Book Review: Baby (Thriller/Suspense)

Baby

by

Annaleese Jochems

Publisher: Scribe Publications
Publication Date: 5th March 2019
Pages: 272
RRP: $29.99
Format Read: Paperback Advance Reading Copy.
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading 

 

 

‘Cynthia can understand how Anahera feels just by looking at her body.’

Cynthia is twenty-one, bored and desperately waiting for something big to happen. Her striking fitness instructor, Anahera, is ready to throw in the towel on her job and marriage. With stolen money and a dog in tow they run away and buy ‘Baby’, an old boat docked in the Bay of Islands, where Cynthia dreams they will live in a state of love. But strange events on an empty island turn their life together in a different direction.

I can’t say I loved this book but it certainly was compelling reading. It’s not a book to be loved; it’s a dark story of obsession, both possessive and self.

It takes place over a relatively short period of time. There is very little before in the telling.

Cynthia is a young woman of 21 but she looks and acts much younger. She runs away with Anahera, her fitness instructor.

Cynthia’s mind is chaotic, she flits from highs to lows and as the story is in her POV it makes the story also quite chaotic. She is constantly internally obsessing over Anahera’s love for her.

Cynthia has no conscience; her only thoughts are what Cynthia needs and what Cynthia wants. She was a complex character easily obsessed and just as easily bored.

I wasn’t sure where the story was heading until a third character was introduced that completely changed the dynamics of the plot. A male is introduced who is also interested in Anahera and he will not so easily pander to Cynthia’s moods.

 The setting of the boat was both claustrophobic and atmospheric. The characters could not easily get away from each other which made for some volatile scenes

The characters have no past and what little we do learn is unreliable as to its truth.

This is a strangely compelling read and I was intrigued to find out what would happen next.

Baby is a tautly written dark satire on the age of entitlement and self obsession.

My Rating  3.5/5     ⭐⭐⭐½

#BRPreview

Content: minimal coarse language

                 some violence

                 sexual references

Photo credit: Scribe Publications

Annaleese Jochems was born in 1994 and grew up in Northland. 

She won the 2016 Adam Prize from the International Institute of Modern Letters and the 2018 Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction for Baby, which is her first book.

 

Book Review: Louis & Louise (Contemporary Fiction)

Louis & Louise

by

Julie Cohen

Publisher: Orion
Publication date: 29th January 2019
Pages: 304
RRP: $29.99
Format Read: Trade paperback
Source: Courtesy of Hachette Aus via Books on the Rail

 

If you could look at one life in two different ways, what would you see?

Louis and Louise are separated by a single moment in time, a strike of chance that decided their future. The day they were born is when their story begun.

In one, Louis David Alder is born a male.
In the other, Louise Dawn Alder is born a female.

Louis and Louise are the same in many ways - they have the same best friends, the same parents, the same dream of being a writer and leaving their hometown in Maine as soon as they can. But because of their gender, everything looks different.

Certain things will happen in their lives to shape them, hurt them, build them back up again. But what will bring them back home?

 

 

Cohen’s idea of the same person living two lives, one as a female and one as a male simultaneously is novel and intriguing.

Louise Dawn Alder is born to Peggy and Irving Alder on 8^th September 1978 and

Louis David Alder is born to Peggy and Irving Alder on 8^th September 1978.

In the ensuing story the combined child is Lou. They pretty much do everything the same; climbing, whistling, talking but slowly small differences start to emerge by their 4^th year. Lou is best friends with twins Allie and Benny and it was interesting to see how the twin’s lives differed because of their friend’s gender.

The stories diverge at times and the chapters are headed by either Louise or Louis and we see how their lives take different paths, even though their dreams were very similar when they were younger, but it was not only Louis and Louise’s life that was altered but also those of the people around them. Showing how some choices have a domino effect, affecting others.

The town of Casablanca and the Paper Mill have important parts in the story. The residents of Casablanca, a small town in Maine, rely on the paper mill for their livelihood, either working in the mill or providing services to mill workers. The mill, owned my Lou’s grandfather is the lifeblood of the town but when the workers strike it tears the town apart and creates a rift in the friendship of Lou, Allie and Benny.

With a main theme of gender Cohen also explores small town communities, death, divorce, cancer clusters, love, pain and forgiveness.

A unique concept and emotively written, certainly food for thought. Do you treat your sons and daughters differently?

Content: coarse language

                  sexual references

                  violent scenes

My rating: 4 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

photo credit: Hachette Australia

 

Julie Cohen studied at Brown University, earning a summa cum laude degree with honours in English.

She moved to the UK to pursue a postgraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Reading and this was followed by a career teaching English at secondary level.

She has written twenty books, including the Richard and Judy Book Club pick Dear Thing. She lives with her husband, a guitar tech for rock bands, and their son in Berkshire, where she writes full time.