General Fiction | Book Chatter

Go Ask Fannie
By Elisabeth Hyde
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780735218567, April 10, 2018, 304pp.

The Short of It:

This family’s story tugged at my heart.

The Rest of It:

Murray Blaire is getting on in years. At 81, he’s set in his ways but still present enough to know the importance of family. In an attempt to convince his youngest adult daughter that the man she is seeing is far too old for her and a real jerk, he invites his three children up for a long weekend.

Ruth as the eldest, figures it’s a good time to discuss the possibility of long-term care before her father actually needs it but Lizzie and George and most of all, Murray, just aren’t ready to talk about it. Plus, Lizzie quickly figures out the real reason for the visit and although she realizes she made many mistakes in her life, she’s not quite ready to address them. Certainly not in front of her judgmental older sister.

This is family drama at its best. Go Ask Fannie is a touching story about what it takes to have a successful marriage and raise a family while still maintaining a sense of self. Lillian and Murray lived a wonderful life but her death and the death of their son Daniel place a cloud over this family that cannot be ignored. Murray’s grief and the weight of loss his kids carry is palpable. It’s a story about missed opportunities and second chances. It’s sweet and well-told and comes together beautifully at the end.

Elisabeth Hyde is a new-to-me author but I really enjoyed her writing. Go Ask Fannie is a book many will enjoy this summer.

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

The Flight Attendant
By Chris Bohjalian
Doubleday Books, 9780385542418, March 2018, 368pp.

The Short of It:

An intoxicated flight attendant with an insatiable appetite for men, goes on a bender and wakes up next to a corpse.

The Rest of It:

Flight attendants visit some pretty exotic places but even with all that promise of adventure, things can be pretty routine while on the job. For Cassie, flirting with the passengers is pretty routine. Sneaking shots of vodka while working is also pretty routine and finding a guy to sleep with as soon as you land? Also pretty routine.

Cassie arranges to meet one of the passengers from her flight for dinner and drinks. Dubai has many luxurious bars and hotels but her only requirement is that the rest of her crew need not know any of it. It’s none of their business anyway, right? So when she wakes up next to Alex, a hedge fund manager whom she hardly knows, and sees the gaping wound to his neck, she panics because she cannot remember the evening and wonders if she was the one to murder him. Was she?

Cassandra Bowden’s alcoholic tendencies is what lands her in trouble but even sober, Cassie is not someone you feel sorry for because she’s somewhat calculated and makes really stupid mistakes over and over again. She is very hard to like and in the end, you won’t like her but that’s okay because the story still had me turning those pages.

However, the story has its weak moments. It’s a little repetitive. She gets drunk often and like The Girl on the Train, I tired of it quickly. I feel like the story could have taken many different directions which was good because I couldn’t tell how it would end but the ending was not realistic to me.

This is a book that I enjoyed purely for its page-turning lure. You’ll want to know the outcome and there are enough setbacks and wild moments to keep you guessing.

Have you read it? What did you think?

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

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