The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

I knew from the first page that this was going to be a great story; sadly this was because the writing was so poor it wouldn't have made it to print if it wasn't! It's not terrible writing (12k readers gave the book an average score of 3.8/5); it's just all plot with no imagery, very little description, and no concept of 'show don't tell'. It's also written in the present tense and seems to switch between third person omniscient and third person limited (sometimes we know what a character is thinking and sometimes we don't). I found the use of the present tense annoying, but as the story moved on I got used to it and I just wanted to know what happened next.

In the opening chapter,  Anne and Marco leave their baby at home while they attend a dinner party next door. They take the baby monitor and pop back every 30 minutes to check on the baby. When they finally arrive home at 1:30am, the front door is open and the baby is missing. The police suspect that Anne and Marco have either killed the baby by accident and they're trying to cover up, or they've arranged a kidnapping in order to secure money from Anne's wealthy parents. Anne's recent battles with post-natal depression and Marco's financial problems don't help their case.

Thankfully, you don't have to wait until the last 30 pages to find out what happened to the baby; that's revealed about half way through. The plot has lots of twists and turns; some parts of the ending surprised me and others didn't. Overall, I enjoyed the book. That said, I wouldn't rush to buy another by the same author. Below is an excerpt to illustrate the writing style:

"Anne has a complicated relationship with her parents. When Marco and Anne are having issues with them, which is frequently the case, Marco tells her that her relationship with them is f****d up. Maybe it is, but they are the only parents she has. She needs them. She makes things work the best she can, but it isn't easy." (p.32)

The Good Enough Mother by Anoushka Beazley

I'm very picky about what I read and usually read a lot of reviews before I buy a book. This is probably why I never seem to write a bad review. I found this book by looking through the book choices for the Poppy Loves book club. Groups meet up (IRL) all around the world to discuss Poppy's book of the month. They can read other groups' comments and pose questions for the author via the Poppy Loves Facebook page.

The sticker on the cover describes the book as "dark, gripping and laugh out loud funny". It's all of those plus it's really well written, the comedy coming more from Beazley's careful choice of language and imagery than from the situations themselves.

The protagonist is Drea. Her plans to kill herself are put on hold when her partner absconds to France with a bimbo, leaving Drea desperate to find the fees to pay for her stepdaughter Ava's private education. The story revolves around Drea's attempts to steal enough money to pay the fees and Ava's attempts to ingratiate herself with the school in-crowd. Meanwhile, Drea's elderly father has become addicted to Tamil porn!

The book manages to combine the dark humour of The Dressmaker (Rosalie Ham), the real life observations of Liane Moriarty, and the gritty characters of Gillian Flynn or J.K Rowling (her adult fiction). There are a few cliches e.g. Drea's baking not being good enough for the school bake sale, but  the quality of Beazley's writing makes the book unique. I loved it and hope she writes some more. Below is a taster...

"The morning spilt brightly into the room like a peppy girlfiend. September was unashamedly still in bed with Summer. Another wonderful day to be alive. Maybe I could make a noose for myself out of the curtains. Roll up, roll up, and welcome everyone to the greatest show on earth. Life? Bollocks. I had limited interest in life and even less interest in the school run. Or more accurately, I f******g HATED the school run." (p. 4).

Don't You Cry By Mary Kubica

This is Kubica's third mystery thriller. In downtown Chicago, Quinn is woken at 6:30am by her flatmate's alarm, but Esther is nowhere to be found. It is only after about 24 hours that Quinn starts to get really worried. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Alex is working as a busboy at a small town diner, having turned down a college scholarship to take care of his alcoholic father.

The chapters switch between Quinn and Alex. It is not until the last 40 pages that the author reveals what has happened to Esther and how it connects to Alex.

I really enjoyed the book. I thought I knew what the big reveal was going to be but I was way off the mark. Both Alex and Quinn are multi-dimensional characters; neither being particularly likeable, but they grew on me. This is the first book I've read by the author but based on reviews Kubica is getting better with each book.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Erika and her husband Oliver are both a little odd. Cellist Clementine, Erika's best friend since childhood, and Clementine's husband Sam, endure rather than enjoy Erika and Oliver's company.

Erika and Oliver's neighbours, Vid and Tiffany, are both extroverts and have little in common with them. However, Vid and Tiffany met Clementine and Sam at a Christmas party, and really enjoyed their company. When Erika mentions to Vid that Clementine, Sam, and their two girls are coming over for afternoon tea, Vid suggests they all join him and his family for a barbecue.

The story revolves around the barbecue; the chapters switch from the present day (two months after the barbecue) to the day of the barbecue. Something dreadful happened that has left Erika with memory loss and Clementine and Sam struggling to keep their marriage together.

It takes 300 pages to find out what happened at the barbecue. There are a couple of other 'reveals' in the last 200 pages but nothing particularly surprising. The beauty of the book is not so much a clever plot but the building of the characters. Moriarty expertly paints a picture of ordinary people who may at first seem unappealing but who are, on the whole, doing their best under the circumstances.

