I'll Take You There: A Novel by Wally Lamb

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

In this radiant homage to the resiliency, strength, and power of women, Wally Lamb—author of numerous New York Times bestselling novels including She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much is True, and We Are Water—weaves an evocative, deeply affecting tapestry of one Baby Boomer’s life and the trio of unforgettable women who have changed it.

I’ll Take You There centers on Felix, a film scholar who runs a Monday night movie club in what was once a vaudeville theater. One evening, while setting up a film in the projectionist booth, he’s confronted by the ghost of Lois Weber, a trailblazing motion picture director from Hollywood’s silent film era. Lois invites Felix to revisit—and in some cases relive—scenes from his past as they are projected onto the cinema’s big screen.

In these magical movies, the medium of film becomes the lens for Felix to reflect on the women who profoundly impacted his life. There’s his daughter Aliza, a Gen Y writer for New York Magazine who is trying to align her post-modern feminist beliefs with her lofty career ambitions; his sister, Frances, with whom he once shared a complicated bond of kindness and cruelty; and Verna, a fiery would-be contender for the 1951 Miss Rheingold competition, a beauty contest sponsored by a Brooklyn-based beer manufacturer that became a marketing phenomenon for two decades. At first unnerved by these ethereal apparitions, Felix comes to look forward to his encounters with Lois, who is later joined by the spirits of other celluloid muses.

Against the backdrop of a kaleidoscopic convergence of politics and pop culture, family secrets, and Hollywood iconography, Felix gains an enlightened understanding of the pressures and trials of the women closest to him, and of the feminine ideals and feminist realities that all women, of every era, must face.

my thoughts:

I'm a huge Wally Lamb fan. I just love She's Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, and The Hour I First Believed - they are such amazing and unforgettable stories.  So, of course I agreed to review his latest book, I'll Take You There.  In fact, I didn't even read the summary, because I just knew that I would be in for quite a treat.  Oh, how wrong I was.  This is the first Wally Lamb book I did not finish - ack! Its true. I tried so hard to keep reading and engage with this story, but I just couldn't.  From the start it didn't feel like a Wally Lamb story, which I admit threw me off a bit.  I figured that he was going for something different and kept on reading - I wish that I hadn't. 

Felix loves films and runs a movie night.  He's setting up a film when he meets a ghost - a woman named Lois Weber (a groundbreaking female director) - who tells him to watch a stack of film reels that will show him footage from his life.  Felix does as he's told and finds himself observing scenes from his life.  Sometimes, he actually relives the scenes.  As he watches/relives his life, he gets to learn new information about his family, specifically the women.  He gets to understand about the inequality they fought against, along with a host of other women's issues that they had to endure.  Its feminism 101 in a sense.  Except, Felix is already pretty open-minded, so he doesn't really need this crash course.  Then again, I didn't finish the book, so I'm not sure what he really learns from this experience.  I just know that I found the story lacking in depth - its exploration of feminism and women's issues was very light-weight.  And the characters were not well developed - they lacked substance.  In fact, I didn't care what happened to any of them.  As for the writing, it was terrific as per usual when it comes to Wally Lamb.  He has a way with words that is magical and lyrical.  Except, this time round, his writing abilities could not entice me to keep on reading.  The content of the story was just not my cup of tea, so I had to put the book down and call it a day.  Oh well.  I know that I'll still read his books.  I won't let this story affect my enthusiasm for Lamb's novels - they are usually superb reads. 

Anyhow, I must be in the minority when it comes to I'll Take You There, because I've read some other reviews of the book and they rave about it.  So, definitely check out what other bloggers have to say about this book - you may just LOVE it. 

Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: I'll Take You There

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!

We Are Water: A Novel by Wally Lamb

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

In middle age, Anna Oh—wife, mother, outsider artist—has shaken her family to its core. After twenty-seven years of marriage and three children, Anna has fallen in love with Vivica, the wealthy, cultured, confident Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her professional success.

Anna and Viveca plan to wed in the Oh family’s hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut, where gay marriage has recently been legalized. But the impending wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora’s Box of toxic secrets—dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs’ lives.

We Are Water is an intricate and layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs—nonconformist Annie; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest Oh. Set in New England and New York during the first years of the Obama presidency, it is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.

With humor and breathtaking compassion, Wally Lamb brilliantly captures the essence of human experience in vivid and unforgettable characters struggling to find hope and redemption in the aftermath of trauma and loss. We Are Water is vintage Wally Lamb—a compulsively readable, generous, and uplifting masterpiece that digs deep into the complexities of the human heart to explore the ways in which we search for love and meaning in our lives.

my thoughts:

Wally Lamb's latest opus is an excellent read.  It is an emotional, gripping story about a dysfunctional family and all of their dark, deep secrets. 

We Are Water focuses on the Oh family and the impending nuptials of matriarch Annie.  Married for over twenty years to Orion, this upcoming wedding is something of a shock to everyone.  You see, Orion thought that his marriage was rock solid - after all he was supporting his wife's artistic endeavors by agreeing to live apart for one whole year (eventually that year was extended).  He didn't understand her artwork, but he accepted that she needed to do this.  What Orion didn't expect was for Annie to tell him that she had fallen in love with Vivica - the woman who showcased her artwork and had given Annie a place to stay.  Talk about not being on the same page - at all!

Told via alternating narrators, we slowly become privy to the Oh family's differing opinions and perspectives on Annie's upcoming wedding.  We also find out a number of hidden secrets that the family have been kept buried for far too long.  Secrets that have caused friction and fractures within and outside of the Oh family.  Through these secrets, Lamb is able to explore a variety of themes, such as: love, family, sexuality, art, secrecy, and trust.   And, he is able to bridge the past and present so seamlessly, as well.  Of course, I do believe that a huge part of what makes this book so engaging is the use of stream of consciousness - I found it to be a perfect fit with these unlikeable, flawed characters.  Not only do we get to feel the familiarity that comes with being a member of the Oh family, but we also get to experience the discomfort and awkwardness that comes with the dissolution of a family. 


We Are Water is an amazing, unputdownable read - check it out!

Here's a link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: We Are Water

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!