Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything

Golda’s Hutch Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review mentions sex and BDSM.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’ve read strange novels. Many of these are bizarre in a variety of ways, but today’s book is not that at all. It’s simply different because of how it tackles the plot. I’ve never read a novel like it at all. What title am I talking about? It’s Golda’s Hutch by Robert Steven Goldstein – a good novel about desire, politics, and power in late 1990s San Francisco.

Golda’s Hutch is about an executive of a technology firm and how certain people try to oust him. Craig Schumacher is not your average boss. He’s a gentle spirit, a vegetarian, does yoga with a rabbit named Golda, and values connection over competition. However, beneath his calm exterior lies a secret that he works to keep hidden. Enter Byron Dorn – Craig’s employee and chaos incarnate. Crude, impulsive, and driven by envy, Byron is excited when he and his wife Adele stumble upon something that could possibly bring Craig down. But when Byron enlists another couple into his schemes, things get more complicated. Yet, Craig isn’t the only one with secrets. As the stakes rise, everyone will have to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice to get what they want and when they’re willing to walk away.

When reading Golda’s Hutch, one of my first thoughts was how much it reminded me of Macbeth. That play and this book involve ousting a person in a high position and tackle the same themes of desire, politics, and power with similar gusto. The main differences are the locations and the pacing. The play takes place in medieval Scotland, while the novel is in late 1990s San Francisco. In terms of pacing, Macbeth moves fairly quickly with the main character killing the king early in the second act. Meanwhile, Golda’s Hutch proceeds at the same pace as Hamlet, where it takes the entire play for the protagonist to murder the monarch/his uncle/stepfather. The final difference between them is that the play is plot-driven, while the book is a character study of six different people.

Despite Golda’s Hutch’s thin plot, there was a lot to admire about the book. The characters were memorable in their own ways. Craig is not like most business executives, yet he doesn’t brag about it. Byron is the complete opposite by being an alcoholic and, wait for it, a meat lover! The supporting characters are just as wonderful. My favorite was Justine, whose husband Nigel gets roped into Byron’s schemes. She works as an embalmer and forms connections with the corpses she treats. Justine was quirky in a way that felt natural.

While all the characters have unique traits, they have two things in common. The first is their love of food. They’re eating all the time from pepperoni to eggplant bruschettas. In fact, each chapter is named after a food that the characters consume. I was on the hunt finding when those edibles were going to be mentioned. It added to the uniqueness of the novel.

The second is that they all hold secrets. Craig’s is the one everybody focuses on, but there’s another one he has. His wife Shosanna is a dominatrix. While he is comfortable with the lifestyle she has, he doesn’t like that she has sex with another male client on occasion. She encourages him to have other partners although it’s clear that he doesn’t want to. Others have demons as well. Byron has panic attacks whenever he thinks of the choices he made and didn’t make. This humanizes him to some degree. Each one has a hutch that they want to keep shut.

Even though it’s a good book, I have two complaints. The first one involves the plot itself. I’ve already mentioned how thin it could be, but let me explain more. Not much happens on the page despite it being a story about bringing down a so-called powerful man. Like Hamlet, Byron likes to take his sweet time formulating his scheme. It also doesn’t help that major developments sometimes happened off the page. I forgave these because of how good the character work was. It was more interesting seeing Craig, Soshanna, Byron, Adele, Nigel, and Justine interact with each other and other people.

The other problem I had with it was the ending. Some reviewers have pointed out how it didn’t end with a bang, and I agree. Everything prior seems to indicate that readers were in for a big climax. Technically, something highly dramatic happens, but not to the character one would expect. It was less of a bang and more of a “Oh!”

But, these are only nitpicks.

Golda’s Hutch by Robert Steven Goldstein is an interesting novel. It evokes Shakespeare with how elevated the situation is without making it too obvious. The best thing about it was the characters, who were clearly defined, and despite how different they were from each other, Goldstein was able to bring out their similarities like their love for food and their secrets. I would recommend this to readers who like books that take place in San Francisco, heavily utilize food, involve overthrowing people in power, and the BDSM community. Golda’s Hutch will be out tomorrow, March 11, so go check it out wherever you get your novels.

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El Deafo Book Review

When I started at my first librarian job in Clarkston, Michigan, I discovered that some of the patrons were Deaf. Some knew American Sign Language (ASL) more than others, and I wanted to learn that. Since then, I’ve taken two ASL and one Deaf culture class. I also take the time to read about those who identify as Deaf/deaf whenever I can, so I can gain a more thorough understanding of that community. Why am I telling you all of this? Simple, it’s because I read El Deafo by Cece Bell. It’s a humorous graphic novel memoir about the author’s life as a deaf child.

