REVIEW: All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert

 

I was totally on the Eat, Pray, Love bandwagon. Not going to lie.  It's one of those books that I re-read at different times in my life in order to learn something (along with Handmaid's Tale, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Wild by Cheryl Strayed). I was curious to see what this book could teach me, if anything.  And what I learned is that I'm very much like Elizabeth Gilbert in many ways, although I haven't ever had to go through what she had to go through to write this book.

This is a memoir and it is about Gilbert's relationship with Rayya Elias - who Gilbert met, incidentally, because she was Gilbert's hairdresser (yup!), then her closest most bestest friend for many years, and finally her lover/partner until Rayya died from cancer. This includes, BTW, the time that Gilbert was married to her husband from Eat, Pray, Love and Committed era. When Rayya got sick, it seemed that Gilbert figured out that the relationship was romantic, intimate, and sexual (even though she'd been working for years to deny it). Gilbert then left her husband and moved to be with Rayya in order to care for her during her last few months (in a house that Gilbert bought for her essentially). This plan went majorly off the rails when not only did Rayya live longer than the doctors predicted but slid back into a full blown addiction in the last months of her life. She was addicted to heroin, alcohol, you name it and Gilbert was there to not only witness it but to experience the effects of those addictions on their relationship. When I say things got ugly, I'm not really doing it justice because they were U-G-L-Y without any alibi in sight anywhere. It got so bad that Gilbert contemplated killing Rayya and making it look like an accident.  

The story is very well told. Gilbert is a good author if nothing else. It's a love story, a story of passion and obsession, a story about codependency and love addiction, a story about an addict relapsing, a story about grief, a story about confronting the darkest side of your own nature when your life spins out of control.  Rayya is brought vividly to life in technicolor. Having said that, I've come to view Gilbert with a tad sense of skepticism and caution: trust but verify.  I simply can't help but believe that this woman would write anything that she thinks would sell. And maybe this was her complete rock-bottom moment - when her grand passion and co dependency for Rayya led her down so many dark paths that she thought that she would actually kill her.  What I didn't need, was the self helpy, preachy part because guess what?  She's been peddling this stuff for YEARS.  I loved the gritty memoir. I loved reading about what happened with her and Rayya and the ups and downs and her experiences but I could do without the preachiness from someone that, in my humble opinion, hasn't learned from any of the other experiences that she has had and written about.  It also felt really icky and exploitative. Of Rayya and her last days.  

::shrugs:: would I recommend it?  Yes, but go in forewarned and don't be afraid to chuck it if it gets to be too much for you.  

REVIEW Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

 

Shelby Tebow, a young and new mother, has gone missing in her upscale Chicago suburb during a late night run. Everyone starts looking at the husband. However, local doula Meredith and her daughter go missing shortly thereafter, which places this theory into doubt. Eleven years after the disappearances, Meredith's daughter has seemingly reappeared and people are trying to figure out what actually happened. The book bounces not only between different perspectives but also be tween different timelines. 

I don't know that I can be as thorough in my review since I don't want to give away too much - this is a thriller and a mystery after all. I felt like the buildup was very well done; however the end was too neatly presented to me with a bow on top and felt very, very predictable. The "villain" was very different in the end, character development wise, than at the beginning although if you're a complete sociopath maybe that isn't too much of a stretch (although I found myself saying - "Oh come ON really?!" a lot). I actually really enjoyed having the perspective of the other child in th e family after his sister disappeared and when she reappeared.  It's often a perspective that gets lost, so I truly appreciated it being there. 

That being said, I wish that I had a better story to follow and buy into. This just didn't do it for me.  I had to suspend my disbelief a bit too much. 

Links I love

 

It's still winter here but it's definitely getting warmer.  I've been so busy at work with getting prepped for things and digging out of the hole that vacation brings. I hope that everyone had a good week.

• Books with strong female leads.
• What the percentage on chocolate actually means.
• While I love having more daylight, daylight savings makes my sleep schedule weird. Here's why we have it. 
• There's a mountain mafia?
• Daniel Radcliffe and fav books/return to Broadway.
• Where to stream all of the best pic nominations.
• Historical fiction about women fighting fascism. 
• The best fairy books for adults.
• Here are the finalists for the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize.
• Indies choice lists are here.  
• Why is Anne Boleyn so fascinating?
• Books set in Iran and books about Venezuela.
• ?The books behind the Oscar nominees.
• The Oscars are Sunday night, here is how to watch. 
• The best mystery books of 2026 (so far).
• This was a fun quiz.
• 6 historical figures that died in bizarre ways. Cause you know, I'm morbid. And like history. 