The book explores themes of friendship, marriage and how life changes after parenthood. Erika and Clementine's friendship, Sam and Clementine's marriage, and Erika's relationship with her mother, all reveal how feelings of love and hate are sometimes hard to separate.

Unidentified Suburban Object by Mike Jung

Grade 8 student Chloe Cho is the only Asian student at her American K-8 school. She is tired of people assuming she is a high achieving student and excellent violinist simply because she is Asian. She is tired of people thinking she is either Chinese or Japanese, when she is in fact Korean. She is tired of her parents refusal to tell her anything about Korea; they don't talk about it, they don't eat the food and they don't even recognise the clothing. She is however, excited to find her new Social Studies teacher is Korean.

When Chloe finally finds out her parents' secret she stops completing assignments, falls out with her best friend Shelley, and ends up in detention. The secret is not what Chloe was expecting and not what I was expecting. The book takes something of a comic turn but still does a good job of exploring identity, friendship, belonging and racial stereotyping. Chloe and her family feel like foreigners in both Korea and America.

Discussion Questions from Scholastic

1. Why does Chloe feel like an alien at school and in her town?
2. In which ways does Chloe try connecting with her heritage? How have you connected with your heritage? Share an example.
3. Why is Chloe so excited about her new history teacher, Ms. Lee? In which ways does Ms. Lee influence Chloe?
4. Which scene from the book do you remember best? What makes it so memorable?
5. Discuss Chloe’s friendship with Shelley. How does it evolve over the course of the story?
6. Explain how the truth behind her parents’ heritage changes Chloe’s perception of herself. How would you feel if you were in her position?
7. Chloe and Shelley work together to participate in their town’s first annual Graphic Novel-Making Contest! If you created a graphic novel with your friends, what would it be about?
8. What is your family ancestry? Did your relatives emigrate from another country? If so, from where? And what was their life like there?
9. Did you ever find yourself disagreeing with a character’s choice? What did they do? What would you have done differently?
10. What surprised you most about the story? What did you learn from reading this book?

Discussion guide here

The Dry by Jane Harper

This is a fabulous crime mystery; it reminded me of both The Dressmaker and Gone Girl, but a simpler story.

Melbourne based Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to the small outback Australian town of his childhood for the funeral of his farmer friend Luke and Luke's family. It appears that Luke killed his wife and son before turning the gun on himself after struggling financially due to a two year drought. Luke's father is convinced it wasn't suicide and asks Aaron to investigate. Aaron works with a local police officer to uncover what happened.

Aaron has not been back to Kiewarra since he and his father fled town, after his friend Ellie drowned and her father pointed the finger at sixteen year old Aaron. The book slowly reveals not only what happened to Luke and his family but also Ellie. I found the characters interesting and believable; some have lived their lives in Kiewarra while others moved there with misplaced romantic notions of what rural life would be like. Like any good crime novel, information is revealed gradually throughout the book; it doesn't all happen in the last fifty pages. That said, the last fifty pages are riveting.

When you reach me by Rebecca Stead

This children's book won the Newbery Medal in 2010. It is written in the first person by the protagonist, Miranda, and is addressed to a person unknown. The story is set in 1979, a time when most children walked home from school. Miranda is 12 years old and is helping her mother prepare for an appearance on a TV quiz show that will hopefully earn them some much needed money. Miranda always carries a copy of her favourite book, Newbery Medal winning (1963), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. She discusses the book with a new boy at school, Marcus, who appears to be something of a genius.

Miranda begins to get strange notes from the person she addresses the book to. The writer of the notes appears to know things that haven't happened yet. Miranda has been lifelong friends with her neighbour Sal, but he's started to act distant. Miranda forms new friendships with Annemarie and Colin; the three of them start to work at lunchtime in a cafe called Jimmy's. The area Sal and Miranda live in is rough. There are frequent fights and a strange old homeless man stands on the corner of the street and kicks the air.

I got a bit bored with the story in the middle (when Miranda is working at Jimmy's), but it all comes together in the last forty pages when we find out who is writing the notes. The ending made me want to go back and read the book again from the beginning. This would be a great book to read to a Stage 3 class as it explores the way friendships shift and change. There are plenty of teaching resources to go with the book on TPT  and other sites.

Questions

What was the significance of the $2 notes?
What was the purpose of the notes Miranda received?
Was Miranda's life altered by what happened to Sal? (think about the TV quiz show).
Why were the notes so cryptic, why not just say what was happening?
In what way does the character of Julia break racial stereotypes?
How does Miranda make new friends?
What does the author want us to learn from the story of Miranda's mother?
Based on the book, how does childhood in 1979 differ from today?

Writing

Miranda looks under the mailbox and finds a final letter explaining what happened to the author of the notes after 1979. Write the letter.