El Deafo is about Cece and her life growing up as hearing impaired. At age 4, she lost her hearing due to meningitis. At first, things were good as she was enrolled in a school, in which every kid in her class was deaf. However, when her family moves to a different town, she’s sent to a hearing school. It doesn’t help that she has to carry around a giant hearing aid strapped to her chest. Cece thinks that people are staring at her Phonic Ear – the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. It also repels potential friends. Soon, she discovers that her Phonic Ear can hear the teacher anywhere in the school. With this superpower, she soon becomes El Deafo! At the same time, this makes her feel even more different and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend?

There are many things that I adore about this graphic novel. One of them is how funny it can be. For example, whenever Cece is in a difficult situation, she imagines herself as a superhero fighting off various villains. At one point, she’s at a sign language class that her mom made her go to. As she’s imagining fighting her motherly nemesis, she actually kicks her parent in real life.

I also like how others’ reactions to Cece are handled. Throughout the novel, she comes across people who react to her in different ways. One friend Ginny talks extremely loud and slow even after Cece tells her not to do that. Another potential pal starts doing sign language when she notices Cece’s hearing aid, yet Cece herself never really learned it. (Side note: the real Cece Bell admitted that she’s not a part of the Deaf community for a variety of reasons. Since she’s not a part of that culture, that’s why I refer to her as the lower case deaf as opposed to the upper case Deaf.) When Cece actually obtains a true friend with Martha, a tree branch wacks into the former’s eye. The latter, thinking that she was responsible for the injury and making Cece blind, avoids her deaf friend. A lot of these people have good intentions, but their preconceived notions about disabled people only makes things more difficult for Cece to make a true friend.

Additionally, the illustrations and speech bubbles emphasize certain aspects of being deaf. For starters, the panels often rely on close ups to focus on the reactions of Cece and other characters. This makes sense as she was taught to lip read from an early age. With the speech bubbles, they reinforce the difficulty that Cece faces while communicating with others. When she initially loses her hearing, the words begin to fade. When she’s getting tested, the speech bubbles have no text in them. When she’s not wearing her big hearing aid, the words look gibberish.

Moreover, I like how it’s a story about acceptance. Cece struggles to believe that being deaf is anything else besides different. She has a hard time making friends because of her belief that people will stare at her giant hearing aid. It also doesn’t help that when she did, they didn’t always treat her as the pals she deserved. By the end, when she applies her superhero imaginations to real life, she realizes that being different can be a good thing.

Most importantly, I found Bell’s decision to portray everyone as rabbits wonderfully inspired. The body parts that’s most associated with that animal are the ears. By highlighting those, Bell efficiently persuades readers to understand why she felt so self conscious while wearing her Phonic Ear in school.

I will admit there was one scene that was a little tough to get through. It was when Cece is at the sleepover, and the girls try to put makeup on her. Her refusal made me want to yell, “Tell them no!”

Instead, she tells them that the makeup would mess with her hearing aid. I know that this is in the part of the book, where she’s still lying to others to avoid prejudice, yet it still made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

If I had one complaint about the novel, it’s when Cece wins over her class with the powerful Phonic Ear. She puts it to use when some of the kids want to party before the teacher gets back in the classroom. It reminded me of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television special, in which the other reindeer make fun of the title character’s nose, and yet, they want to include him in everything once Santa decides to use him for the trip. The difference is that the book establishes that some of the kids, i.e. her crush Mike, like her for who she is.

El Deafo by Cece Bell is a great graphic novel memoir. It’s a heartfelt and funny look at growing up deaf. It’s a little sad and hard to get through at times, but it’s worth the read. I would recommend it to both kids and adults, especially to those who have disabilities, know people who are Deaf/deaf, had to stay extensively at a hospital, and love graphic novels. Everyone has a superpower; we need to embrace them.

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Adapt Me Podcast – The Bluest Eye

Hi Everybody!

The latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast is up right now. In it, guest Amy Thomasson from the Women InSession Podcast and I talk about how we would adapt The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison into an opera. We discuss the gorgeous prose and how it would be difficult to translate it to a different medium while retaining it spirit. I also introduce a new rule as to how books are picked for future episodes. Check it out at this link!

In the meantime, I have a review of the book itself, so check that out too!

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The Bluest Eye Book Review

Content warning: this review discusses racism and sexual assault.

