Book Review: Christina Clancy's Shoulder Season

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of Christina Clancy’s novel, Shoulder Season, in exchange for an honest review.

Only child Sherri Taylor is nineteen when she finds herself alone in her small Wisconsin town, with both of her parent’s having passed away. Her parents left behind their apartment and her father’s old watch repair shop, both properties that she can’t manage to sell in a bad economy. Sherri’s life prospects seem bleak, until her childhood friend, Roberta, suggests that they both apply to be bunnies at the new Playboy resort that is opening in nearby Lake Geneva.

Sherri is quiet and meek, while Roberta is brazen and outgoing. No one is more surprised than Sherri, when she lands the job and Roberta doesn’t. Soon, Sherri’s eyes are opened to a new lifestyle, one where she is discovering a sense of power. Sherri leaves behind her depressing apartment and small town, to live in the dorms at the Playboy Club, quickly becoming entrenched in the partying lifestyle of her fellow bunnies. She attracts the attention of several suitors, including a Hollywood stunt man and a trust-fund baby from a prominent midwestern family.

Shoulder Season is a gripping story. I enjoyed the historical elements and even spent some time looking up photographs of the real Playboy property in Lake Geneva to see pictures of the club and bunnies from the early 80’s. I was born in 1977, so this is a bit before my time, but my mom used to tell me about the Playboy clubs and how they were seen as sophisticated and cosmopolitan. Clancy’s writing transported me to that era and gave me a taste of that world. It’s fascinating.

Sherri is a frustrating protagonist. She makes choices that had me screaming at the book. That said, Clancy made me care about Sherri, which is why I was so upset by her choices. As with any great story, Sherri has a solid character arc and is able to find peace and forgiveness. Her redemption isn’t trite at all, it’s balanced within the story.

Shoulder Season has a really surprising plot twist that changes Sherri’s world view. I was caught off-guard by it and it packs an emotional punch.

On a personal note, a small part of Shoulder Season takes place at the Palm Springs Art Museum in California, which is one of my favorite places. We are even headed to Palm Springs next week!

Shoulder Season is a page-turning story with fabulous locations and affecting character relationships. I highly recommend that it be added to your TBR pile. Clancy is a new-to-me author and I look forward to reading her other books.

Book Review: David Stuart Maclean's How I Learned to Hate in Ohio

Thank you to Abrams Books and The Overlook Press for providing me with a copy of David Stuart Maclean’s novel, How I Learned to Hate in Ohio, in exchange for an honest review.

Barry Nadler is a kid trying to navigate high school in rural Ohio during the 1980’s. His father is an adjunct philosophy professor at a nearby college, who is discovering that his once bright future, has become stagnant. His mother works for a major hotel chain and is away for months at a time on business trips to foreign countries. At school, Barry is relentlessly bullied and socially isolated.

Barry’s life changes when a new student named Gurbaksh arrives at their school. By all accounts Gurbaksh, a Sikh who wears a turban, should be the new target of bullying; he is a foreign kid in a town where being different is not valued. However, Gurbaksh, who changes his name to Gary, quickly gains acceptance. Gary befriends Barry, allowing Barry a peripheral access to the popular crowd.

Initially, Barry is happy with his new friend, but things change when Barry’s parents file for divorce and his mom begins a relationship with Gary’s father. Barry’s home life goes down the toilet, with a despondent father and a mother who is still absent, although rather than traveling internationally, she has moved-in with Gary’s father a few blocks down the road. Barry begins to realize that Gary might not be a loyal friend and that popularity is a false sense of security.

I have to confess that I started reading How I Learned to Hate in Ohio, thinking that I was reading a memoir. I was about half-way through the story, where things start taking a very chaotic turn, when I double-checked and was relieved to discover that it is a novel. Relieved, because Barry has one hell of a horrible life, particularly the intense bullying at school. It’s horrific and immensely uncomfortable to read.

I wasn’t bullied much in school. I was a shy kid, who was neither popular nor unpopular. However, Maclean’s descriptions of the many ways that Barry is bullied is very uncomfortable to read. It is uncomfortable because it rings true and doubly uncomfortable, because I, like many people, bore witness to it and most of the time, felt powerless and was gutless to stand against it. Maclean shows the results of what happens when “good people” don’t stand up to bullying.

