Environmental Issues | Book Chatter

The Bird Hotel
By Joyce Maynard
Published by Arcade, May 2, 2023,9781956763737, 432 pp.

The Short of It:

Maynard never fails to tell a story, and tell it well.

The Rest of It:

After a childhood filled with heartbreak, Irene, a talented artist, finds herself in a small Central American village where she checks into a beautiful but decaying lakefront hotel called La Llorona at the base of a volcano.

The Bird Hotel tells the story of this young American who, after suffering tragedy, restores and runs La Llorona. Along the way we meet a rich assortment of characters who live in the village or come to stay at the hotel. With a mystery at its center and filled with warmth, drama, romance, humor, pop culture, and a little magical realism, The Bird Hotel has all the hallmarks of a Joyce Maynard novel that have made her a leading voice of her generation. ~ Indiebound

I was delightfully surprised by this novel. I expected to love it, but I didn’t expect La Llorona to find a place in my heart. I love it when a home, village or dwelling is so well-imagined that it takes on an identity of its own. The crumbling hotel with all its challenges is lovingly restored by Irene. Her sensitivity to the environment around her and the respect she has for the hotel’s original staff, earns her respect in the village.

People come to La Llorona for many reasons. To get away from it all, to find elusive herbs, to profit off the locals and yes, sometimes to hide as Irene continues to lay low to protect the secret she is hiding. Irene’s grief over losing a child and husband continues to grow and hold her captive, Memories of her mother’s last words replay in her head. She is heavy with grief and La Llorona gently calls her mind to other things.

People come together. Some become family, others become enemies. There’s heartache and great displays of loyalty. I found myself completely absorbed by the hotel and its people. It was one of those reads that you fall right into.

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Damnation Spring
By Ash Davidson
Scribner, 9781982144401, August 2021, 464pp.

The Short of It:

Slow build, but worth it in the end.

The Rest of It:

Colleen and Rich Gundersen are raising their young son, Chub, on the rugged California coast. It’s 1977, and life in this Pacific Northwest logging town isn’t what it used to be. For generations, the community has lived and breathed timber; now that way of life is threatened. ~ Indiebound

Damnation Spring is about a lot of things. That is why the story is sticking with me even though I finished it a few days ago. Colleen and Rich don’t have the perfect marriage but there’s love there, especially for their young son Chub. But after eight miscarriages, Colleen wants nothing more than to carry a baby to term but there’s a problem. The spray used to control the growth in their logging community is poisoning their water. Colleen, an amateur midwife to the other women in the community has seen the proof of it more than she cares to admit. Babies, born with half a brain, and now her own sister is pregnant.

Colleen’s determination at finding the cause for her miscarriages creates problems for Rich and his logging team. He wants to ignore it but when he looks at his son Chub, he also doesn’t want to endanger his life or Colleen’s. Plus, he has a financial stake in all of this because he purchased a large part of the land, with the hopes to sell the timber but there are challenges there too. Roads, not owned by him. You might own the timber but you can’t get it out if the roads aren’t available to you.

This was a rich, complicated story about people trying to survive. I loved the complexity of the characters. There is a rawness to the story too. The beauty of the timber, the destruction of the forest, the poisoning of the water and everything around it trying so hard to survive. It was very good and I didn’t notice its length at nearly 500 pages.

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provide by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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