I have read books by many famous authors, but there has been one that has eluded me until now: Toni Morrison. She is one of the most prolific African-American authors and wrote some of the most well-known titles in the late twentieth century. These include Sula, Song of Solomon, and her most beloved work aptly named Beloved. I’ve always wanted to read her stories, so what better way to do it than to look at her 1970 debut novel The Bluest Eye during Black History Month. It’s the most beautifully depressing book I’ve ever read.

The Bluest Eye is about a black girl who longs for blue eyes. Set in Lorain, Ohio, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove prays for blue eyes, so she can see only beautiful things in life. In fall of 1941, the marigolds in the Breedloves’s garden didn’t bloom. Pecola’s life changes in painful, devastating ways.

Before I get into my thoughts, I have to address The Bluest Eye’s legacy as a banned book. Since its publication, it has consistently appeared on the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books. According to The Guardian, nearly three weeks ago, publishers sued the State of Idaho for their book banning law that prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from accessing titles deemed “harmful to minors” in schools and public libraries. Unsurprisingly, The Bluest Eye was one of the titles listed. Its depictions of racism and sexual assault made it an easy target for those wanting to ban it.

However, not every novel is not made to please everybody, and The Bluest Eye is a great example since it covers topics that are prominent in the black community. It discusses why many black people have insecurities when it comes to their looks, and it squarely blames it on society’s focus on white beauty standards, especially the blond hair and blue eyes. In addition, the scenes involving Pecola’s rape are uncomfortable to read. At the same time, there have been children who have been sexually abused. Although books like The Bluest Eye are not meant to be read by children, they would assure people that they are not alone and empower them to tell their stories. The most powerful tales are not always comforting.

Now, let’s get to the novel itself. Every praise that The Bluest Eye has received in the last 55 years is earned, and that’s primarily due to the gorgeous prose. Even the copy I got from the library underlined certain lines and passages from the book. I should be mad about that since I work at a library, yet this is an attest to how wonderful the writing is. I could list every possible example of Morrison’s beautiful prose, but we would be here all day. So, I’m going to give my favorite passage, which is from the following:

“You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.” (p. 35).

It’s societal racism in a nutshell.

In addition, I love how each character, no matter how big or small their role is, is given a backstory. This ranges from the pastor, who Pecola turns to get her blue eyes, to her father Cholly, who rapes her. These would go on for pages, but I didn’t mind because the writing was that good. It made them three-dimensional.

Finally, for a simple story about a black girl wanting blue eyes, it’s told in an ambitious manner. The narrator is mostly Claudia – Pecola’s schoolmate and friend, but it jumps from first to third person in various parts. Additionally, it has a dream-like framework with the references to the Dick and Jane primers. Each chapter echoes sentences found in said primers, but they’re smooshed together as if someone is about to lose their mind while reading them. However, these aspirations get in the way of telling a cohesive story. It would be discussing Pecola and her dreams, and then suddenly, it goes into a backstory of another character. This is mostly present in the second half of the novel. It’s not the first time I’ve read an ambitious debut novel( There There by Tommy Orange comes to mind). In this case, I’m not sure what changes can be made. Even from the earliest parts of her career, Morrison knew exactly what she was doing. Regardless, lack of cohesion did lose the book’s shimmer a bit.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a great novel and deserves to be remembered as a classic. The writing is wonderful, and the characters, no matter how big or small, are fleshed out to the highest degree. It’s not an easy read due to its subject matter, but not every title is lollipops and rainbows, and it handles the topics with a sense of care. I would recommend it to any reader, especially those who are looking to read more banned books and stories by BIPOC authors. I will keep looking at stories like The Bluest Eye no matter how uncomfortable they are and how much people try to restrict them.

Before I go, I want to let everyone know that I recorded the latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast soon. Returning guest Amy Thomasson – co-host of the Women In-Session Podcast – and I talk about how we would adapt this novel. Keep an eye out for the link.

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Ford F-Series Trucks: 1948-Present Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by one of the authors in exchange for an honest review.

Today, I’m looking at another car book, but it’s not just any car book. It’s one about Ford F-Series pickup trucks. These vehicles are not only the best selling trucks in their segment, but until recently, were also the best-selling vehicle of any category in the United States, cars included. Jim Dinsmore and James Halderman made a comprehensive history about the truck in their book Ford F-Series Trucks: 1948-Present. While I’m not a car enthusiast, I enjoyed learning about its story and seeing the photographs even if the technical jargon flew over my head at times.

