The Senator's Wife

Narrated alternately between Meri and Delia, this novel is primarily set in 1994 when the women become neighbors in homes with a shared wall in New England. Meri has recently "married up" after having grown up in a depressing home with almost no nurturing. She is not very concious of her search for a mother figure. Delia is an older woman who has been living alone, separated from her retired senator husband. They become friends, but there's a distance between them as they both face their struggles to find contentment in their circumstances. I enjoyed this novel at first, but it became laborious in the middle. The main points had been made and I was ready to move along. I recommend this book for someone in the mood for "chick-lit with some meat to it".

The Gargoyle

Andrew Davidson's first novel, The Gargoyle is a story told by an unnamed narrator. He begins his story with his terrible car accident which ends with him being badly burned over most of his body. He makes it clear that his physical features and physical (sexual) prowess were the focus of his life prior to the accident. When everyone in his life has abandoned him, save the medical staff, he is visited by Marianne Engel. She begins to tell him her life story and eventually his. She believes that they met and fell in love in a German monastary when she was a nun and he was a mercenary brought in after being burnt in a battle. Dante's Inferno is a continual plot device, which is expressed as irony by the narrator several times. The story is excellent, well woven and organized, although sometimes it was obviously Mr. Davidson's first book. The writing doesn't feel as natural and flowing as authors with more experience. That said, I recommend it even though one may not normally enjoy the genre of fantasy. This includes me. I was actually a couple chapters into the book before seeing the tiny pegasus on the binding which indicates "fantasy" at my library. Oblivious me didn't realize The Gargoyle was included in said genre. Ah well, a good story is a good story.

Rosie

Rosie is the first fiction I read of Anne Lamott. The story is really about Rosie's mom, Elizabeth, a too-young widow who loves to cook, read, and drink a little too much wine at the end of the evening. Elizabeth struggles to parent her wild child and have her own life. She meets a man who does not exactly fit her dreams, but who just might be right for her. I really enjoyed this book because it felt very real and the ideas attainable to everyone, parent or not.