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Those words in the title appear often in this fictionalized memoir, lobbed at the author by her dead mother, who followed up with variations like, "you talk too much!" Jen needs to confront her mother and explore where the darkness and periodic brutality in their relationship arose from. Much came from the Chinese culture of corporal punishment, the rigidity of family hierarchies, and her mother's deep disappointment in the course of her own life; she almost got a Ph.D. but along came five children. In the end, there's love and admiration as well as pain between them, so the book serves as a tribute as well as an expose. A workout, for both Jen and this reader, but so worth it.
Driving in wintertime in upstate New York is challenging, especially for Nan, a college professor, whose little daughter was killed on that very road a while ago. Nan hits what she thinks is a deer, but police find evidence linking her car to the death of a favorite student of hers. The academic community is mean and full of secrets, and things get very tough for Nan until the perpetrator is unmasked, at last. A psychological thriller that gripped me.
The protagonist, Kachemak, returns to the small town in Alaska where he grew up but fled years ago. Embarrassedly, he was named for the bay where he was conceived. His aunt insists he come back to deal with his family's homestead cabin, apparently abandoned since his father and brother died in a plane crash two decades ago. To his surprise, he finds it inhabited by Nadia, a young woman who escaped from a bad marriage; she and her brutal husband came from a village of Old Believers, a splinter religious group of Russian immigrants who settled there years ago. Nadia's understandably wary, but she and Kache ultimately strike up a mutually supportive relationship. Vivid atmosphere, reflecting the intensity and beauty of the landscape, and its effect on those who live there.
Lys has a hard life in San Francisco as a single mother. She gets a chance to go solo camping in Sonoma. Thick fog surrounds her, and a light in the distance leads her to Greengage, a small agricultural community that seems like a place out of time. The set-up: at the time of the 1906 earthquake, fog surrounded the land which encompassed Greengage and shielded it from destruction. The catch: any living being from Greengage who tried to venture outside it dies. Lys is confused, then charmed, especially by their founder, Joseph. Turns out she can pass through the fog with no ill effects, and time is very distorted, so she can move between Greengage and her contemporary life at various intervals. An intriguing fantasy, where what seems tranquil and satisfying is also a trap.
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