Fiction | Book Chatter

The Dogs of Littlefield
By Suzanne Berne
Simon & Schuster, Hardcover, 9781476794242, January 2016, 288pp.

The Short of It:

Perfect suburban neighborhoods are anything but perfect.

The Rest of It:

Littlefield, Massachusetts, is this perfect little town filled with psychologists and professors, wide open spaces and dogs, lots of dogs. But as perfect as it sounds, the dogs are off-leash and the neighborhood is divided over whether to allow them to continue to go off-leash or to impose leash laws. In the middle of this debate, someone is poisoning dogs one by one which has set the entire neighborhood on edge.

On the surface, there is a lot of dog talk but really, as with any suburban neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else or at least seems to think they know everything about everyone else, there is a lot of conflict between husbands and wives, friends, etc. The white picket fences are just an illusion, really.

However, what could have been a really strong read was really just okay in my book. Halfway through, the story seemed to lose steam even though there was still plenty to know about what was going on in the neighborhood. But Berne’s depiction of suburbia was pretty spot-on and that is what carried me through.

In the end, I enjoyed getting to know a new author but wish that the pacing had held up a little better.

Source: Borrowed
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The Yard
By Aliyyah Eniath
Speaking Tiger Books, April 2016, 284pp

The Short of It:

An engaging family tale.

The Rest of It:

From the publisher:

Behrooz is brought to The Yard, a familial housing complex in Trinidad and Tobago, where he struggles to belong. His adoptive father is kindhearted, but other family members are guarded about the new addition. They contend that Behrooz will betray his family by defiling his adoptive sister, Maya, a rebellious girl who was not romantically forbidden to him under Islamic Law.

Behrooz and Maya form a childish alliance and later, struggle with romantic attraction. After they share a night of adolescent tenderness, Maya, fearing retribution, flees to London where she pursues her artistic talent. Behrooz painstakingly rebuilds his life and marries another. When tragedy strikes, Maya returns to her childhood home. There, she and Behrooz must face up to old demons. Can their love endure? Even after Maya is dealt the most “righteous” blow of all?

This book was a bit of a surprise for me. I’m not sure what I expected but I didn’t expect to be pulled into this family’s story so quickly. Behrooz’s situation tugged at my heart. Abandoned with no place to go, he is quickly taken into this family but not without angst. Maya is quick to share her displeasure but when the two forge a bond, I can’t say it was surprising when their attraction for one another grew, but it added just enough conflict for the story to hold my interest.

Parts of the story seemed a little too easy or maybe developed too quickly? But overall, I found myself completely absorbed with this family’s story. I feel that the author did a good job of portraying the family itself and although much of it takes place in The Yard, I felt as if I got enough from the setting to understand the motivation of some of the characters.

In the end, I am glad I read it and enjoyed it even though it’s quite different from what I normally read.