March Book Club Reviews

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The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Eyre Affair is an odd novel. It follows the casework of SpecOps agent Thursday Next. Taking place in a world where the Crimean war is still raging between Russia and the UK, technology seems to have developed in a drastically different direction than in our world. Time travel exists and government agencies are fighting to keep the present stable while simultaneously trying to win a war that just may go on forever. If this sounds confusing, it is, but it is also hugely entertaining.

The thing I like about this book is that it isn’t just an absurd novel. I mean, it absolutely is an absurd novel, but it wraps its absurdity up in layers that keep it grounded in its own world-building. The setting feels like a bizarre science fiction or fantasy novel, but the tropes of the story are modeled on a tight thriller.

There’s a lot of chaos in the setting as an alternate history is slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) rolled out to the reader. But the narrative is focused on Next and specific enough that you can just sort of plow past anything that’s too baffling and it will soon focus back on the main story again. For example, if you want to try and figure out why their present is so different than ours, you might think it’s simply because the Crimean war never ended. But it’s also revealed early on that the ending to the novel Jane Eyre is different than the one we’re used to, and that was published before the war started. But, again, if that’s just too weird to deal with, there’s still a very tight game of cat and mouse at the heart of this novel. No matter how outlandish the book gets (time-traveling father, books behind force fields, psychic villains, and shadowy government agencies), Thursday Next and Acheron Hades are two grounded characters in pursuit of each other.

I do think that a lot hinges on how much the reader is willing to just accept aspects of the world that the book throws out there. For example, there are door-to-door Baconians, people who try to evangelize that Shakespeare didn’t write all the plays attributed to him, which closely resemble a contemporary religious group. I personally found that detail funny, but it isn’t necessary and I could understand feeling that bits of the book that pop in like this may create more questions than answers. But if you’re willing to roll with all of the whimsy that author Jasper Fforde can dish out, you’ll find The Eyre Affair to be a sometimes hilarious, always entertaining, adventure.

Review by Adam

Allegedly by Tiffany D Jackson

Trigger Warnings: Abuse, rape, death of an infant, racism, violence, animal cruelty 

Tiffany D. Jackson is a master of contemporary psychological thrillers, and no book demonstrates that best like her debut novel, Allegedly. The story follows Mary B. Addison, a young black girl who allegedly killed a white baby under the watch of her and her mother when she was 9 years old. Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped into an unwelcoming group home. On an assignment at a nursing home, she meets Ted, falls in love, and becomes pregnant herself. However, due to her past, the state now threatens to take her baby, and her fate lies in the hands of her mother, with who she has a strained and distrustful relationship.

Allegedly is not a book for the faint-hearted. It’s dark, gritty, and at times disturbing, and will definitely make you feel a plethora of emotions as you follow Mary’s story. While it may be a hard read, I personally could not put it down. Jackson writes a complex and sympathetic human being in Mary. She is complicated and flawed but very real, and a realistic portrayal of the hardships teens go through in group homes, especially teens of color. The author writes about relationships in a way that is authentic and compelling, most notably the relationship between Mary and her mother. Since the book is told from Mary’s perspective, Jackson fills in the blanks with an excellent assortment of mixed media sources, such as police interviews and court transcripts, making the world Mary lives in that much more real.

Here’s why I recommend this book for adults: It’s a compelling, complex story that’s engaging and enraging. Themes of family, abuse, PTSD, teen pregnancy, mental illness, juvenile justice, and the effect of loss are explored, making the book a timely read, especially when it comes to Jackson’s depiction of racism in the justice system. Although this is Jackson’s debut novel, it’s well-written and well-researched, enough to make it feel like it was written by a veteran author. Even though Allegedly may be dark and at times hard to swallow, it’s definitely earned a spot on my bookshelf.

Review by Liz

I learned about this book after listening to an interview with the author on a parenting podcast I regularly tune into. Her conversational tone, mixed in with research-backed statistics and concrete instructions, sold me immediately and I put the book on hold that day. It’s an easy read, too – once I started reading, I flew through it, pausing a few times only to jot down page numbers and take notes on things I wanted to bring up with my husband.

The book starts with anecdotal evidence about the unpaid, under-acknowledged, often invisible emotional and physical labor that is undertaken by the wife in a heteronormative marriage (it can also be easily translated to any type of domestic partnership). I immediately resonated with her stories and many of the hundreds of people she interviewed. Furthermore, she backed her findings up with grim statistics and dozens of peer-reviewed studies.

While this may all sound like a typical non-fiction/self-help book, the author goes a step further and gives clear, actionable steps for improving the balance in domestic responsibilities. She literally writes out scripts for partners to open discussions with, lays out how and when to approach others, gives copies of lists and tasks to use, and clear-cut cards (that you can actually download and print from her website if you are reading a library copy or don’t want to cut up your book) that you can “deal” to make your partnership more equitable. It’s shockingly simple, with just four basic rules and the ability to pick and choose the aspects of her system that apply to your family. I highly recommend this book if you feel at all annoyed with the daily household and family tasks that always seem to fall to you…and you actually want to do something about it!

Review by Shelly

Run. Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

Run: Book One is the first book in the new graphic novel series by the late Congressman John Lewis, a sequel to his award-winning New York Times bestselling series March. Run picks up shortly after the events of the March on Selma with the members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), chaired by Lewis, and the work that needed to be done after the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. John recounts the protests, challenges, and fights that still lay ahead for those who worked so hard during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Readers follow along as the voice of those who advocated for nonviolence were drowned out by those of the younger generation who wanted change faster or demanded it louder. This is a part of history that is overlooked, and John Lewis lived it and is sharing his story about what came next.

