Florence Gordon by Brian Morton
Florence Gordon is the best novel I've read thus far in 2015. Florence is in her mid-70s. She is a Manhattanite, an academic, an activist and feminist. In the novel, Florence hits a peak in her career when her latest book gets a stellar review in the New York Times. Coinciding with this professional success, her college-age granddaughter, daughter-in-law and son rent an apartment in the city for the summer. How the family connects, and fails to connect, is the story. I greatly enjoyed this book.
Red and Abby Whitshank are aging out of their large, comfortable family home. The winding down of life, as well as a telling of how their love began, is the story told in A Spool of Blue Thread. It is a family drama presented in three acts. A cozy read.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
This is a tense and disturbing novel about relationships gone bad. Very bad. Although frequently compared to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, I think The Girl on the Train is darker, perhaps because of the main character's severe alcoholism and down-and-out status. A good psychological thriller with a conclusion that is completely surprising.
It's 1909 and Maud Heighton is studying painting with other women at a Paris art school. Running out of cash, she lucks into a dream job as a companion for a young woman. Everything is great; until everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. Entertaining thriller set in an interesting time in The City of Light.
That's it for this post. More soon!