REVIEW The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

 

I read Bel Canto by Ann Patchett many, many moons ago and enjoyed it.  She's exactly my type of author and this novel was not only shortlisted for the Pulitzer but was on the Women's Prize for fiction so of course I had to read it and it was well worth it. 

Danny and his older sister, Maeve, spend the vast majority of their childhood in an extravagant home in Pennsylvania called the Dutch House since the former owners were (you guessed it - Dutch). Their father loved it and bought it without telling their mother, who hated it. Their mother ultimately leaves and their father remarries a stepmother that isn't fond of her new stepchildren (and they are kicked out after he dies!).  This novel is told from Danny's perspective.

I LOVED the writing style.  It was quick and easy and never something that I considered to be a chore (which, let's be real, some books absolutely are!). But it's not really historical fiction. At all.  It's more of a novel about families and relationships - and could have taken place at any point in history. I loved Maeve and Danny. All the characters frankly were so colorful and lively it was like I was in the middle of things while they interacted around me. I loved how Danny and Maeve interacted with each other - they love each other and it was both touching and divine to experience. The book moved very well - I never felt that it was too slow or too fast, although it seemed like there were a lot  of rich white people problems!

Definitely recommended. 

REVIEW: Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman

 

I was nervous about reading a book about running.  I came to utilize running later in life. As an athlete, I had always had running used as a punishment and not something to really be enjoyed. And I was nervous about an athlete memoir.  But this was different.  Ms. Fleshman tells her story but she also exposes the difficulties and issues in the running world (both amateur, collegiate and professional) that so negatively impacts the women that choose to engage in this activity. 

Fleshman, in describing her experiences, confronts things like eating disorders head on. There are often explicit descriptions of disordered eating and the impact that it had on the runners that she encountered, including herself. She discusses puberty (and its impact on runners), going pro and the competitive pressures that high level runners often faced. I loved that her book put into words the struggles that female athletes often faced, but remained silent about. She combined scientific studies with her own story in order to tell these stories and it was effective.  The writing was simple and effective.  

This is an important book, although read with caution if you are worried about eating disorder issues. 

Links I love

 

During the last week in February, we were in St. John, USVI.  It is my favorite of the islands and also the smallest of the three.  This weeks links therefore will likely be longer because we skipped a week. We got in last Saturday, arriving home at close to 2 AM. We were all pretty happy but tired.

• Netflix has a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice coming out and here is the trailer. 
• 10 books that changed Martha Hickson's life. 
• The finalists for the PEN Faulkner award.
• 6 islands with dark histories. 
• 9 black women who changed history. 
• These novels look good!
• Should your  muscles shake during a workout?
• I'm always looking for quick breakfasts that are also healthy. 
• Suicide prevention for midlife women.
• disney villains inspired by real people. 
• 10 places that look like they're from ACOTAR. 
• The best music biopics according to Rotten Tomatoes. 
• Daylight savings and how it impacts your sleep. 
• The culprit behind the death of reading. 
• Women's long prize for fiction is announced. 
• 9 Women who were written out of history books.
• What inspired Romeo and Juliet.
• The history of Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.

I hope that everyone has a good week!

REVIEW The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden

 This novel is all over the place given that it's being made into a movie in short order. It's a very quick and easy read too, which provides a nice break. Millie is the main character of this novel and she lands a really great job as a housemaid after being released from prison. She's hopeful and wondering if her background is a secret from her new employers, who hired her so quickly that she wonders if a background check was actually performed. Her new boss, Nina Winchester, however, is incredibly odd and really abusive in Millie's eyes.  Everything is soon flipped on its head in this novel.

This was a super quick read for me and exactly what I needed after some heavier reads. I couldn't put the novel down and kept reading even when I knew that I should be sleeping, working, cooking dinner, whatever. The plots are pretty good, but sometimes I want an easy read and this gave me that. I didn't  have to chart out characters or plots.  

I will say this - it's a very gory thriller. There is a lot of abuse, domestic violence and other not  so fuzzy or friendly things in it that might give you pause. 

Very much glad that I read it.