Ford F-Series Trucks: 1948-Present dissects the history of Ford F-Series trucks from a technical viewpoint. When Henry Ford first started manufacturing Model Ts over 100 years ago, he didn’t really have a truck configuration in mind. However, when people were modifying those early chassis for commercial use, he realized that there was demand for a truck application of the Model T. Soon, Ford was making their own configurations for similar use, first through third parties and later, Ford itself with the Model TT. From these beginnings, Ford stumbled onto the foundation of the most popular vehicles ever – the Ford F-Series pickup truck. Dinsmore and Halderman explore every generation of the truck from its 1st generation (1948-1952) to what is now the 14th. They also cover all the options, chassis specifications, running changes, and the evolution of these pickups as they transformed from postwar utilitarian vehicles to the today’s best-selling luxury family cruisers.

Before I express my thoughts, I must state my relationship with the truck in question. I like the Ford F-Series. They are comfortable to ride in, while getting the job, no matter how big or small, done. I have some fond memories while being in them. I remember going to Jimmy John’s Field in Utica for a baseball game in a 13th generation F-450, and it took up about two parking spaces just for it to fit in. Later on, when my boyfriend, now husband, and I went to the Armada State Fair, we took that same truck and managed to get good parking because of it.

The book includes photographs taken by various people including author Jim Halderman (cousin of Gale Halderman who rendered the Ford Mustang) and the Ford Motor Company. They look like they were taken by average people compared to the ones shot for the Rolls-Royce Motor Car: Making a Legend book by Simon Van Booy and Harvey Briggs, but this is not a problem. They are of good quality and show the distinctions of trucks from every generation (here’s a game: take a drink every time the book mentions the word notice in the picture captions). The appeal of the truck is how rugged, affordable, and durable they are. They have a trim level for everybody. My only complaint about these is that there were too many of them in the beginning, but the balance between text and photos became more even as the book progressed.

Ford F-Series Trucks: 1948-Present wastes no time by telling the story of that truck in less than 200 pages. It condenses what information Dinsmore and Halderman want to get across. Each chapter discusses the historical background in which each generation was created, major features like the types of engines, trim levels, and the big changes the truck went through every year. They also end with spreadsheets discussing engines, transmissions, colors, and prices. On occasion, they would dedicate a section to important aspects of the Ford F-Series history like Henry Ford II, the competition, the Little Louie, and the EcoBoost engine. I learned so much about the F-Series, especially how the company improved the truck to capitalize on the camping craze in the 1960s. Did I mention that this book is less than 200 pages?

I mentioned this before in past reviews about car books, and I will say this again: I’m not a car/truck enthusiast. As much as I enjoyed learning about the truck and how the authors structured the book, I didn’t get into it as much as I should because of the technical jargon they employ throughout. I understood most of it thanks to the books I previously read, my husband the car journalist, and the way the authors explain it, but there were times that I was tripped up. For example, when discussing the 1961 Ford truck, the authors mention this:

“From a mechanical standpoint, little was changed on the 1961 F-100. There was a 223-ci 6-cylinder engine. The 262-ci V8 was the preferred option, which had a rating of 172 hp. The 3-speed manual was still the standard transmission, while a 4-speed manual and the Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission were popular options” (p. 48).

Yes, I know that hp is horsepower, but I was still confused by the rest. This was not as egregious as Caterham Sevens, The Official Story of a Unique British Sportscar From Conception, yet Ford F-Series Trucks: 1948-Present still appeals to a certain audience that would comprehend it more than I could.

Ford F-Series Trucks: 1948-Present by Jim Dinsmore and James Halderman is a really good book about the history of the Ford F-Series trucks. Although I’m not a truck enthusiast, I enjoyed looking at the pictures and absorbing the information about the vehicle in question. I would recommend this for truck aficionados and collectors as well as anyone who’s interested in learning more about the most famous pickup in Ford history. I can’t wait to see how the Ford F-Series evolves.

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Dog Man Movie Review

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to watch Dog Man the film at a nearby movie theater. Ever since I heard about the adaptation, I wanted to watch it even though I’ve only read the first book in the series by Dav Pilkey. That graphic novel was so good that I put it on my best list years ago. So, how was the movie? It was fantastic because it captures the spirit of the series with its animation, performances, and pacing.

