Home is where the hurt is

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The danger of listening to a really good book on audible while driving is that I almost ran out of gas. The trip went so fast! Ann Patchett is a great story teller and Tom Hanks did a fantastic job bringing the scenes to life. This story of a fabulous Pennsylvannia house and the people who lived there over about a century is told from the point of view of Danny Conroy whose mother leaves him and his older sister Maeve in the care of their real estate mogul father after he gives her a fantastic 1922 mansion that she despises. She'd rather help the poor and heads to India. An evil step mother soon enters the scene with daughters of her own. Before you know it Dad is dead and Danny and Maeve are kicked out with little more than a trust for Danny's education. The siblings develop a close bond, spending hours year after year sitting outside their former home and remembering better times. Although the tale generally follows a chronological timeline, it is being told by the grownup Danny hitting his memories so things get out of order sometimes or he jumps ahead and divulges his divorce from Celeste before he's even revealed their marriage. This bugs me a little but I suppose it adds to the realism of Danny telling the story. The house casts such a huge shadow over all these lives even extending into the next generation. You can see it in your mind and hear the voices and imagine the train rides. Very well done.

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Not exactly a Waltz in WWII

 

The Angel of Vienna by Kate Hewitt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I chose this book because I was headed to Vienna on vacation and I thought this might put me in the mood. Of course, we all know WWII was no vacation. Nevertheless the author creates a very real, complex tale of a nurse and a Catholic nun who try protect disabled children from being killed in the hospital where they work. I love the details she uses to flesh out the personality of Hannah Stern and her estranged half brother who pays for her training and gets her the job in Vienna, on the condition that she watch over his disabled son, Willi. She and the boy build a bond but hospital rules don't give them much time together. There is Karl, a love interest, but Hannah is hesitant. She discovers that children are being selected for elimination and joins a shady group sneaking them to safety. The action is fast paced, but there are a few pleasant side tracks when the characters are able to forget the war for few pages, go for a swim and let friendships develop. Even the final scene holds a surprise or two.

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Fast Four Months

 

The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A.J. Baime
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An enjoyable, well-researched and yet fast-moving peek at an intriguing president. It certainly boosted my respect for a man who came from my home state and started serving before I was born. The author uses minute-by-minute records to draw out the drama of the day he took office when FDR died and his wife and daughter had to take a taxi to the white house for his oath of office. Right up to the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Truman was sailing across the Atlantic returning from the Potsdam Conference with Churchill and Stalin. I loved the quotes chosen as well such as Truman telling the other two he wanted "decisions not discussion." Good read.

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