Norway | Book Chatter

The Woman in Cabin 10
By Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout Press, Hardcover, 9781501132933, July 19, 2016, 352pp.

The Short of It:

The Woman in Cabin 10 is seriously hard to put down and every time I did, I was even more excited to pick it up again.

The Rest of It:

Because her boss is unable to make the trip, Lo Blacklock takes her place on the maiden voyage of the Aurora, a luxury cruise ship headed for the fjords of Norway. This is an opportunity of a lifetime for Lo, whose journalistic career has been less than stellar. For a travel writer, a trip like this could really turn her career around.

A few days before the trip, her apartment is burglarized and her face-to-face run-in with the burglar prompts her to re-live the anxiety attacks she’s experienced in the past. Armed with anxiety medication and fortified by drink, she decides not to let the incident stop her and boards the ship with a small, but select group of guests. When Lo witnesses what she believes to be a murder, her anxiety spirals out-of-control as she tries to get the ship’s staff to take her seriously.

The Woman in Cabin 10 is what I wanted The Girl on the Train to be. Lo is an unreliable narrator. Her affinity for drink and her anxiety cause you to second guess her at every turn but at the same time, she’s likable and you can’t help but feel sorry for her. The story is good. It keeps you guessing without being too obvious. and the pacing is tight. It’s suspenseful and twisty in all the right places.

Basically, it’s exactly what you want in a summer read. I am dying to get my hands on more books like this one because it sure gave me something to look forward to while on lunch at work!

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

Child Wonder
By Roy Jacobsen
(Graywolf Press, Paperback, 9781555975951, September, 27, 2011, 256pp.)

The Short of It:

A touching, coming-of-age story.

The Rest of It:

Finn and his mother live in a small apartment in Oslo, in the early 60s. She works in a shoe shop and does her best to make ends meet. They are comfortable and happy. Finn’s father died long ago in a crane accident but he left a little something behind…a daughter. Linda, age 6 and only a few years younger than Finn, comes to live with them. With another mouth to feed, Finn’s mom takes in a quirky lodger.

I’m not sure what I expected when picking this book up but I wasn’t expecting to be completely charmed by Finn. Finn is a great kid. He’s not the most popular kid but he’s not an outcast either. Living alone with his mother has given him a sense of maturity that you don’t normally see in a child his age, but he still possesses that child like wonder that makes this particular age so special.

Finn’s mother is firm, but wonderful and they watch out for each other quite a bit. When Linda comes to live with them, Finn is not sure what to think. Out of nowhere, this half-sister arrives and he immediately sees that she’s not quite right. But there is no jealously here. Just a fierce need to protect her and Finn does exactly that.

What the lodger provides, is a man’s perspective. Something Finn has never had. Although he resents having to have a lodger, he learns to live with the guy because for one, he has a TV and two, he’s nice company for his mother.

Towards the end of the story, something happens that changes the way they live and once again they are forced to readjust to their new lives. I was a bit sad when I read the ending, but as stricken as the characters are, they accept their situation and continue to grow.

There are many things that I liked about this book. It’s a very simple story and because it’s so simple, you can focus on the characters and they are really wonderfully drawn. I liked that Finn was not a babbling child but a child with a good head upon his shoulders. I liked that his mother was not perfect, but was a really good mom. I also loved the development of Linda, the half-sister.

All in all, reading this book was a pleasant experience and reminded me of what it’s like to be a child in a grown-up world.

Note from Ti: This book comes out September 27, 2011, but since I liked it so much, I decided to review it early.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.