Dog Man is about the titular character – part dog, part human – and his adventures in fighting crime as a canine cop, especially those committed by his nemesis Petey the cat, and his relationship with Petey’s clone Li’l Petey

The film version of Dog Man is not a faithful adaptation of the book of the same name. Instead, it combines plot points from several titles from the series. For example, the origin story of how Dog Man came to be stems from the first one. For another, Li’l Petey, who plays an important part in the flick, doesn’t show up until the third book aptly titled A Tale of Two Kitties. I’m sure “Dog Man” fans will come up with more instances. Regardless, the movie is still fantastic.

For starters, the animation is great. It emulates the illustrations in the graphic novel to a tee. Now, it’s common for an adaptation of that medium to retain the visuals found in the source material, but it’s more than that. Animators have to understand what makes the visuals special, and the ones for the Dog Man movie absolutely did. One of the big strengths of the graphic novel was how everything looked like it was drawn by a seven- or eight-year-old from the characters to the buildings. The animators brought those two-dimensional drawings into a three-dimensional environment. I understand that it’s hard to do, but they were able to pull it off beautifully because they retained the visual spirit of the graphic novel series.

Additionally, the performances were superb. Every actor feels like they are having the time of their lives while voicing the characters fans have come to love. Now, of course, I have to single out two performances. The obvious one is Pete Davidson, who voices Petey the cat. I don’t know if Davidson was cast because he shares the same name as the foul feline, but he does a great job with the character. Davidson hit the obviously evil notes, yet what’s more astounding is how he’s able to play the emotional bits just as well. This is especially true when Petey the cat deals with abandonment issues after he clones himself. I couldn’t believe that this is the same person who was briefly engaged to Ariana Grande and dated Kim Kardashian.

The best performance goes to Peter Hastings – who voices the titular character and his owner Officer Knight. Hastings gives Dog Man his optimism and sadness all through dog noises. What makes this even more remarkable is that Hastings directed the film and wrote the screenplay. It must have been hard to do all three, but he’s able to pull it off with no problem.

Finally, the biggest strength of the flick is the pacing. At about 90 minutes, it moves pretty fast. The jokes fly by, so some movie goers might not catch them right away, because after one, it launches into another, but they will be rewarded with repeated viewings. My personal favorite gag is when Dog Man is searching for Li’l Petey, he encounters a bunch of stores, including an Indifferent Store which everybody who works there is apathetic. Another aspect of the pacing that I loved is how it’s not afraid to slow down and have quiet moments. For example, there’s a montage of Dog Man and Li’l Petey bonding in the former’s house, and it’s all framed with them playing the piano together. Not every kids’ movie needs to have flashy and colorful images all the time. The best ones have deep emotional cores as well, and the “Dog Man” series has some, especially with the bond between Dog Man and Li’l Petey. I’m glad the film was able to balance the serious and the silly with its pacing.

The movie version of Dog Man is wonderful. It captures the spirit of the Dav Pilkey series in multiple ways. These include the animation that understands what made the illustrations stand out as well as the performances and pacing, which strikes a great balance between the silly and serious. I would recommend it to everybody regardless of age, especially to those who love the “Dog Man” graphic novel series and want to see an animated version of RoboCop. I hope that DreamWorks makes more sequels to Dog Man.

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The Pale Flesh of Wood Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given an ARC of this book from SparkPoint Studio in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review discusses suicide, trauma, and grief.

Ever since I read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, I became intrigued by stories of how families deal with losing a loved one. However, that book was so good that I put it on my best list last year. It would be a tough act to follow. The Pale Flesh of Wood by Elizabeth A. Tucker tries to fill that void with exploring how a daughter grieves her father after his death and contains tree-life metaphors, but the structure doesn’t fully work.

Normally, I would summarize the plot, but I wanted to use the one that Goodreads had. The Pale Flesh of Wood is about a family dealing with a sudden loss. “1953. WWII veteran Charles Hawkins sweet-talks his daughter, Lyla, into climbing the family’s oak tree and hanging the rope for their tire swing. Eager, Lyla crawls along the branch and ties off a bowline, following her father’s careful instructions, becoming elated when he playfully tests the rope and declares the knot to be ‘strong enough to hold the weight of a grown man. Easy.’

But when her father walks out back one November night and hangs himself from the rope, Lyla becomes haunted by the belief that his death is her fault, a torment amplified by her grief-stricken mother, who sneaks up to the attic and finds comfort in the arms of her dead husband’s sweaters, and a formidable grandmother, who seemingly punishes Lyla by locking her outside, leaving her to stare down the enormous tree rooted at the epicenter of her family’s loss.

