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This nonfiction book is subtitled The Untold Story of a Family Tragedy. We first meet Nathan Carman, who’s autistic, when he's plucked from a life raft way off the New England coast. He looks in surprisingly good shape for someone whose boat sank six days ago. And where was his mother, Linda, who'd been on this fishing trip with him? There are so many strands of weirdness in the Carman family: a wealthy patriarch who doted on Nathan, his first grandson; Linda, who wanted to get close to her son but was often shut out by his autistic behavior; and Linda's jealous sisters. Sometimes Nathan appears unkempt and undone, but he can also look respectable and talks a good game. Investigations and legal procedures come to nothing, despite the chilling and suspicious circumstances. The book's style is cut and dried, like a police procedural, but the material is utterly haunting.
Dismembered bodies keep appearing in this small Amish community, and it's up to Kate, the police chief, to find the suspect. She was once embedded in the community; she broke away but knows the language (Deitch) and the culture, which helps her gain access to these very private households. But nobody's talking, especially when suspicion falls on respected families. The custom of allowing teenagers a year of untrammeled behavior, called rumspringa, sometimes leads them into unsavory places, and that's how a seemingly upstanding young man gets into a nightmarish situation. One thing I particularly appreciate about this mystery series: the author seamlessly follows sentences in Deitch with the translation.
Subtitled 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences. This sounds very dry, primarily for writers. Guess what: solid advice is leavened with so much wit and inside dope, it's fun to read. Each half of this married couple (Annie refers to Neal as "her own personal husband") has something to say about the other's approach. It's like hanging out with them in the parlor, intimate and charming. Great illustrations of good writing, too. (If I followed their guidance, I'd excise all "very's" and "actually's" I use in these reviews to convey my enthusiasm.) Whether or not you're a writer, perusing this book will give you insights into how good writing is developed, as you chuckle along with the authors' often snarky if loving commentary.
In 1952, Penelope gets a strange invitation to visit distant relations in Mexico. She's in a financial bind—an alcoholic husband, a literary journal in need of funds, two children and one on the way. Her relatives, the Delaneys, are two aged sisters who have their eye on Penelope's 6-year-old son since they have no other heirs and might just leave their silver-mining fortune to him. So mother and son make the long journey from London to the fictitiously- named Fonseca in Mexico and find themselves in a very peculiar set up: a huge house filled with others who are also eyeing that money to fund their projects. Characters from real life appear, like the artist Edward Hopper and his wife. Their three-month stay is full of adventures and confusion, including a flirtation between Penelope and a charming fellow that muddies the already murky waters. Until the author's note at the end, I didn't realize this was a historical novel based on the writer Penelope Fitzgerald, but this odd interlude in her life had little documentation. Kane fills in the blanks with research and imagination to bring us a fascinating, dreamlike tale.
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