Book Review: The $64 Tomato

Author: William Alexander

Pages: 265

Genre: Non Fiction/Memoir

Personal Rating: 3/5

From the back cover:

Bill Alexander had no idea that his simple dream of having a vegetable garden and small orchard in his backyard would lead him into life-and-death battles with groundhogs, webworms, weeds, and weather; midnight expeditions in the dead of winter to dig up fresh thyme; and skirmishes with neighbors who feed the vermin (i.e., deer). Not to mention the vacations that had to be planned around the harvest, the near electrocution of the tree man, the limitations of his own middle-aged body, and the pity of his wife and kids.

When Alexander runs (just for fun!) a cost-benefit analysis, adding up everything from the live animal trap to the Velcro tomato wraps and then amortizing it over the life of his garden, it comes as quite a shock to learn that it cost him a staggering $64 to grow each one of his beloved Brandywine tomatoes. But as any gardener will tell you, you can't put a price on the unparalleled pleasures of providing fresh food for your family.

I waited a long time for this book. I had it on my wishlist at paperback swap. I was number 1 (finally) and then somehow accidentally moved it to my reminder list and got shifted to spot 24. So I waited some more. Perhaps that explains my disappointment with this book. Or maybe reading about someone gardening just isn't is funny as or as entertaining as I thought it would be. The book had its moments and it was decent overall, I was just expecting something far greater. I'd heard raves about this book. It came recommended from so many different people online...it had to be good. It was fair. It was a decent book. That's it. Just OK, not bad, not great, just OK. The best part of the book to me is still the review on the front cover from the New York Times Book Review "Gardening as Extreme Sport." I will also say the the section of Superchuck the groundhog is pretty funny. This book just didn't do it for me, it may do it for you. I wouldn't say stay away from it, it just wasn't all I was hoping it would be.

Book Review: The Blind Assassin

Author: Margaret Atwood

Pages: 521

Genre: Fiction

Personal Rating 4/5

Awards: Booker Prize

From the back cover:

The Booker Prize -winning sensation from the incomparable Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin combines gothic drama, romantic suspense and science fiction yarn in an entrancing novel of uncommon intricacy and grace.

The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist

What makes this novel Margaret Atwood's strongest and most profoundly entertaining is the way in which the three wonderfully rich stories weave together, gradually revealing through their interplay the secrets surrounding the entire Chase family--and most particularly the fascinating and tangled lives of the two sisters. The Blind Assassin is a brilliant and enthralling book by a writer at the top of her form.

I think to truly appreciate this book it needs to be read more than once. However, I enjoyed it immensely. The reason I say it needs to be read more than once is that the Blind Assassin involves three different stories, that all interweave. The novel jumps back in forth in time from the main characters present to the past. It is written in a very clever fashion. It kept me guessing right up until the very end what had actually happened. I kept thinking I had figured it out, but then I would get a tidbit of information that would make me change me mind. I think Atwood did a fantastic job with the writing.

Knowing now what actually happens I think I would pick up a lot of new information with a reread that I missed the first time through. We all know that there are a lot of books to read out there so I won't be rereading The Blind Assassin just to see what I missed.

It was a little difficult to keep track sometimes of who was actually narrating the story. I wondered sometimes though if that was Atwood's intent. If it was supposed to be confusing and unclear...I'm not sure.

Even though everyone might not like this story I think most people will appreciate that The Blind Assassin is well written. How the three separate, and sometimes confusing, stories end up coming together was impressive and satisfying. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is that I don't want to have to reread novels to "fully understand them" and I think it started slowly.

Do I recommend picking it up? Definitely!

ALSO REVIEWED BY:
Rhinoa at Rhinoa's Ramblings
Tammy at Tammy's Book Nook


If you have reviewed this book and would like me to link to your review please let me know in the comments!

Book Review: The House of the Spirits

Author: Isabel Allende

Pages: 433

Genre: Fiction

Personal Rating 1/5

Awards: Panorama Literario Award: Chile (1983), Best Novel of the Year: Chile (1983)

From the back cover:

Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget.

Esteban -- The patriarch, a volatile and proud man whose lust for land is legendary and who is haunted by his tyrannical passion for the wife he can never completely possess.

Clara -- The matriarch, elusive and mysterious, who foretells family tragedy and shapes the fortunes of the house of the Truebas.

Blanca -- Their daughter, soft-spoken yet rebellious, whose shocking love for the son of her father's foreman fuels Esteban's everlasting contempt... even as it produces the grandchild he adores.

Alba -- The fruit of Blanca's forbidden love, a luminous beauty, a fiery and willful woman... the family's break with the past and link to the future.

I hate to write bad reviews but sometimes it must be done. This book was awful. I hated it. What was so horrible about it? I'm not sure. It is difficult to put my finger on it. I know it was easy to just put the book down and forget about it. I didn't care about anyone in the story. I preferred to do household chores than read (now THAT should tell you something). I took me weeks to finish this book. I finished it through sheer will power and determination. It covered 8 challenges for me so there was no way I was going back once I started. I also figured since it had won a few awards it must be decent. This is horrible to say but one of the challenges i read this book for was the Banned Book Challenge...the only thing this book should be banned for is being boring.

It should have been a good story. It went on long enough. It "spanned" generations. So many different story lines evolved, started, stopped. There was love, death, murder, kidnapping, mutilation, war, riots, revolt, marriage, a head in a box, a car crash, magic, green hair...there was so much. This family was an absolute train wreck. It should have been interesting in the "I can't look away car crash type of way". But it wasn't. It was boring. It was difficult to keep track of who was who (that could have been from me putting the book down for days at a time).

Save your time. If you want to try Allende try something besides The House of the Spirits

If you have reviewed this book and would like me to link to your review please let me know in the comments!