Set among the fault-prone landscape of Northern California, The Pale Flesh of Wood is told by three generations of the Hawkins family. Each narrative explores the effects of trauma after the ground shifts beneath their feet and how they must come to terms with their own sense of guilt in order to forgive and carry on.”

Now do you see why I was intrigued by The Pale Flesh of Wood? I was under the assumption that it would explore how each family member grapples with Charles’s death. But, that didn’t really happen. One does get the mom Louise’s and grandmother Caroline’s points of views, yet it’s mainly from Lyla’s, which I liked. I’ll explain why later on. In addition, when I started reading it, I noticed a huge problem. It takes a third of the novel before we get to the part where Charles takes his life. On top of that, the chapters prior would hint at that incident, and I was like, “We know what’s going to happen!”

The Pale Flesh of Wood would have benefited from a different structure. It’s mostly told in a chronological way, but the framework is wonky because of what I mentioned earlier. It could have used a structure similar to that of Everything I Never Told You. In that one, the very first sentence mentions Lydia’s death. The family soon becomes aware of it and comes to terms with it over the course of the book. Or, The Pale Flesh of Wood could have used the conflict of Lyla wanting to remove the tree as the main framework as she flashes back to what happened with her dad and how she tries to move on.

Another issue I came across while reading this novel is that even though it’s set in the past (specifically from the 1930s to the 1980s), there’s not much that indicates as such. The only thing that I can think of is that Charles and his brother David are World War II veterans. Everything else could have happened in a different time period, and things would have remained the same. Historical fiction needs to be informed by the time period in which it’s set in.

Even though there are clear problems with the book, I still found some good things. For starters, I enjoyed reading the parts that contain the metaphor of trees and life. They were well done because they reflect Lyla’s growth and how she came to terms with her dad’s suicide. Speaking of Lyla, she’s the best part of this novel. I enjoyed reading about her journey to forgiveness. She’s not a perfect person, for she makes some stupid decisions. Also, she had a complicated relationship with her dad since he was neglectful and insensitive. This makes her ability to move on from his death more difficult.

The Pale Flesh of Wood by Elizabeth A. Tucker is a decent novel. It contains a good metaphor of trees with life, and the main character Lyla and her conflict is multifaceted. However, my biggest gripe with the book is the framework. Even the synopsis is better structured than the actual novel. I would only recommend this to writers looking to create stories about family tragedies. Reading flawed books like The Pale Flesh of Wood can make them appreciate the better ones like Everything I Never Told You.

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Interview with Julie Ryan McGue

Hello Everyone,

We have something special for you all on Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything today. We have award-winning author Julie Ryan McGue on today. She is the author of the new book Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood. You can see my interview with her down below.

Emily: What was the catalyst for writing this memoir, specifically as a prequel to your book Twice the Daughter?

Julie: The idea to write Twice the Family rose out of readers expressing that they wanted to know more about what it was like to grow up as a twin and an adoptee. Twice a Daughter had a specific timeline; it focused on the events surrounding my adoption search. Twice the Family has a longer timeline: twenty-seven years. It is the essential backstory to my first memoir.

Emily: Since this book details your life in a household consisting of adopted and biological children, what advice would you give to those navigating blended family dynamics?

Julie: Such an important question. Because my adoption experience was rooted in the closed adoption era––absolutely no information was exchanged between adoptive and birth families––I always had a curiosity about my roots. I accepted my fate, aware that rigid state adoption laws prevented me from accessing information. Nowadays, open adoption is the norm. There is an exchange of information, and a contact plan is put in place between the adoptee, adoptive and birth parents. Navigating this tricky situation–two sets of parents and possibly birth siblings––is something parents should seek advice from experts in how best to handle. Parents should always support their adopted child if they express interest in connecting with first families.

Emily: You often express gratitude for having an identical twin sister, Jenny. How did she help you steer through the obstacles your family endured?

Julie: As an adoptee, being raised with a full sibling is a tremendous blessing, an advantage that most other adoptees are not given. I never had to wonder who I looked like, who I took after regarding looks, traits, and interests. Those are curiosities most adoptees admit to having. She and I have been an instant pack since the day we were born, aligned in so many ways. That buffer, that support system, is something I have benefitted from at every stage of life.

Emily: How did your parents and siblings react to this memoir and Twice the Daughter?

Julie: When I wrote Twice a Daughter, I gave selected chapters to the family members involved. This effort enabled people––all characters in the book––to weigh in on events and details that concerned them before it published. In some cases, I withheld or changed identifying information to protect privacy concerns. My adoptive mom and I discussed sensitive chapters in which her character provided necessary conflict, and we agreed that most mother-daughter relationship undergo challenges. Because growth and healing occurred on the other end of the story arc, she was satisfied with my telling it the way I did.

