Lightning Reviews: Nonfiction & a Thriller

Welcome back to Lightning Reviews! This is we feature three mini reviews for books we’ve read, but don’t warrant writing a thousand words. This week, we have two very different nonfiction titles: a memoir and a self-help style book. We also have a thriller!

Happier at Home

author: Gretchen Rubin

As much as I enjoyed Better than Before and The Four Tendencies, I found reading Happier At Home to be a frustrating slog through minimal bits of usable advice and a lot of detailed personal journalling that I didn’t expect or enjoy.

This line from the cover copy best describes this book: “starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicated a school year—September through May—to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.”

I live and work in my home (and I love my home, too) so I expected I’d find this book to be interesting and potentially useful in examining my own space. Instead of useful or practical ways of reframing or examining how we approach and find joy and contentment in our own homes, it was a memoir of six months in Rubin’s life and home, which ultimately did not hold my interest.

Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of home, and begins with a few major themes or points for that month, such as “follow a threshold ritual,” “have an uncomfortable conversation with my parents,” or “plan a nice little surprise.” Then each point would be elucidated, but because these points were loosely connected to happiness at times, I was left with a feeling that instead of identifying goals, the goals were defined after the event. In other words, I didn’t always see a connection between happiness at home and each chapter’s major themes and how they connected to happiness.

But what I found most infuriating is the lack of citation for readers and friends. There’s a lot of quoting in the book – Delacroix, Thérèse of Lisieux, Roosevelt, and so on. But many of the stories and suggestions come from readers of Rubin’s Happiness Project site or her personal friends, and they are listed as “a reader” or “a friend,” with no names.

One of the major themes of a chapter, “Underreact to a problem,” even comes from a reader:

I adopted a resolution suggested by a reader who wrote from a research ship in Antarctica. Her team leader, she reported, had urged them to “Underreact to problems,” not to ignore or minimize problems, but just to underreact to them.

There’s no citation of the reader or the team leader by name, and this really irked me. The concept is sound – underreacting would definitely be useful in not expending unnecessary energy on problems that aren’t that big a deal. It’s good advice, even. And, hey, maybe I’m overreacting to the issue, but I found the lack of attribution and the frequency of it in the text very frustrating.

I do not know if the lack of names was by request or by design, but the absence of explanation as to why there were no cited names (especially since so much research and many quotes are attributed and cited elsewhere) made me angry on those people’s behalf, and made me trust the provenance of the other guiding ideas in the book even less. I said in a recent Whatcha Reading? post that I was going backwards through Rubin’s backlist, and with this book, I’m stopping my journey.

 

SB Sarah

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I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

author: Michelle McNamara

I’m a true crime fan, so I was eagerly awaiting Michelle McNamara’s book about the man who terrorized California in the 70’s and 80’s, who she dubbed the Golden State Killer. It didn’t disappoint. I listened to this book on audio during long drives for work, and it sucked me in, so much so that I would sit in my parking lot to keep listening.

This is a true story of a serial rapist and killer who terrorized CA, but has been long inactive. The book discusses dark things so I want to trigger warning for descriptions of sexual assault and violence. Originally believed to be two offenders (The East Area Rapist and The Original Night Stalker), DNA later showed that this was one offender who escalated and moved from Northern to Southern California. I have chills just typing that.

The case itself is fascinating, frustrating and complex, but the real beauty in this book is McNamara’s writing. She is sensitive to the victims (especially the female victims), never fetishizing the details of sexual assault or murder, and only going into detail when it’s relevant and necessary for the reader (example: the killer was underendowed, so much so that it’s a distinctive characteristic that might be used to identify him). Her writing flows beautifully and hypnotically, and the narrator, Gabra Zackman, does an amazing job.

McNamara died unexpectedly during the writing of this book. Her writing is so distinctive and immersive, that the sections of the book that were compiled after her death are glaringly apparent. I would listen to them impatiently, waiting for the narrator to get back to McNamara’s writing. More than anything McNamara shies away from lurid details, and focuses on the facts, and the hope, that this killer can still be caught. Its the kind of smart, sensitive true crime that, as a reader, I crave.

Elyse

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The Last Mrs. Parrish

author: Liv Constantine

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine is an mind-bending psychological thriller that features some pretty unlikeable characters. If you have a hard time with anti-heroes (think Amy from Gone Girl ( A | K | G | AB )) you probably won’t like this book. If you enjoy the vicarious thrill of being devious through a fictional character, though, The Last Mrs. Parrish will be right up your alley.

This book does contain graphic examples of abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) so trigger warning for that.

Amber Patterson has been studying up on the Parrishes, a wealthy NYC power couple, with one intention: to become the next Mrs. Parrish. She inserts herself into Daphne Parrish’s life seamlessly, making herself a non-threatening supportive force who eventually becomes Daphne’s surrogate sister and best friend. She enjoys the perks of being a hanger on in Daphne’s ultra wealthy and posh life. Her real goal, however, is to get close to Jackson Parrish, and to steal him from Daphne. He’s handsome, obscenely wealthy, and desperate for a son that Daphne can’t give him. Amber emotionally manipulates the couple, slowly assuming Daphne’s role and pushing her out in a long con that would be worthy of a two night Dateline special.

Of course, there’s a twist. I can’t reveal what it is, but it changes the entire narrative. Unfortunately, I saw it coming, so a lot of the shock value and enjoyment was lost. Adding to my disappointment was the ending: it wasn’t what I hoped for and it left me feeling cheated.

This book is twisted and weird and at times delightful. It’s also very dark. If you like your thrillers bizarre and full of untrustworthy characters, then you’ll adore The Last Mrs. Parrish. If you need a heroine you can love, this book will definitely not work well for you.

Elyse

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Comments are Closed

  1. Scene Stealer says:

    I liked “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark”, but the “Case 53” podcast was much more in-depth and laid the case out better. It also scared me because of how the killer was able to walk in and out of the homes of his victims without them knowing that he had ever been there.

  2. Katie C. says:

    I, for one, really enjoyed Happier at Home and the The Happiness Project (I have yet to read The Four tendencies or Better Than Before but they are on my TBR list). I also highly recommend the Happier podcast which is hosted by Gretchen Rubin and her sister Liz Kraft (Liz also has a Happier in Hollywood podcast which I haven’t tried yet but is on my list of podcasts to try).

  3. Shan says:

    UPDATE ON I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK: They think they may have caught the Golden State Killer! Seek link https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/us/golden-state-killer-serial.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

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