Wilde Lake - Laura Lippman (United States)

Started: July 24, 2016

Finished: Aug 12, 2016

Country: United States

This is the first book by Laura Lippman that I have ever read. I read it as part of a reading challenge. I think Ms. Lippman has been a well-respected author for quite some time. I gave this book 3 stars because I couldn't give it 2.5 stars. 

My issue about the book was that I was never very interested in some aspects of the personal life of the main female character - Lu - especially when the book  talked about Lu's relationship with Brash, a childhood friend of her brother. I just didn't care and kept wanting the storyline regarding the crime, or should I say crimes, to continue. The interruptions with the Lu/Brash storyline were annoyances to me - as though the author included them because she had decided that her book had to be a certain number of pages and used the Lu/Brash storyline as filler, to get her there.

I will admit I did not see the ending coming, so perhaps that justifies giving the book 3 stars. I may give the author another chance - this may not have been the best "first book" to read. In a few weeks I will be listening to a podcast that will be discussing this book, so perhaps I will post an update after that, as it may cause me to reconsider the rating and this review. 

The High Mountains of Portugal - Yann Martel (Portugal)

Initially, I was not quite sure how to rate this book. In many ways the ending was a fitting way to unite the three separate chapters of the book, but it still left me feeling a bit confused. The book is really the story of one family, that is cleverly (and creatively?) told over three chapters, though the middle chapter definitely takes a quirky turn, and it is only after reading the last chapter that things seem to fall into place somewhat. I found the characters interesting, all of them, and when I finished the book I found myself still thinking about all of them (both human and animal).

The book has elements of "One Hundred of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I kept thinking that if I could spend time in the village of Tuizelo, as depicted in the book, it would be a very nice place indeed. Slowing down the pace of my life to enjoy the little things: a walk in the mountains, a relaxing cup of coffee in the town's cafe, taking off my watch and not worrying about the passage of time, reading books, one after the other so that my TBR pile got smaller and smaller, and trying to talk with the local villagers who would (I imagine) accept me with all my foibles, idiosyncrasies, and my mangling of the Portuguese language. Though no electricity would be a big hurdle for me to overcome - just being honest!

I don't feel compelled to compare this book to his more famous book, "Life of Pi" and that might be because it's been more than 10 years since I read that book. As a result, I was able to accept the characters in this book as he presented them, and treat this book as a book worthy of its own consideration and review.