Review 143: The Turner House

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The book is about the larger Turner family, Francis and Viola had 13 children, who grew up in Detroit. Through the decades they saw the decline of manufacturing, white flight, drugs, gangs, and the overall decay of their city. Now the family home is falling apart and the house is worth ten percent of the mortgage value.

The book alternates viewpoints with the most time spent on the oldest child, Cha Cha and the youngest Lelah. The oldest is going through what would be a mid-life crisis, except he is older, nearing retirement. The youngest still hasn’t figured out how to take care of herself and is tired of relying on others, her siblings, or even her adult daughter to bail her out. The main plot of the book is the family conversation of what to do with the family home, and their mother is slowly dying.

While the book held together with all these characters, we don’t get a conclusion on much except a glimpse at how the family got started. There’s also the ghost or haint that is bothering Cha Cha, and that has a little resolution. As one may expect with so many people, you don’t get a clear understanding of each Turner, only a few are fully portrayed and others are character stand-ins. The book has a family tree in the front pages, yet many of the people listed there aren’t even mentioned in the book.

Some parts of this book I was interested in -- Lelah, her story kept me going to read to the end, but there was more there that could have been fleshed out. If the book did well it may be something where each of the thirteen could have their own book written about them. Doubtful that will be undertaken by the author, but her world created was believable for the most part.


I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 142: Facing Frederick

Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man by Tonya Bolden
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This book’s audience is young people aged 10 to 14. The writing style reflects that and is an easy read. It is also a decent read. Frederick Douglass led a full life, most of it in the public. This book is a great place for adults to learn the outline of Douglass’ life, and with the bibliography at the end, has idea where to dig in deeper.

The book is well decorated, with a ribbon around the edging and contains many photographs, woodcuts and other images. Frederick Douglass was found of photography and he sat to have his picture taken many times. It was said he was the most photographed American of the 19th century.

Since I received a free copy of this book at a library conference the advance reader copy I have is in black and white. It is noted the book is published in color. I’m sure it looks spectacular.

I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Previous book on Douglass: 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself

read twice, last October 2003.

Review 141: My Struggle: Dancing in the Dark

My Struggle: Book 4 - Dancing in the Dark by Karl Ove Knausgård
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This installment of the series is mostly about Karl Ove's one year teaching, when he was 18 to 19, in Northern Norway. There is some backwards looking, and briefly going forward, but mostly around that time of teaching. It's a very small town where he is teaching. They always have young temporary teachers, people don't seem to stay. Since his age was only a couple years older than some of the students he has attractions, but doesn't act on anything. He does briefly go out with a 16 year old that is going to school in another town close by and his students remark on it. Karl Ove breaks it off quickly, before anything really develops with her.

The book is mostly linear, but there are some points when he goes back in time, and also briefly forward. One part he said years later, maybe eleven, he wrote a novel (his first) about that time as a teacher, most of it was the school, town and the characters. He worried what the people from the town would think. Then two girls came to see him speak, from the town. They had met up at a coffee shop. Karl Ove was nervous, of course, and one was the young girl in the school that he liked, and wrote about. They discussed it briefly and turned out to be okay. Nothing every happened either, by then he was married.

The book is still continuing the relationship with his father. A large part of the digression from the main story line was about the time when his parents split up, his dad started drinking a lot. Karl Ove is drinking a lot in this book as well, and there seem to be similarities that aren't discussed.

I found myself getting a little bored with some of the teenage boyhood desires for a date, for having sex with someone, anyone. It occupied more of the books pages than I wanted to read. I'll still continue on the series, most likely, but it may be some time before I get to the next book. Hopefully not three years like this one took.

Previous books read in series:

• My Struggle: Book 1: Death in the Family 
• read: May.06-24, 2016
• My Struggle: Book 2: A Man in Love 
• read: July.05-Aug.08 2016
• My Struggle: Book 3: Boyhood
• read: May.15-24 2017

All rated 5 stars

Review 140: The Milkman's Son

The Milkman's Son: A Memoir of Family History, a DNA Mystery, and a Story of Paternal Love by Randy Lindsay
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


The writing style in the book was conversational, informal, like you were sitting down with the author and he was telling you his story. This is Randy Lindsay’s story of how he found out, late in life, that the man who raised him wasn’t his biological dad. With more people taking DNA tests alongside genealogy research, more situations like this are being discovered. Families are more complex than we thought. In the past unmarried women were socially frowned upon so strongly that secrets about parentage of their children was more important than the truth. That seems to be the case here, as Lindsay’s mother refused to talk about how his dad wasn’t his biological dad.

While reading the book it comes up often that Lindsay was teased by his younger siblings as being the “Milkman’s son” since he didn’t resemble any of them. Lindsay’s way of expressing emotions and dealing with life was also different. When he discovered by DNA that he was only a half-sibling it started to make sense. Much of the book is about discovering who this other family is and their connection.

I found the writing style enjoyable, and it kept me reading, but some details included in the book were odd choices. There was a huge focus on food, which is okay I guess, since food and family often go together. There were odd financial decisions, as well as Lindsay’s wife, as a very minor character in the book. Having his wife so sidelined seemed odd to me. Parts of the book seemed amateurish, but other areas were engaging.

I found the premise behind the book to be one of those surprising things about life, how more connected to each other we are than we actually know. For the author and the emotional journey, this probably was a difficult book to write. In the end, I’m glad to have read the book and happy he shared his story with us as readers.


Book rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up

Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected advanced electronic review copy of this book.

Review 139: Big Summer

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Yeah, I’d call this a beach read. We have a young twenty-something that makes some money as an influencer on Instagram and makes the rest of her money by part-time babysitting two kids after school. Daphne’s deal is she is plus sized, and she influences on fashion and gear for her body type. It’s still difficult for Daphne, and her past with the comments kids made still roam through her head all the time.

The plot of the book evolved around a friend, Drue, who is nearly the opposite of Daphne. Drue is rich, beautiful, thin and one of those types who actually treats friends awful, which is why it’s been six years since their friendship had ended. But Drue is back and asked Daphne to be in her wedding, after apologies, and promises of being different now. Well, the wedding will help Daphne’s social media accounts, and perfect timing with the new line of clothing Daphne is now showcasing.

Anyway, there are good aspects to the book, but the plot got a bit boring for myself, honestly. And all the minute details about what people are wearing and other information was excessive. I realize the main character would likely pay attention to these details, but sometimes a glossing over would be nice.

Then the book shifts, dramatically, in part 2. And here the writing seemed to suffer. The characters seemed to act differently than what they were drawn out to be like. There was a weird path that Daphne took, that wasn’t explained very well why she was doing this. But yet this did make the book somewhat more interesting.

I’m sure there will be many fans of this book. The author has a long list of books already to her name. Just don’t expect too much, enjoy the temporary diversion.


Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review