Three Fascinating Family Stories

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

I enjoy a good family story, one that gives the reader insight into family dynamics. This month’s Book Report has three novels that delve into interesting family stories.


Naomi Hirahara’s Clark and Division is set during WWII. Aki and Rose are two sisters, born in America to Japanese parents. They lived in a California community, and their father has a good job managing a food market. 

They faced prejudice and racism at their mostly white school. When Aki was invited to a white classmate’s birthday pool party, the other girls refused to swim in the pool with her, and the hostess was ashamed to ask her to come back and swim at another time. Rose earned the starring role in her high school’s stage production, but parents again complained, and she was bumped to a lesser role.


Then the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. The family was forced to leave their home and most of their belongings behind to move to an internment camp. The living conditions were appalling, and they lost all of the freedom they came to America to find.


Rose is sent to Detroit, and the rest of the family would follow in a few months after she was settled. When Aki and her parents arrive in Detroit, they discover that Rose was hit by a train and killed.


They were told that she committed suicide, but Aki does not believe it. In addition to trying to adjust to life in a new city, Aki makes it her mission to find out what happened to her sister.


Clark and Division blends historical fiction about the treatment that Japanese-Americans faced in America during WWII with the mystery of what led to Rose’s death. It’s an enlightening novel that immerses you in a time and place, as well as keeping you turning the pages to find out what happened to Rose. 


Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennans takes place in Westchester County in New York. When Sunday Brennan is seriously injured in a car accident in Los Angeles, her older brother Denny travels there to bring her back home. 

Sunday left the family home suddenly five years prior, and no one knew exactly why. Her brother Denny and his best friend Kale own Brennan’s pub, and are planning on opening a second pub in a nearby town.


Kale was Sunday’s boyfriend when she left without a good explanation why. He is now married and the father of a four year-old boy, and Sunday’s return home creates problems in his marriage.


Unbeknownst to Kale (or anyone else), Denny borrowed money from someone he shouldn’t have to finance the new pub. The stress of keeping that secret from everyone is causing him trouble.


I loved how the Brennan family worked their way into my heart. Brother Jackie is an artist who is so kind to the youngest son Shane, as is the entire family. The family rallies together to help Denny and Kale keep their business afloat.


We eventually discover why Sunday left five years ago, and that leads to more trouble for the Brennan clan. The secrets each family member keeps come to the surface and it will either save them or destroy them.


In Sara Nisha Adams’ The Reading List, Mukesh is a widower outside London in mourning for the loss of his beloved wife a year ago. He is lonely, only seeing people at his local temple and neighborhood grocery store. 

When his young granddaughter Priya asks him about the books her grandmother loved, Mukesh decides to visit the small local library that his wife frequented to get some books for Priya.


Mukesh meets Aleisha, a young librarian who lives with her seriously depressed mother and her older brother. Aleisha doesn’t like to read, but when she finds a paper in a library book that reads “Just in case you need it:” followed by a list of novels, she suggests one of these books to Mukesh.


Aleisha and Mukesh bond over these books, and it brings them both out of their shells. They become friends, and share their lives with each other. Mukesh and Aleisha work together to save the library from closure.


I enjoyed learning about Mukesh’s Indian customs, especially the food his family enjoys. If reading and libraries are something you enjoy, The Reading List should be on your To-Be-Read pile. The way they tie the Reading List to characters at the end is sweet. (A warning though- there are some sad events in this book as well.)


Clark And Division by Naomi Hirahara- A-

Published by SOHO Crime

Hardcover, $27.95, 312 pages


We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange- A

Published by Celadon

Hardcover, $26.99, 288 pages


The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams- A-

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $27.99, 384 pages

Friday 5ive- August 6, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week.

I can't believe it's August already. Why does the summer go by in the blink of an eye, but the winters drag on?