I think John Lewis led a fascinating life, and his story needs to be shared. Towards the end of Book One, Lewis is replaced as Chairman of SNCC and reflects on how low he felt at that time. At the age of 26, he felt lost with no job, money, or home. We know that John Lewis didn’t let that moment of loss keep him back. He kept dedicating his life to preserving the democratic process and fighting for the rights of all people.

I think Graphic Novels are a great way to read about history. Because the writers are forced to pare down detail, it’s not as dry as a history tome. That said, the authors provide details on the events depicted and the sources used if you wish to read more about them. The art helps tell the story, and it adds a layer of emotion you won’t get from just reading a recapping of events. One example: is the exhaustion of John’s face after years of fighting, and he loses his role as chairman of SNCC.

Review by Amelia

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Jake Epping is a newly divorced high school English teacher in the sleepy town of Lisbon Falls, Maine, who spends his time grading papers and patronizing the local greasy spoon owned by Al that no one else in their right mind would eat at. Everything in Jake’s life is uneventful until a fatally ill Al asks him to fulfill “a dying man’s last request.” Jake is set with a task to alter a historic moment in time: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This task sets Jake on a journey of time travel that vastly counters his ordinary life in 2011; prevent a murder that will alter the life of someone in his present life, a romance of deep and true love, and the quest to stop an event that forever changed American History.

11/22/63 presents the reader with another voice and view (another “what if”) to the Kennedy assassination. This version is the stylized storytelling of Stephen King. Known as a master of horror, King takes a step back from his nightmare-come-to-life novels like It and The Stand and presents an emotional and suspenseful tale of an ordinary person thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Protagonist Jake is given the opportunity to become a kind of superhuman with the gift of knowing the future and the possibility of creating an alternate life where he is more than he is/was in the present.

I am a fan of Stephen King’s writing. He is a storyteller who has a gift for taking ordinary people or outcasts and turning them into larger-than-life characters. The good and the bad are all fair game the plot, with successes and failures along the arc of the story. I think back on a lot of the characters in his books that I have read. They stick with you. While 11/22/63 is not a horror story, the pages are sprinkled here and there with profanity, sex, substance abuse, and violence. And like most of King’s works, it is a very long book. Don’t let the heft of the book scare you away! You will get through it quickly. If you have never read anything by Stephen King, I hope you give this one a try.

Review by Allison

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

This is book one in Evie Dunmore’s A League of Extraordinary Women series. It follows Annabelle Archer as she maneuvers her way into a scholarship that will allow her to attend Oxford University. She needs to help support the women’s suffrage movement in exchange for the scholarships by convincing men of influence to support their cause. She is tasked with getting Sebastian Devereux, Duke Montgomery, to help them. Sebastian has his own goals that need to be accomplished, namely resorting the family to the family seat, which the Queen’s nephew currently holds. The Queen has offered to help him regain the property if he secures her pick as the new prime minister. Any involvement with Annabelle will hinder his goals; not only is she a bluestocking, but she’s a commoner too! Annabelle and Sebastian match wills as they both fight for what they want or at least believe they want out of life.

This book had been on my To Be Read shelf for a while now, and I kept passing it over because a few friends had read it and didn’t enjoy it. I saw ‘Jane Eyre’ and thought of a few romances I had read that I enjoyed and then remembered this book and decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did because this was a delightful story. Sebastian starts a bit cold but understandably so. The weight of the title is a lot, and he is trying his best, to the detriment of what he wants out of life. It takes Annabelle’s influence to sway Sebastian to realize what he really wants out of life. Annabelle and her friends are strong, capable women who know their minds and are willing to fight for what they want, and they have a fantastic friendship I can’t wait to follow throughout the other books in the series.

Here’s why I recommend this book for adults: It’s a compelling, complex story that’s engaging and enraging. Themes of family, abuse, PTSD, teen pregnancy, mental illness, juvenile justice, and the effect of loss are explored, making the book a timely read, especially when it comes to Jackson’s depiction of racism in the justice system. Although this is Jackson’s debut novel, it’s well-written and well-researched, enough to make it feel like it was written by a veteran author. Even though Allegedly may be dark and at times hard to swallow, it’s definitely earned a spot on my bookshelf.

Review by Amelia

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Trigger warnings: sexual assault, rape, domestic abuse, cheating, homophobia, biphobia, alcoholism, mentions suicide

In the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, a reclusive Hollywood legend offers an unknown writer, Monique, the opportunity to write her life story, from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to leaving show business in the 80s, filled with ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and great forbidden love, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. Reid simultaneously tackles themes of fame, diversity, discrimination, and even a little crime throughout the plot. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is an intricate study of human nature that explores the true cost of fame, the commodification of women in Hollywood, the difficulty of reconciling with one’s true identity, and like all humans, Evelyn’s story is filled with both darkness and light.

Literary fiction was never my cup of tea and having never read Ried’s writing I was hesitant to start it, but the praise for it on BookTok is the reason why I decided to read it. Not only is the story incredibly diverse despite its Old Hollywood setting, but it also has the best Bi representation I’ve ever seen. All the characters feel like real people: complex, nuanced, and painfully human and Reid does a great job making you feel all the emotions along the way. Overall, a compelling read that is beautifully written.

Review by Sai