Because the events in Twice the Family occurred a long time ago, I collaborated with my twin sister and mother to achieve clarity on essential facts in key chapters. My children have said this new book provides important family history for everyone involved.

Emily: Twice the Family is the second book in a planned trilogy. What can readers expect from the third and final installment?

Julie: My husband is a character that appears in the opening scene of Twice a Daughter. I credit him with the adoption search and my attaining vital family background information. If he hadn’t insisted that I tackle the project, I’m uncertain if I would have embarked on that journey. In Twice the Family, the story closes with my meeting him, falling in love, and beginning our family. Three years ago, he passed away after a long battle with cancer. My journey as a new widow has launched me into a new stage of life. I am still becoming, reinventing myself, and grappling with issues of identity and belonging. A third book in the “Twice” trilogy will reveal more about the characters from the first two works, as well as sharing about my widow journey through grief and personal transformation.

Emily: There have been plenty of books that discuss family dynamics, identity, and belonging. How does your memoir fit into the wider conversation?

Julie: Because my situation is unique––I’m an identical twin, an adoptee, raised in a family comprised of adoptees and biological kids––the stories I share add a different perspective to the whole identity, family, and belonging paradigm. Very few can offer the perspective of twin identity within the context of adoption. A recent review of my work by Patricia Meyer of My Adopted Life offers this: At its core “Twice the Family” offers readers a deeper understanding of how relinquishment shapes our quest for identity and belonging. Together with “Twice a Daughter” and “Belonging Matters,” it is an invaluable contribution to the literature centered on adoption, family, and self-discovery.

Emily: I understand that you believe storytelling can heal and that this memoir can serve as a pathway for people facing similar challenges. Can you elaborate?

Julie: Since my tween years, I have been an avid journaler. I discovered that by putting a pen to paper, I learned what issues and conflicts my inner self was mulling over. Often, I do not know exactly what I think about something until I sit down to write. This spilling over of the subconscious mind, allows me to recognize and name issues I need to overcome and/or to seek help in tackling. So, yes writing is an essential tool toward healing from disappointment, loss, and trauma.

Emily: At the end of the book, there’s a set of reader discussion questions. I’ll have you answer one. Was there something you felt you should have left out or expanded upon? What aspect of your story interested you most, inspired reflection, or caused a shift in perspective?

Julie: There were several chapters I had to cut to keep the book length reasonable. Those chapters showed more about the personalities, sensibilities, and creativity of my sister and me. I wish that I didn’t have to eliminate them. With respect to the story arc, I learned things I hadn’t known about before when I collaborated with family members. This outcome taught me something important: ask more questions than you are normally inclined to ask. There is always more to a story than you realize. For me, because of my husband’s recent passing, the chapters about him were difficult to write. I went slow with them, honored that beautiful time of falling in love, and the result are memories that my children now have of their father and me.

Emily: I run the “Adapt Me Podcast,” where a guest and I talk about books that have never been adapted and how we would go about it. Who would you cast as your family in a possible adaptation?

Julie: If Twice a Daughter were to be adapted, I would love to see Meryl Streep and Olivia Colman play my mothers. I think Mandy Moore might love the challenge of playing adult identical twins, and I’d love to see Tim Matheson play my adopted father. For Twice the Family, I think Saiorse Ronan would be excellent as the younger version of the Ryan Twins.

Emily: What are some projects that you are working on now?

Julie: An award-winning essay that I wrote called “When a Tree Grows” is being adapted into a children’s book. I’m in discussion with my publisher about a series. Life continues to provide rich material for essays, blogs, and my column at my hometown paper, The Beacher Newspaper. I don’t plan to retire anytime soon.

Emily: Where can people find you?

Julie: My website: www.juliemcgueauthor.com is the best place or on my socials.

FB @juliemcguewrites
IG @julieryanmcgue
twitter @juliermcgue

Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood by Julie Ryan McGue is out now. You can get it wherever you get your books.

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Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

As I mentioned in my review of Childless Mother: A Search for Son and Self by Tracy Mayo, adoption stories have always been compelling to me. I’ve always wondered what the lives of adoptees were like with their adopted families. There are plenty of books written about that, and I was lucky to come across one of them with today’s subject Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood by Julie Ryan McGue. It’s a lovely book about Julie and her identical twin sister Jenny’s experiences after being adopted into an Irish Catholic family in the metro-Chicago area.

Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood details what it was like to be adopted and raised with one’s identical twin. In this coming-of-age memoir, set in Chicago western suburbs from the 1960s to the 1980s, twin sisters Julie and Jenny become the oldest daughters of a family that consists of both adopted and biological children. Their bond is tight as the two strive for individuality, identity, and belonging. But Julie’s parents’ constant need to add more adopted and biological kids leads to a ton of complications like infertility, infant mortality, and a child with special needs. When Julie is sixteen, tragedy strikes in the family. Faced with these challenges, Julie questions everything such as who she is, her adoption, her faith, and her idea of family. As familial values and relationships are tested, she realizes her adoptive family is held together by love, faith, support, and her parents’ commitment to each other and family. However, the life that her parents envisioned for Julie is not one that she wants for herself. As she gets older, she realizes that her parents’ goals and dreams differ from hers, and how the experiences that have formed her provided a road map for the person and mother she wants to be.

Before I go any further, I want to mention that this memoir is actually a prequel to the one McGue published in 2021 called Twice the Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging. I haven’t looked at that one, but it didn’t impact my experience reading Twice the Family. While it’s good to read both, they are still standalones.

The writing is really good. It’s clear that McGue took plenty of time to flesh out her story. Each of the main characters has their own distinct personalities. This is important because the main focus is on Julie and her twin Jenny. While they are similar in many ways, they are different, and McGue lets readers know that. Julie is studious, overthinking, and can get sick quite a lot, while Jenny is the healthier and more ambitious one even though she has a hard time studying and gets nervous when speaking in public. I could immediately tell who was talking even if “he said” or “she said” weren’t there. In addition, I loved how each chapter ends on a cliff hanger like, “Nikki’s death [the family dog] was not the first time I had experienced a life altering moment in our family, and it would not be the last” (p. 151).

This might read to some people as manipulative, but Twice the Family earns it because so much happens to Julie and her family. Plus, McGue gives plenty of time to her and her family’s thoughts regarding certain events. I kept wondering what was going to occur after I finished a chapter.

The best part of this memoir was seeing the relationships within the Ryan clan. I know I said this before, but I’ll say it again: I can’t believe that Julie and her family went through all that. In many ways, it helped to build up the bonds Julie had with her adopted family. For example, McGue recalls how her adoptive mother could have emotional outbursts and depressive episodes. She admits that it was difficult to live with her mom during those times, but after the tragedy, her mother became more emotionally detached. Overtime, Julie realized that each member of her family, “regardless of who [they were] and where [they came] from, [carried] within [them their] own brand of brokenness. What [they] do…determines the people [they] become and the course of [their] lives” (p. 204).

In the later chapters, her mother seems fine, but it would have been good to know how she lifted those dark clouds.

I also loved reading about the relationship between Julie and her twin sister Jenny. Julie always knew that she could trust Jenny with her secrets and true feelings. Despite their differences, they held a strong bond that got tested over and over again. When Julie won a beauty pageant, she should have been happy for herself, yet when she saw her sister look disappointed because both tried out, it soured her good fortune. On the other hand, when Julie was finding her place in the world after she graduated from college, she saw Jenny moving up the corporate ladder, and it made her feel left behind. Regardless, they still found ways back to each other.

Another thing that I want to point out about this memoir is that it contains a set of discussion questions. They relate to the various events and themes. As someone who runs a book club, I think that it would be a good choice for a book group. It’s thought provoking, and there would definitely be someone who will connect to the story beyond the surface level.

Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood by Julie Ryan McGue is a good memoir about growing up with an identical twin sister in a blended family. McGue writes in a straightforward manner that leaves readers anticipating what’s to come. Most importantly, the story itself and the relationships among various family members, especially her mom and twin sister Jenny, are worth reading. I would recommend it to readers who love books about identity and belonging regardless if they’re adopted or not as well as stories about adopted families. Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood will be out tomorrow, February 4, so go check it out wherever you get your novels.

Before I go, I want to let you know that I had the opportunity to interview Julie Ryan McGue for the website. The transcript will be posted soon.

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Adapt Me Podcast – The Night Circus

Hi Everybody!

The latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast is up right now. In it, guests Amanda and Claire from the Fictional Hangover Podcast and I talk about how we would adapt The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. We discuss about how it would be absolutely possible to translate this magical and whimsical novel into a different medium as well as the multiple fan castings that have been made over the years. Check it out at this link!

In the meantime, I have a review of the book itself, so check that out too!

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!