Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

Goodreads Synopsis:
Abner Marsh has had his wish come true - he has built the Fevre Dream, the finest steamship to sail the Mississippi. Abner hopes to race the boat some day, but his partner is making it hard for him to realise his dreams. Joshua York put up the money for the Fevre Dream, but now rumours have started about the company he keeps, his odd eating habits and strange hours. As the Dream sails the great river, it leaves in its wake one too many dark tales, forcing Abner to face down the man who made his dreams become reality.



My Thoughts:
All in all, a fantastic book. It's a bit slow-going in the beginning, but once it picks up IT PICKS UP. By the end of the book, I became extremely fond of the characters Abner Marsh and Joshua York. It's an unlikely bond, but a memorable one. Martin does a good job with developing the main players without going overboard (...although a fan of his series A Song of Ice and Fire, I'm thrilled he didn't create 200 characters just to have half of them die a few sentences later). Woo hoo! 

What I enjoyed most, surprisingly, was Martin's obvious enthusiasm for steamboats. I've never really been a steamboat kind of girl (insert dirty joke here) but he got me into the history and lifestyle of that time. He really did his late-night boat reading and I always love when an author takes the time and care to research something in depth. About halfway through, you can tell that if you ever got stuck on an elevator with George R. R. Martin and said the word "steamboats" he'd launch into a 2-hour conversation about them with a silly grin on his face. I can envision him spending hours riding these things in a Captain's jacket and jotting down notes. Plus, there's only so many ways to describe water. I'll give two thumbs up for him not sounding redundant. 

If you're a vampire fan then you should give this a read. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Martin takes a very interesting and thoughtful angle on the whole sucking blood business. That being said, I don't read a lot of vampire fiction so you can yell at me in the Comments section if I'm wrong. I was going to explain his angle on it, but I'm thinking it might be a bit of a spoiler...so nope. Just the read the book. It's good.

Subterranean Press has put out a fancified deluxe illustrated edition for super fans. Here's one of the illustrations by Justin Sweet (props to his talent and ability to capture the mood & characters):

The Author

Author Tidbit: Martin's father was a longshoreman (waterfront manual laborer). He grew up by the water and sold monster stories to other kids to make a few pennies.

We still love you though

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger...
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way...
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job...

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

My Thoughts:
So I'm a little late on the take with this one. This book was all the rage at my bookstore awhile back. Working in a bookstore, I try to also read the titles that are crazy popular with customers so that I can stay in the loop. But there have been a few duds that have made it to the bestseller list. I read "Twilight", "50 Shades of Grey", "Water for Elephants" and others....and by the end of each book I couldn't figure out what all the hype was about. Don't get me wrong, "Water for Elephants" was a good book but the hype it received swelled my expectations of it and I was left a bit disappointed. Finally, I found one that deserved every ounce of hype it got! 

I finished this book in 3 days which, for me, is an endorsement right there. I like to take time with each book I read but sometimes the book leaves me no option but to DEVOUR it. I give this book the highest rating I can because of 3 reasons:

1. the characters grab you and don't let go
2. the language is not flowery but it is full of emotion
3. the subject matter is RELEVANT & IMPORTANT

So the characters. Can I just give a shout out to Aibileen?! Minny was hilarious and Skeeter played an important role but Aibileen was hands down my favorite. If she doesn't grip your soul then you better check to see if you have one. Her determination to build the self-esteem of the little girl she takes care of is something that sticks with you even when the book is over. Despite all of the crap she has to go through every day she still worries about that little girl not being loved. Add to that the bravery of recounting her experiences as a maid to white people at a time when that would have easily been met with violence. Although Aibileen was my favorite, when the book switched to Skeeter's narrative or Minny's, I became just as absorbed in their stories as I did Aibileen's. And that's a sign of good writing. 

The language, like I said, is not flowery but there is something about the way Kathryn Stockett writes this that makes it special. It's almost as if she bypasses the lyrical side of writing and gets straight to the heart of what she wants you to feel. It's the type of writing style that could appeal to both readers and non-readers. And she does a remarkable job shifting her tone from one narrator to another without it sounding like it's just the same person.

And, of course, the subject matter is why this book should be read. It gives you a unique perspective of a critical time in American history. One that probably won't show up in high school textbooks. I think this sort of perspective gets lost because the women telling the story weren't marching or rioting. What these characters were doing was behind the scenes, but it was just as important. And the issues they faced (silently) and the relationships they had with the families they worked for ought to be known. I think this book will always be relevant....plus how can you top Minny's famous chocolate pie???

The Author

Author Tidbit (and hope for all unpublished authors out there): "The Help" was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Kathryn Stockett. Oops.