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

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

This is my favorite of Chris Bohjalian's books.  He typically writes about touchy subjects; things that make you question (and possibly reconsider) what you really believe when it comes to certain controversial topics.  That's one of the things I love about his writing.

In The Double Bind, he writes a modern-day story about Laurel, a college student who's attacked while riding her bike in New England, then becomes active as a volunteer for a homeless shelter to help her heal. 

Laurel bonds with Bobbie Crocker, an elderly man who lives at the shelter and talks cryptically about his boxes of photographs, saying they contain pictures of Hollywood legends.  He tells Laurel stories of his childhood as the son of Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, two unfaithful lovers from F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. 

In the beginning, Laurel believes like everyone else that Bobbie is a delusional homeless man, but when he dies suddenly, she becomes obsessed with him and begins to piece together evidence from his mysterious boxes of photos that lead her to believe that he was telling the truth.  The story moves back and forth from the 20's to today, weaving in Laurel's own story from her childhood to the day of her attack, and Bohjalian waits to tie it all together with a big, delicious bow till the very last page. 

If you like psychological twists and turns, you will love this book!  You can really sink your teeth into it and if you're like me, you'll be left with an eery feeling of, "oh my gosh, NO WAY."  My plan is to go back and re-read it, now that I know the full story so that I can see if I'm able to pick up on little hints along the way. 

You MUST read this book!