Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

books

Book Review: The Henna Artist

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Lakshmi ran away from her abusive husband and used her artistic talents to become a henna artist to wealthy women. Clever and quick-minded, she built a successful business over the years, earning enough money to build a house of her own. Her life is about to be upended, though, with the appearance of a younger sister Radha, who she didn’t know she had, and her estranged husband. In The Henna Artist, author Alka Joshi transports us to 1950s India, where old cultural traditions make life difficult for women.

The Henna Artist has been a hugely successful book that has justifiably earned praise from Reese Witherspoon’s book club, so it doesn’t need the endorsement of a little book blogger like me. However, if I love a book I’m going to recommend it, so here we are.

Lakshmi’s emotional journey is absorbing. After all, how does an already successful businesswoman, making her way in a society that is suspicious of unmarried and childless women, grow? Yet Rahda, as an emotional and precocious teenager, becomes a catalyst for the big changes in Lakshmi’s life.

The details of Indian culture, from food to the societal rules, held my interest. And though the story is set in what for us is an exotic locale, there is much for women to relate to in terms of the challenges we face and how we survive.

There is a level of predictability in the story, and some of the resolution seemed a bit too pat for me. It builds beautifully but seems to wrap up too quickly. Also, there were a number of editorial and proofreading errors that I found disappointing. However, the story of the two sisters is brilliant overall, and it’s a wonderful, enjoyable read.

TRIGGER WARNING (NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILER)

If you have an aversion to abortion, you may not want to read this book.

Please feel free to subscribe to my blog below. I review books on Wednesday and starting in May will have a second post during the week on other topics.

If you enjoyed this review, please consider purchasing one of my books. Details can be found here.

The Dutchess is Keeping Me Sane (Sort of)

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I’ve made it no secret that I’m not fond of social media. I have stopped and started Twitter accounts so often it’s impossible for anyone to find me. Too often I find myself getting into arguments with strangers (who may not even be real people). I’m trying again, this time hoping to avoid that fate by limiting who I follow, especially in the political realm.

Upon my return to Twitter, my stepdaughter Sarah told me about one Duchess Goldblatt and sent me a link to a New York Times article about this mysterious, sage, and very anonymous persona that has hooked thousands of followers.

The Duchess, for the ten people who don’t know who she is (I am late to the party) is a fictional 80-year-old author who lives in the equally fictional Crooked Path, New York. She dispenses cleverness and wisdom in every post. She is a major fangirl of Lyle Lovett, and over time the feeling has grown mutual.

Duchess Goldblatt recently came out with a memoir, Becoming Duchess Goldblatt. She has written the book as the person behind her creation. In stories both funny and sad she tells of a life that had fallen apart: losses of job, marriage, and friends in a short period of time. The Duchess started as a way to help her cope, and ended up helping her heal.

Though I knew little about the Duchess before buying the book, I was enthralled with the writing. It’s an easy read, but I still found myself putting it down from time to time to absorb her words. It’s likely I’ll browse back through it another time or two. Despite hiding behind a fictional character, the author behind the Duchess is an incredibly authentic human being.

The Duchess says her Twitter feed is a refuge for the broken-hearted. For me, her feed and her book have provided a bit of light in these dark times. As we continue to tend to ourselves and each other, we need to find that light wherever we can.

Happy New Year!

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Hello to anyone who might be reading! It’s been so long since I blogged that I don’t know if anyone is still out there…but here I go anyway.

I don’t normally get too excited about a new year. I am not one for a list of resolutions. But this year I sprang out of bed with hope and joy. I’m not alone. As I cruise social media, I see a lot of posts where people are willing to entertain the thought that this can be a good year.

Last year I stumbled a bit. Though I kept on working on two different novels, I lost motivation to reach out consistently to readers. Part of it is my own life: we are moving cross-country yet again, and finally sold a house that’s been on the market for a long time. We are scheduled to close January 31, so the end is in sight.

Though I won’t get into politics in this blog, I also found myself depressed and deeply concerned about the state of our country. Regardless of what side of the political aisle we are on, we are ever more aware of the flaws in our system that must be addressed if we have the courage to do so. And that’s all I’m going to say, I promise. But in this past year we have also seen an energized electorate as people recognize that we must stay engaged…and that gives me hope.

Despite all of this, I continued to write, to do my work. I will write more about my projects in future posts. What I have learned is, whether or not there is a market for my books, I have to write. It’s how I do life. It’s how I stay reasonably sane.

If you haven’t “liked” my Facebook author page, I invite you to do so. I do minimal promotions, and mostly write about books I am reading or other odds and ends. Visit me at https://facebook.com/NadineFeldmanAuthor. I’m also on Twitter at @Nadine_Feldman.

Thanks for reading, and happy new year!

Writer Updates #amwriting #womensfiction

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I continue to read, read, read, but I am refilling my well with new books. Not to worry, there are plenty of good ones out there! No doubt next week I’ll be back to share my latest good reads.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share an update on my own work.

I’m revising two separate projects, both of them very different, and I’m having a wonderful time! First is Factory Girl, set in late nineteenth-century Scotland. Though the inspiration for the book is my great-great grandmother, Factory Girl includes a fairy rebellion as well! It wasn’t my intention, but they showed up in my story, and I decided to let them stay.

