5. Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
Too many fans of her first novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, were expecting a repeat in this, her second novel, but just like any good artist, she doesn’t duplicate a painting, or in this case, a premise for a story. While the former book captures a relationship through a series of time challenges (and through the inclusion of a time traveler), the latter book deals with a relationship beyond death. While Wife delves into breaking through conventional barriers in time, Symmetry breaks the bonds of death. Her Fearful Symmetry is an amazing book, written well and told simply, but it is also eerie in the telling. I recommend it for anyone who loves mystery, mortality, or just a story told well.
4. The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold
Helen admits to killing her mother in the very first paragraph of this intense novel that works so hard to give a solid explanation and reasoning behind a terrible occurrence. And I think it succeeds, wonderfully and completely. I think in all of our minds there exists a “what if” and an “if then” series of questions and possible consequences, and Alice Sebold digs right into one of the worst of them. I’m not going to say I can excuse Helen for her rash action, but I understand it, and you will too if you take the time to read this oft-maligned novel.
3. Room, by Emma Donoghue
I love this novel first of all because of its unique perspective, and I think that’s also what has made it a national bestseller. Told from the perspective of a five-year old boy who has only known one room for his entire life, the story is at once both heartfelt and bleak. And readers can certainly imagine what it’s like to be little Jack, and to feel what he feels. When he recounts tales for our reading, he doesn’t understand certain major issues like rape, but we can feel it through him anyway. And above it all is the fear. This book is ultimately about meeting an overcoming fear so intense that it can make you comatose. Room is an incredible book that I would recommend to anyone, but have the tissues handy.
2. Open, by Andre Agassi
This book caused a bit of a controversy when it was first released because in it Andre Agassi admits to taking drugs while playing tennis, but this book is about so much more than that. In fact, that is the least important fact in it, and it’s only interesting in that it exposes his state of mind when he fell so far down the rankings at one point in his career. But he turned it around, and this is the story of not only that turnaround, but of how his mindset changed, and how he found redemption in his private life with his wife and his two children. It’s a profound book that it would be shame to label a book about drug use. It is so much more.
1. Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn
This book answers the very serious question of how young people deal with serious traumatic experiences, but unlike Room, it doesn’t leave you with the young person. It shows you how that event changes and transforms the child even as she grows up into adulthood, and how she still struggles and fights against both the memories and ongoing pain. It enhances the drama, as well, that the child testified against her brother for committing the heinous crime, and now she doubts that testimony. Guilt, that’s what also comes into play, and it’s a harsh one. The book switches perspectives in each chapter, too, allowing you access inside the heads of the major participants, another bonus. I highly recommend this for people who can swallow some graphic descriptions of violence and its effects.
Sam
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