncle and newly born cousin as a 10-year-old. The now grown young woman seeks to solidify her position in the world through memory.

Aimee Bender's The Butterfly Lampshade is a quiet, calming book in which finding one's place in the world is possible because of love. Remembering how situations came to be makes the love more real, more tangible.

Three episodes in young Francie's life hold particular meaning for her, because they are occasions when things not real became so. A butterfly matching the ones on a lampshade in her babysitter's apartment appears floating in her water glass. A beetle from a drawing on a school worksheet appears in the backpack in which Francie stored the paper. Three roses matching the ones on a friend's curtain appear on the floor, and she takes them home.

There is no question the objects are real. The roses are seen by her friend, and her young cousin keeps one of them as a treasured object. Through the years, Francie's mother struggles with her illness but finds a quiet place to flourish in a group residence. Francie grows up with her loving aunt and uncle, and her adored cousin, who adores her right back. The family's quiet love is a bedrock to Francie's existence, which is most helpful when she doesn't always feel tethered to the world.

Now grown and ready to face her own questions about the three instances of objects becoming real, and what it means to her place in the world, Francie undertakes daily quiet sessions. In a tent that she and her cousin, Vicky, set up on her apartment balcony, Francie lets her mind go where it will, down any memory rabbit hole. 

It's a brilliant way for Bender to chronicle Francie's life growing up, going back and forth to incidents that held strong significance to her, and go focus on incidents more than once as her ability to remember deepens.

In addition to the larger narrative about love and being solidly in the world, the memories also let the reader in on why Francie, even as a grown woman living alone, still feels compelled to be locked in at night. It's something she felt was necessary even after moving in with her aunt and uncle. When the "why" is revealed, it fits in with the larger narrative of why Francie feels unhinged in the world.

The reader also learns why Francie settles into finding objects and reselling them online, sending them along their journey to become objects with new meaning to new owners.

Anyone who has read Bender's earlier work knows her remarkable talent at descriptive passages that feature stirring language and serve her story. That talent is on full display in The Butterfly Lampshade, as here:

We are all locked in rooms in different ways, and part of growing up is finding different kinds of keys, and meeting the people who will help free you.

May you find the people who are your keys.

Review: 'The Night Swim'

 ©2020 All Rights Reserved Lynne Perednia

The Night Swim
By Megan Goldin
Thriller
St. Martin's Press

A small North Carolina beach town is deeply divided about the rape trial of a star swimming athlete, accused by a local high school girl of a brutal attack. A true crime podcaster arrives to cover the trial, bringing her listeners daily updates from the courtroom. In the days before the trial begins, she is drawn to a 25-year-old case of another young woman who died there but who seems to have been forgotten.

The Night Swim is an intense thriller of both the current case and the old one. Podcaster and investigative reporter Rachel Krall discovered facts that freed a wrongly convicted man and, in her second season, solved a cold case murder. Her new season revolves around the case of Scott Blair, a potential Olympic swimmer visiting his parents during college break. He crashes a high school party thrown while parents were gone, gives the victim a ride, gets her pizza and takes her to the beach. The town, and the early evidence, are split between whether he raped her or whether she changed her mind after the fact. People in town who back Blair are quick to blame the victim.

Victim blaming is a big part of the cold case, as well. Hannah, the younger sister of the girl who died all those years ago, leaves notes for Rachel, begging for help. Her sister Jenny was called a drowning victim and a second-generation slut. But Hannah and their late mother insist she was killed. When Rachel begins digging into the case, immediate red flags pop up in basic autopsy protocol.

But the cold case cannot take all of Rachel's attention. She is able to interview the parents of both Blair and the girl he was with that night, as well as defense counsel. Both the high-priced criminal attorney and local district attorney trying the case have local ties, as do generations of the families of the two young people.

The two narratives of past and present cases are balanced so well, especially as the information revealed rachets up the storytelling pace. Issues surrounding rape are presented within the context of what happens to women. Goldin also enriches the novel with attitudes about the differences between prosecutors and defense attorneys, podcasting and reporting, and parenting through a crisis. But most of all, the focus is on what happened in these cases and how people remain affected, even years later.

The Night Swim is a strong work about crime and it affects those involved. For a thriller to be both entertaining and meaningful is the mark of a very good writer.

Review: 'Pew'

©2020 All Rights Reserved Lynne Perednia

Pew

By Catherine Lacey

Literary Fiction

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Imagine wandering without knowing anything about oneself, except that you exist. Where did you come from? Where you going anywhere? Are you even male, female, something else? How old are you? None of these are things that matter. What does matter is finding a place to rest, maybe even sleep.

Churches are good for that. 

And when the protagonist of Pew by Catherine Lacey finds a church in which to sleep, everyone in the strange little town in which it is located is oddly invested in knowing more. They name their newly found person Pew for being found sleeping on one. The family that takes Pew in constantly cajoles, entreats and begs Pew to reveal more. Every time one of them tries to find out more, they show their judgment even as they deny being judgmental. Just existing and resisting only by being practically non-responsive riles up doctors and church folk.

The church folk are the ones who control the small town. It's nearly that time of year, when the annual Forgiveness Festival is held. Emotions are ramping up. The mood is ominous, especially for something that is supposed to be healing. And only the white people take part; the Black side of town stays away. At the same time, the news is filled with people disappearing from a nearby town.

The novel begins with an epigraph of Ursula K Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas, and has overtones of other works, including Kafka, The Giver by Lois Shields and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. The plot and the philosophical questions blend seamlessly. It is tempting both to turn the pages as quickly as possible to see what is happening, and to stop and mull over the existential questions and noticings of a stripped down character that remains a complex being.

Who are we, as just ourselves? As humanity? What are we like? What are the things that make a difference? Are they physical? Mental? A part of our souls? In musings both profound and poetical, Pew and the people in this community open up myriad ways of looking at the world and ourselves. To do this with such a light touch is a remarkable accomplishment. Pew is a book worth reading more than once.

Review: 'When You See Me'

©2020 All Rights Reserved Lynne Perednia

When You See Me

By Lisa Gardner

Thriller

Dutton

Cross-over episodes don't always work but when they do, the results let each character shine in new ways. That's the case when D.D. Warren, Flora Dane and Kimberly Quincy team up in Lisa Gardner's When You See Me. 

Human remains are found in a remote woodsy area of northern Georgia. Quincy calls Warren and Dane in when it appears clear the remains are tied to the serial killer who Warren hunted and who Dane, his former prisoner, killed. The action rachets up as soon as the team gets on site, and more gravesites are found in the area. As team members take on different aspects of the investigation, they make discoveries about the case and about themselves.

Their voices are all those of strong women. But theirs are not the only ones. A young woman at the center of the investigation is mute, but her interior thoughts are at the core of this story of discovery and empowerment. She is an integral part of the story behind the story, and to the action itself. 

Gardner's fast-paced narrative encompasses a wide range, and none of the elements trip up any of the others. The forensic details, the interviews of local people, investigating a network of ATV trails, and the dark web all figure into the story. As the pacing builds to the crescendo, the elements fuse together for an unusual ending that absolutely fits.

When You See Me is entertaining and empowering.