The other is untitled as yet. It’s a contemporary women’s fiction work about Elaine, a 60-year-old woman who has been the rock, support, and head cheerleader for her family, but who now wants to explore her own dreams. With a husband who has decided to jump into politics and a daughter who drops off the grandson without much notice, Elaine is meeting a fair amount of resistance! There’s also a handsome art teacher and an untrustworthy friend in the mix. I just finished the second draft, so this may take a while, but it’s a promising project.

Meanwhile, we continue to try to sell our home in the Pacific Northwest so we can move full-time to the East Coast. So far, the market is oddly quiet, so our move date remains uncertain. But these are good problems to have! In the meantime we’re enjoying a summer that is generally mild and pleasant (with the exception of air quality — we’re affected by fires in British Colombia), and I’m getting lots of yummy fruit from the garden.

See you next week!

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Nadine’s latest novel, What She Knew, is available on Amazon.

The Butterfly Garden #bookreview #fiction

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What a sweet title! One would expect a lovely story about a group of women sipping tea in a butterfly garden. Yet this butterfly garden is unlike any other. This garden is created by a serial killer who decorates his young, lovely victims with butterfly tattoos.

I’m not even sure why I bought The Butterfly Garden. I always read the descriptions and it’s unlike me to purchase something so grisly and disturbing. But I’m glad I did.

Author Dot Hutchison begins the story in a police station where a young woman called Maya is being questioned. Maya is a tough young woman who isn’t exactly forthcoming at the beginning, so there is some question as to whether she is somehow complicit in a series of gruesome murders performed by a man known only as The Gardener. Drip by drip, word by word, she tells the story of the Garden and the young women in it: women The Gardener kidnapped, tattooed, killed, and preserved because butterflies have a short life span.

The Gardener has a lot of contradictions. He can be charming, loving even. In fact, everything he does is out of love, even when he’s at his most twisted and brutal.

The interplay between Maya and the detectives, Hanoverian and Eddison, helps bring the story to life. Through the telling of the story, we learn more about these detectives and what motivates them to continue working in a field that can be exhausting, frustrating, and draining. Since The Butterfly Garden is the first in a series, one presumes we will continue to follow the detectives in future books.

This type of story normally isn’t my cup of tea, but I have to say I liked it very much. Maya emerged from her cocoon, as it were, as the story unfolds, and I found myself aching for the lost years (and lives) of these fictional characters.

Vertical: Passion and Pinot on the Oregon Wine Trail

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If you loved the novel Sideways by Rex Pickett or saw the movie of the same name, you know the story of Miles, a frustrated novelist, and his devil-may-care buddy Jack. In Sideways, Miles and Jack go on a road trip to explore the California Wine Country. Jack’s about to get married and wants a wild week before he hangs up his bachelor shoes. Miles, down and out two years after a divorce, just wants to drink wine and play golf. Jack manages to create chaos wherever he goes. The strength of Sideways is this friendship between opposites. Sideways is one of my favorite movies and stays true to the book.

Vertical: Passion and Pinot on the Oregon Wine Trail brings back Miles and Jack for another road trip, this time to Oregon. Miles has found success as a novelist and is riding a wave of fame after a successful movie version. He’s getting paid big bucks to talk at wine conventions, and women are throwing themselves at him. Yes, he and Maya have broken up — something that made me not want to read this book. However, Pickett handles the situation well, and Maya makes a few appearances in Vertical. I ended up forgiving Pickett for this and agreeing with him that it’s the right move for both characters.

With all the free wine, Miles is also making a fool of himself and becoming a caricature. He’s all too aware that he’s not working on his next book. Those of us who write and get distracted from our work can relate!

Jack’s marriage has fallen apart, and so has his acting career, and he’s now bumming money from Miles. Miles gets the idea they should go on the road together — Miles has speaking commitments in Oregon. He wants to pick up his mother, who has been living in assisted living post-stroke, and take her to Wisconsin after the Oregon gigs to live with her sister.

As with the first book/movie, all the characters manage to get into some hilarious scrapes. Jack is as outrageous as ever. Underneath the mayhem, though, this is a more serious book. All of the characters except for Mom’s nurse are descending deeper and farther into alcoholism, and there are a number of cringeworthy moments courtesy of Miles’ favorite grape, Pinot.

This is really a story about a mother and son whose relationship has never been close. Near the end of her life, she and Miles are really just getting to know each other. There’s a sense Miles might finally grow up — though we don’t know that for sure (there’s a third book, so I’m withholding judgment). There is a lot of heartbreak along with the humor.

If I were conducting a novel-writing class, I could find a lot wrong with this story. It could be better edited and in particular, Pickett’s overuse of clunky adverbs is a distraction (hypochondriacally, as an example). However, he’s a good storyteller, with an ability to create empathy for characters who by all rights, we shouldn’t like very much. I spent many years around alcoholics, so this is no small accomplishment. And readers who aren’t writers, who don’t know all the “rules” of writing a novel, most likely won’t care. I still wanted to turn the page.

If you like wine, or if you like Miles and Jack as I do, you’ll enjoy this book. Flawed as it is, there’s a lot to love about it.

NOTE: This book is a rerelease. It’s been revised and updated, and some of its original fans are not happy with the changes. Since I didn’t read that version, I cannot comment. I was provided a copy of this book in return for a fair review.

 

Nadine Galinsky Feldman is the author of What She Knew and The Foreign Language of Friends, as well as the nonfiction When a Grandchild Dies: What to Do, What to Say, How to Cope.