I felt shamed reading How I Learned to Hate in Ohio. I grew up in the same era that the novel takes place and although we were taught that bullying is wrong, we were not given the tools to know how to stand against it. Not just bullying, but also other issues such as misogyny and sexual harassment. As in the story, teachers and adults got in on the bullying or turned a blind eye. I hope ( and think) that kids today are more equipped to stop bullying and other damaging behaviors. I vow that as an adult, I will do better to fight against them. In the past year, we have seen the rise of the BLM movement and even more recently, violence towards the Asian community. How I Learned to Hate in Ohio is a very timely story as it deals with similar issues. It shows the tragedy that happens when we don’t stand against hate.

How I Learned to Hate in Ohio is an engrossing, unexpected, and important novel. It’s certainly not an easy or comfortable read, but It should be added to your shelf.

Book Review- Tom Cooper's Florida Man

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Tom Cooper’s novel Florida Man, in exchange for an honest review.

Spanning several decades, Florida Man is the story Reed Crowe and Henry Yahchilane, who form an unlikely friendship while living on a small island. Struggling from the loss of his child, affectionately nicknamed Otter, Crowe finds himself divorced and the proprietor of a struggling roadside attraction. Yahchilane, a Seminole native, and the older of the two men is a mystery. He is quiet with a tough exterior and rumors fly regarding his criminal inclinations. A skeleton and a sink hole bring Crowe and Yahchilane together, sealing their connection and changing the course of their lives.

Florida Man is a quirky and delightful ride. I read it over two separate trips to central Florida during the summer of 2020, which included an airboat swamp tour, putting me in the mood. The twists in Florida Man are impossible to anticipate, but even more impossible to predict was the emotional impact of the story. I was sobbing while reading the last chapters. I was caught off-guard by how much I grew to care about both Crowe and Yahchilane and even more, how much I related to them. On the surface, it would seem that I shouldn’t be able to relate to these men; I am a forty-three year old white woman living in the suburbs, yet I definitely connected with Crowe and Yahchilane’s lone-wolf, living their lives by their own terms attitude.

I understood how they felt connected to their island, Crowe even refusing to leave it to be with his ex-wife Heidi. Crowe has relationships with other women, but he will always love Heidi. When their daughter dies, Crowe becomes planted on the island, as Heidi leaves to travel the world, dealing with their grief in separate ways.

The first two-thirds of the story are primarily a tension-filled, roller coaster ride. When Crowe becomes involved with helping a Cuban refugee family, he discovers that his childhood friend is a pedophile, putting a young girl from the family he is helping, in danger. Crowe struggles with figuring out the best way to deal with his former friend, a man who shows no signs of remorse.

Crowe’s life is in danger, when an old enemy comes back to haunt him. Hector Morales, nicknamed “Catface” for his disfiguring scars, was left in the swamp when many years earlier, Crowe found his body near a plane crash. Crowe thought he was dead and left Morales, but not before taking a fortune’s worth of marijuana from the downed plane. Morales survived and never forgot Crowe’s face, vowing to track him down.

Morales is a first-rate villain, reminding me of the character Anton Chigurh from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men. Similar to Chigurh, Morales is terrifying due to his calm demeanor and unpredictable violence. We stay with Morales as he is on the hunt for Crowe and watch as he interacts with many side characters while on his mission. The reader never knows if Morales will brutally kill someone that crosses his path or simply wish him a good day. The tension is high.

Florida, with its sandy beaches, muggy weather, and thick swamps is a character in Florida Man. Beyond Cooper’s novel, the term “Florida Man” is often used to describe dumb criminals and drug addicts who make the news in the sunshine state for a variety of outrageous antics. Florida is often mocked and taken less seriously than other states. I’m a Los Angeles native, and we are also often dismissed as “La La Land” or a place where “Fake” people live. In some ways, Crowe and Yahchilane embrace their “Florida Man” reputations, but in just as many ways, they defy it. They are simply ordinary men who love their land. I relate. I often bristle when I hear Los Angeles stereotypes. I can see the nuggets of truth in the stereotypes, but I also see so much more that only someone who loves their city, loves their state, can truly understand. Yahchilane and Crowe are insiders and their Florida is different from the Florida people mock. Their version of a “Florida Man” has much more depth than haters could ever realize.

Cooper’s Florida Man is a wild ride and some of the most beautiful, affecting writing that I have ever read. It’s truly a unique literary experience that I highly recommend.