Every Note Played - Review

Every Note Played🎵🎵🎵🎵
by Lisa Genova
Published March 20 2018 by Scout Press

4+ stars.  I am a huge Lisa Genova fan, having read and loved every one of her books now (Still Alice is still my favorite).  I always learn so much in her books, and each is about a different disease or condition that someone outside of the medical community like me may not have heard much about--as in Still Alice and Love Anthony, or were completely unaware of-1as in The O'Briens and Left Neglected).  

One of my Utah cousins, when we first found each other 13 years ago as a result of our genealogical research, told me at that time that his wife had ALS, which I had only heard of as Lou Gehrigs disease, and I knew only that it was very bad.  My cousin gave me periodic updates on her deterioration (I never met her),  until death finally freed her from her misery. What I remember most is when she could no longer swallow.  How can your body fail you like that and yet you're still hanging on?  But it wasn't long after that.

In Every Last Note, Richard had been a famous classical pianist before ALS struck.  He was divorced and living alone when he lost the use of one arm and then the other.  Then one leg; then both.  His ex-wife didn't want to do it, but offered up her home, formerly his home,  where she would take care of him along with the home health aides Richard was already paying for.  Genova always gives us the big picture, not only how a disease strikes the victim but also the affects on the caregivers.  She makes us think about our resilience, adaptability, our ability to forgive, and how to move on.  The ending was a tear jerker but I can't see how it could go any other way.  

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.  

American By Day - Review

American By Day   🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

by Derek B. Miller

Published April 3 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  

Oh, Derek B. Miller, it's good to know you've still got it, that incredible ability to take serious, tough topics like suicide, cancer, depression,  grief and loneliness, politics and prejudice, and put  them into a story that is deep, yes, but lots of fun too.  Loved it!

I adored Norwegian By Night, so this sequel had a lot of expectations to live up to; and it managed to make me feel happy, sad, and even a little more intelligent because Miller's writing covers some heavy topics that make you really think.  These are all the same feelings I had with NBN, so this book met and surpassed my expectations.

We get to know Sigrid Odegard much better here, and the New York sheriff Irving Wylie who is trying to help her find her brother is a wonderful character.  Miller creates lonely, quirky souls who worm their way into your very heart.  

In this town in upstate New York, an African American boy named Jeffrey was shot by a policeman who believed Jeffrey's toy gun was real.  The cop was exonerated.  His Aunt Lydia is dating Sigrid's  brother Marcus, and Lydia is soon found dead outside a construction site, having fallen 6 floors.  Whether she was pushed by Marcus, now missing, and if there was any connection between the two deaths is what Sheriff Wylie wants to know; and Sigrid intends to find her brother before the authorities do.  She is much more wiley than Sheriff Wylie, but quite a pair they do make.  The ending might make you cry.

An ebook from NetGalley and the publisher.

The Perfect Mother - A Review

The Perfect Mother  🌝🌝🌝🌜
by Aimee Molloy
Published May 1 2018 by Harper

A story bound to confuse even the sharpest reader for a little while, based on the mystery introduced in Chapter One. You'll follow a Mommy group, called the May Mothers because they are all due in May, as these progressive over-achievers share their pregnancy stories on line and then birthing sagas in person.  Five or six weeks into their momhood they decide it's time finally for a lady's night out at a local bar, a break from the craziness, and it goes horribly wrong when one of their babies is kidnapped while mommies are cavorting and getting drunk.  The police follow their leads, which I honestly could not follow at all, while the moms form their own theories and red herrings.  All the while they are bombarded with emails on where their kiddies are supposed to be in their development, which wore thin on me, probably because I have never given birth myself.  In the end I solved the crime just before the author revealed it, so the conclusion made perfect sense and wrapped up nicely, IMO.

It was a good read for me, and most likely readers who are mothers will have even more enthusiasm for the lactation and lack of sleep stories.

I just won a printed book from Book Riot (which hasn't yet arrived) and the audio version through Libro.fm, so I listened to this as soon as it was available.