4.26.2013

Book Club Friday | The Cradle & The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

This week I read:
The description from Goodreads: 
Early one summer morning, Matthew Bishop kisses his still-sleeping wife Marissa, gets dressed and eases his truck through Milwaukee, bound for the highway. His wife, pregnant with their first child, has asked him to find the antique cradle taken years before by her mother Caroline when she abandoned Marissa, never to contact her daughter again. Soon to be a mother herself, Marissa now dreams of nothing else but bringing her baby home to the cradle she herself slept in. His wife does not know-does not want to know-where her mother lives, but Matt has an address for Caroline's sister near by and with any luck, he will be home in time for dinner.
Only as Matt tries to track down his wife's mother, he discovers that Caroline, upon leaving Marissa, has led a life increasingly plagued by impulse and irrationality, a mysterious life that grows more inexplicable with each new lead Matt gains, and door he enters. As hours turn into days and Caroline's trail takes Matt from Wisconsin to Minnesota, Illinois, and beyond in search of the cradle, Matt makes a discovery that will forever change Marissa's life, and faces a decision that will challenge everything he has ever known.
Elegant and astonishing, Patrick Somerville tells the story of one man's journey into the heart of marriage, parenthood, and what it means to be a family. Confirming the arrival of an exuberantly talented new writer, THE CRADLE is an uniquely imaginative debut novel that radiates with wisdom and wonder.
My Thoughts: 
I picked up this book at Dollar Tree.  It looked nice if you judge a book by it's cover (and I do).  The description was interesting so I thought that I would give it a try. 
This really was a great read and was worth my time.   It is a story about what really matters in life and how choices effect so many people.  Good things can happen at odd times.

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I also read:
Description from Goodreads:
In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage-clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital—where she has been locked away for more than sixty-one years.
Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme’s face. 
Esme has been labeled harmless—sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But she's still basically a stranger, a family member never mentioned by the family, and one who is sure to bring life-altering secrets with her when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit?
A gothic, intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox will haunt you long past its final page.

My Thoughts:
This is another book that I knew nothing about.  I saw it in our local used book store.  It had history and mystery so I decided to give it a chance.
I am glad that I did.  The book was very interesting.  There are no chapters.  Just one ongoing story told from  3 different angles.  Kitty, Esme, and Iris.  
It is very sad to see how people were treated years ago and what little you had to do to be put in an insane asylum.  There are so many secrets and it keeps you thinking about what could have been.
The one thing that I didn't love was the ending.  It just ended.  It stopped.  That was it.  While what happens in the last few pages is easy to figure out, there is not a lot of closure for the characters.

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