Secrets of Eden

Another of Chris Bohjalian's books that I love.  In Secrets of Eden, the story is about a battered wife and brings in elements of religion, infidelity, and murder. The day after Alice is baptized, she's found
in her home, murdered alongside her abusive husband.        
                            
The story follows Bohjalian's typical storytelling style of allowing different characters to narrate their own version of the story, so that the reader pieces it all together.  Although Alice is a battered wife, the book didn't dwell on this element as being the main focus.  The story was really a whodunit and was, for me, a mystery until the very end. 

Secrets of Eden was Lisa's book club selection, so our monthly meeting was held at her house for Sunday dinner.  Perfect time to set the tone for a lunch that was themed along the lines of the book:  Sunday dinner, including after-church food like homemade mac-and-cheese, mozzarella-stuffed chicken breasts, dinner rolls, and salad.  Oh and then there were the sangria mixers.  That part maybe wasn't so churchy.  But Lisa's Catholic, so it worked.

Stacey made a delicious bundt cake.  Well, she said it was delicious, so we'll just have to take her word for it.  She dropped it on the floor as she was leaving to head over.  She even brought a picture of it scattered everywhere as proof.  She called it an Icing-in-the-Cake Cake, which sounds like something I'd devour before heading out the door, then to save myself embarrassment, spread its crumbs all over my floor and tell my friends I dropped it.  I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm just saying that's probably what I'D do. 

We spent the afternoon slurping down our fruity Sunday drinks and worked away at righting all the wrongs of our neighborhood (Suzy has been elected Team Captain of her quadrant of the 'hood because she has no qualms about honking her horn and calling the cops if she sees you getting yanked out of your car by your hair, or if your baby daddy is hot-footin' it up the street threatening to sell all your kid's Garanimals to pay his bills).

We did spend a good, honest five minutes talking about The Secrets of Eden.  Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it, giving it probably about a 3.5 stars out of 5, if I had to guess at gunpoint.  Thank you for hosting, Lisa Lou!

Next month's selection, chosen by the gorgeous and ever-crafty Anissa Alepa, is Room by Emma Donoghue.  If you haven't started reading it, get crackin'!  It's a great book!

Kristan, Farrah, Lisa, Sunday, Suzy, and Stacey

Enjoy reading!
KB