1) It was a quiet week, but on a beautiful sunny Monday I walked nearly 50 blocks to the Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue to shop for children's books for a baby shower, a friend's new grandbaby, and a baptism. I was in my glory, spending nearly an hour in the store. The sales staff was very busy helping two other customers, and it took great restraint for me not to jump in and offer my assistance. But I did not. On the way home, I passed this massive, complete New York City block construction project in midtown. It looked like something from the Transformers movie.

2) So many restaurants and small mom and pop stores closed during the pandemic on the Upper East Side where I live, it's exciting to see that a new business is planning on opening. This one is called The Picnic Basket, and I am waiting to see if Yogi Bear and Boo Boo will be behind the counter when it opens.

3) One of the books that occupies a spot on my coveted Favorites Shelf on my bookcase is Mary Karr's brilliant memoir Lit. Karr's first memoir, The Liar's Club, about her growing up in a dysfunctional family in East Texas in the 1960s, ushered in the many memoirs that now line up on bookstore shelves. She was a recent guest on Katie Couric's Next Question podcast, and it was a fascinating discussion. I found her speaking about becoming a Catholic as an adult, and how her peers and friends dismissed her because of it, so enlightening. Karr became a Catholic while a professor at Syracuse University (where she still teaches) and it was because of meeting an older Irish priest who helped her that it happened. Give it a listen and read Lit.

4) If you are missing Broadway, Apple TV+ has a treat for you- Schmigadoon!  Keegan-Michael Key and SNL's Cecily Strong star as a couple who have been dating for a few years and while on a outdoor couples retreat get lost. They end up in the town of Schmigadoon, which looks like the set of a Broadway show, complete with people breaking out in song and dance at the drop of a hat. In order for Key and Strong to be able to return home, they must find true love. Is it with each other? It's so delightful, filled with wonderful performances from Broadway stars like Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth and Aaron Tveit. The songs and sets will remind you of famous musicals like Carousel and The Sound of Music. You will not be able to stop smiling or humming along. 

5) I read three books this week. Naomi Hirahara historical fiction, Clark and Division, follow a Japanese-American family as their lives are turned upside down when they are forced to move to an internment camp in California after the Pearl Harbor attack. They lose their livelihood, home, and possessions, and eventually are moved to Chicago, where their older daughter was sent to live. When they arrive in Chicago, they discover their daughter was killed when she jumped in front of a train. Younger daughter Avi doesn't believe her sister jumped and is determined to find out how her sister died. Hirahara does an amazing job balancing the mystery of a young woman's death and letting the reader see how this group of Japanese-Americans were treated during WWII, losing their American dream in the process. I highly recommend it. 

Sara Arnell's memoir of her midlife crisis, There Will Be Lobster, takes us through a very rough patch in her life.  Just as she faces life as a lonely empty nester, she loses her job as CEO of a once prominent advertising firm. She spirals downward, drinking too much, not showering, staying in her bed all day watching various Real Housewives on TV. Arnell packs a punch in this slim memoir, with most chapters just a few pages. It's riveting.  My full review publishes August 18th.

A few years ago, I read Laurie Gelman's hilarious novel, Class Mom, about a woman with two grown adult daughters and a son in kindergarten. Jen Dixon was such a terrific class mom for her two daughters, she reprises the role for her son's kindergarten class. Her snarky letters to the parents in the class became legendary, and the book made me laugh out loud. In the third book in the series, Yoga Pant Nation, Jen is now class mom for her son's fifth grade class, and once again we are treated to Jen's parent letters. She's also now a certified spin instructor and trying to find a job as a instructor, while also dealing with her aging parents who seem to be having some troubles. As a former class mom and current Peloton riding enthusiast, this novel was speaking my language. (I also loved Jen's loving relationship with her husband.) Be careful where you read this one, you'll be giggling out loud and people will wonder what you are up to.

It looks like we are going backwards with COVID. Please be safe- get a vaccine to protect those who cannot, and wear a mask indoors. We can beat this if we work together.