The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

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The Water Knife

by Paolo Bacigalupi

Don't believe in climate change?  Read this book.  An utterly frightening tale of what happens when we don't use our resources wisely.  There isn't enough water to go around, and if you don't have money, you are thirsty and dirty.  Ecosystems have been created all up and down the west coast for those who are wealthy; water, air conditioning, plants, they have it all.

Everyone else lives in a camp, buying water from a pump by the dime.  Desperate, these folks will do anything to get out.  Gangs are formed.  Alliances built.  Politics played.  All in the name of water.

This book was so depressing that I had to stop reading it at night.  Maybe it hit a little too close to home, maybe I just didn't want to see just how deplorable humans can be.  Either way, Bacigalupi has written a novel that was just as hard to put down as it was to read on.  

Start conserving water now, before it's too late.............

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

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The Miniaturist

by Jessie Burton

This is a tale of Nella a young, Dutch, country girl who moves to the big city to be the wife of a prestigious importer.  She is nervous, but determined to make her way in this new life.  However, she is confronted by many obstacles.

There's her sister-in-law, a stern woman who, atypical for the times, has a hand in all of her brother's business transactions.  This pious woman does not suffer fools gladly and believes that God comes before comfort.  There are the servants, Cornelia, whom she has to decide is a friend or foe; and Otto, the first black person Nella has ever seen.  Not to mention her new husband, who is not even home to greet her when she arrives.

The center of this dark story is a miniature of the home where the newly married Brandts reside.  The artisan that Nella hires to furnish the diminutive house has an uncanny glimpse into what is happening inside the actual home.  At first frightened by these strange gifts, Nella eventually is drawn to find out more about this person.  How do they know these things?!

If you are looking for a happy beach read, keep going, you won't find that here.  However, if you are looking for a dark and compelling, well written story about human nature, go no further.  The imagery is vivid (and that includes good, bad and ugly!) and the prose is poetry.  An example:  in talking about the newly embroidered bridal linens, "the Bs have gobbled up her maiden name, their bellies fat and swollen."  During a tense dinner conversation, "Nella offers a laugh, a shy burst that falls between them and lands on the tablecloth."

Book group felt that Burton wrote this book as a screenplay, I wouldn't go that far.  I enjoyed getting to know these characters, although at times it was gritty.  I would argue that Nella is the only true hero here, but I'm okay with that.  She's strong enough for everyone.

The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg

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The Dream Lover 

by Elizabeth Berg

The Dream Lover fictionalizes the life and exploits of the author George Sands.  We follow her as a young child, the product of a scandalous marriage.  She loses her beloved father early and is left to be raised by her strict, if not loving, grandmother whom has never accepted her mother.  Longing to be part of her mother's life, she spends most of her formative years trying to get her attention - good and bad.

The other side of this story is Aurore's (George Sands given name) doomed marriage and subsequent affairs.  

The story is mostly sensual, most especially Aurore's affair with a famous actress and leaves the reader hoping that she'll eventually find a relationship that sustains her physically, emotionally and intelligently.  But alas, neither the reader nor George Sands finds the total package.  The one relationship that might have been her most sustaining is just briefly mentioned toward the end of the book, making me think that the happy, solid relationships don't sell books.

I was left wanting more.  More of a bond with her children, more emotion about the dissolution of her marriage, more of something that I could sink my teeth into.  George Sands was definitely ahead of her time and a woman to be admired, but Berg seems to fall just short of making me like her.

That being said, I think The Dream Lover would make an excellent Lifetime movie!