The Four Corners of the Sky, by Michael Malone
Prepare to be enchanted by a masterful writer who knows how to tell a story. Michael Malone’s skills derive both from his experience writing for a popular soap and from his obvious affection for good literature. On the one hand, he knows how to script good dialogue and flesh out characters that capture your attention (if not always your heart). On the other, he can’t resist the opportunity to pay homage to the classics.
It’s the characters who make Malone’s story compelling. The heroine, Annie, is abandoned in Emerald City, North Carolina, by her con artist father (with the emphasis on “artist,” he would suggest) when she was 7, and hears from him again almost 20 years later when he needs her help to recover a hidden treasure. His big con involves a statue, which may or may not be real. Joining Annie in her adventures are Uncle Clarke, the punster; Annie’s neighbor, who hopes that archaeologists will find her body a thousand years from now and comment on her good bone structure; her father’s sidekick, who loves quoting Shakespeare; and Aunt Sam, who believes movies can teach you everything about life. “Sam said she was not to be teased out of her faith that movies showed people how to live their lives with a great score and the boring parts cut out” (Page 175). Part The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and part The Maltese Falcon, The Four Corners of the Sky is a wild ride full of twists and turns.
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, by Reif Larsen
Larsen’s book is a uniquely constructed novel whose story is enhanced by drawings (ranging from whimsical to technical) and captivating and clever stories and musings in the margins.
Our hero, T.S. Spivet, is a 12-year-old boy who maps everything, including faces, the dinner table and the geology of his home state of Montana. He cautions, “A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning, it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected. To do this right, is very difficult.” (Page 138). After seeing his work, the Smithsonian Institution invites T.S. to be a keynote speaker at an important gala, not knowing how young he is. His journey across country on a train (hiding in a Winnebago being shipped) is a great adventure filled with wit and humor and more fundamental truths about life and family. The maps and stories that occupy the marginalia are not like footnotes that beg to be ignored; they are extra treats that need to be devoured as part of the main feast.
This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
There’s nothing like a good crisis to bring a family together … tear it apart … and hopefully put it back together again. In Jonathan Tropper’s latest examination of families, mother and children are foisted upon each other for seven days of religiously dictated mourning. Like most families, the Foxmans have their share of problems – broken marriages, failed pregnancy attempts and leftover childhood resentments.
Tropper manages to combine great insights into characters and relationships with irreverent humor and a keen eye for the absurd. He’s off to a running start on Page 1. “‘Dad’s dead,’ Wendy says offhandedly, like it’s happened before, like it happens every day …” When her brother asks, “‘How’s Mom doing?’” she quickly responds, “‘She’s Mom, you know? She wanted to know how much to tip the coroner.’”
Juxtaposing grief and the requisite self-analysis that follows, with repeatedly odd circumstances, Tropper treats the reader to unending revelations and good storytelling. While the Foxmans are a Jewish dysfunctional family, you can substitute any garden-variety neurotic family and recognize the same truths and misbehaving relatives. Be prepared to laugh and cringe a little at the same time.
When you’ve finished these, be assured there are always wonderful new books on the horizon. The fall and winter publishing season promises books by old favorites and new books destined to become favorites.
