Tag Archives: Kristen Corrado

On the shelf: ‘Cell’ by Stephen King

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By Kristen Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch

 

Stephen King is a divisive author — you either love him or hate him — but there aren’t many people who fall in the middle. I think that to really appreciate King’s work, you need to look past his reputation to see the themes in his writing: friendship, loyalty, steadfastness, a sense of fun. In many of his books, he spins modern day morality tales, only in his version, instead of wearing a scarlet A on your chest, something a little more sinister may happen to you. The great thing about King is that he never takes himself too seriously and in between the chaos and horror he creates, he will often throw in a laugh out loud moment.

 

In his latest work, Cell, King lets us in early on what is wrong with society today: we spend too much time talking on cell phones and not enough time talking to each other face to face. And what happens to people who spend too much time on their cells? The pulse, a frequency transmitted through their phone, fries their brains and they turn into zombie-like creatures who want to kill all the remaining unaffected people or “normies.”

 

The story follows down-on-his-luck illustrator Clayton Riddell, who after the pulse bands together with other normies to get back to his Maine hometown to find his estranged wife and son. As the very fabric of civilization falls down around him, Clayton and his travel partners struggle to maintain their humanity and hope. Their journey from Boston to Maine is not only a physical journey, but a mental one as well. They start out in denial of what has happened to their world but by the end of their journey they have come to the understanding that the world in which they now live is a very different place.

 

This is a classic King novel — fast moving, gripping and graphic. He writes relatable characters in realistic scenes. (Who would expect the apocalypse to happen as you were buying an ice cream cone? Who wouldn’t try and call a loved one in an emergency?) In the end his message is clear — bad things can happen when we start to lose touch with our humanity. And maybe cell phones aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

On the shelf: ‘The Almost Moon’ by Alice Sebold

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By Kristen Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch

 

So who hasn’t wanted to kill their mother from time to time? In Sebold’s latest novel, the narrator, Helen Knightly, murders her elderly mother in the first sequences of the book. The shocking act against her elderly mother seems both random and unemotional. She seems to feel nothing after committing the act, and her ill-fated attempts to cover up her actions only indicate that they came from a subconscious place within her.

 

As The Almost Moon unfolds, the story of Helen’s beautiful, yet mentally ill mother becomes clear. Her whole life, Helen and her father cater to her mother’s agoraphobia, the entire neighborhood is hostile to them, and Helen becomes her mother’s only link to the outside world. Both her childhood and adult life are overshadowed by her mother’s metal illness, and every action that Helen takes is based on what her mother would think or feel.

 

While not as gripping as Sebold’s first novel, The Lovely Bones, The Almost Moon examines how mental illness affects an entire family, how we can allow our past to color our future, and how if we are not ultimately true to ourselves, we end up living our lives for others. Above all else, what one should take away from this book is that if you are going to kill your mother, it might be a good idea to brush up on a few CSI episodes first.

 

 

On the shelf: ‘Sister Sister’ by Eric Jerome Dickey

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By Kristen Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

 

Sister, Sister is the book that launched Eric Jerome Dickey’s career. This book follows three women: Valerie, her sister Inda, and their friend Chiquita, who is dating their brother. The women are in various stages of relationships. Valerie is married and struggling to make it work. Inda is divorced and dating again. Unfortunately, it is with all the wrong men. And Chiquita thinks that she has found the perfect guy, but that is all an illusion.

 

This is a fun romance that follows three strong women as they struggle with their relationships with men and how to find strength in friendship. Valerie turns to her sister, Inda, for counsel when she senses her husband has lost interest in their relationship. But Inda has her own problems: first she meets her boyfriend Raymond’s “other girlfriend,” Chiquita; then the pair find Raymond with yet another woman, who turns out to be his fiancée.

 

There’s more: Thaddeus, Valerie and Inda’s brother, falls for Chiquita, who in turn has formed a sisterly bond with Inda, despite the less-than-ideal circumstances of their meeting. Point of view alternates between the various characters as Valerie, Chiquita, and Inda share their thoughts and feelings about their interlocking relationships with one another, with men, with family members, and with the past.

 

All of Dickey’s books have been bestsellers, and most have been about modern relationships. However, in his newer books, he has started writing thrillers. Sister, Sister is a good introduction to his work and a good place to start if you are interested in reading his 14 books.

On the shelf: ‘Hack’ by Melissa Plaut

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By Kristen Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

 

At age 29, Plaut, fed up with her desk job, decided to start living life as an adventure. She started working as a New York City cab driver. Hack chronicles her two years driving a cab in a city where 99% of cab drivers are men. She details her unusual passengers, avoiding run-ins with the police and crazy drivers and the challenges she faced in a male-dominated profession.

 

Throughout the book, readers see New York in a different way and gain a new respect for those who drive cabs: the long hours they work, how little they make, the dangerous situations they encounter. Often the book read just like a scene out of the TV show, Taxi. Hack is not only a fast and entertaining read but also a great behind the scenes look at an industry most have used, but few understand.