With or Without You by Domenica Ruta

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 14 Comments
With or Without You by Domenica Ruta
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Publication Date: February 2013
Categories: Personal Memoir, Family Relationships
Source: Random House 

Description:
Domenica Ruta grew up in a working-class, unforgiving town north of Boston, in a trash-filled house on a dead-end road surrounded by a river and a salt marsh. Her mother, Kathi, a notorious local figure, was a drug addict and sometimes dealer whose life swung between welfare and riches, and whose highbrow taste was at odds with her hardscrabble life. And yet she managed, despite the chaos she created, to instill in her daughter a love of stories. Kathi frequently kept Domenica home from school to watch such classics as the Godfather movies and everything by Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, telling her, “This is more important. I promise. You’ll thank me later.” And despite the fact that there was not a book to be found in her household, Domenica developed a love of reading, which helped her believe that she could transcend this life of undying grudges, self-inflicted misfortune, and the crooked moral code that Kathi and her cohorts lived by.
 
With or Without You is the story of Domenica Ruta’s unconventional coming of age—a darkly hilarious chronicle of a misfit ’90s youth and the necessary and painful act of breaking away, and of overcoming her own addictions and demons in the process. In a brilliant stylistic feat, Ruta has written a powerful, inspiring, compulsively readable, and finally redemptive story about loving and leaving.

My Thoughts:

There’s nothing like a memoir by a gal with a messed up childhood to make you feel better about the way you were raised. This wasn’t the most horrendous upbringing I’ve ever read about but With or Without You made me grateful for my “normal” family.

There’s neither structure nor routine to life with Kathi. Domenica isn’t sure from one day to the next what mood she’ll find her mother in. Will she be protective and loving? Will she be out of control with anger? 

Besides the mental illness her mother was obviously suffering from there was also drug addiction. And hey, who wouldn’t share their OxyContin pills with their young daughter? 

Here you go sweetie, love ya!

While With or Without You was beautifully written I do have to mention a couple of problems I had with it. The last quarter of the book seemed a bit rushed and disjointed. Domenica suffered from addiction issues of her own but managed to graduate from college with exceptional grades, earning an MFA. I would have liked to hear more about how she pulled that off.

Despite those few issues I would absolutely recommend  this book. Read it.

Quick Thoughts on The Imperfectionists and The Newlyweds

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 28 Comments
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
Publisher: The Dial Press
Publication Date: April 2010
Categories: Literary
Source: Library
Description:

Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman’s wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as they struggle to keep it—and themselves—afloat.

Fifty years and many changes have ensued since the paper was founded by an enigmatic millionaire, and now, amid the stained carpeting and dingy office furniture, the staff’s personal dramas seem far more important than the daily headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage; Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy; Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. Out in the field, a veteran Paris freelancer goes to desperate lengths for his next byline, while the new Cairo stringer is mercilessly manipulated by an outrageous war correspondent with an outsize ego. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family’s quirky newspaper.

As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper’s rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder’s intentions.

Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.

My Quick Thoughts:

Holy smokes, what a book! The characters, oh the characters! So real, so flawed, so interesting. 

Each chapter is almost its own fully contained short story. Yet, they’re all connected in the best ways.

I’ve seen some mixed reviews about this one. What?? I don’t get it. Rachman nailed this so hard. I can’t wait to see what he does next.



The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: May 2012
Categories: Family Life, Contemporary Women, Literary
Source: Library

Description:
A powerful, funny, richly observed tour de force by one of America’s most acclaimed young writers: a story of love and marriage, secrets and betrayals, that takes us from the backyards of America to the back alleys and villages of Bangladesh.

In The Newlyweds, we follow the story of Amina Mazid, who at age twenty-four moves from Bangladesh to Rochester, New York, for love. A hundred years ago, Amina would have been called a mail-order bride. But this is an arranged marriage for the twenty-first century: Amina is wooed by—and woos—George Stillman online.  

For Amina, George offers a chance for a new life and a different kind of happiness than she might find back home. For George, Amina is a woman who doesn’t play games. But each of them is hiding something: someone from the past they thought they could leave behind. It is only when they put an ocean between them—and Amina returns to Bangladesh—that she and George find out if their secrets will tear them apart, or if they can build a future together. 

The Newlyweds is a surprising, suspenseful story about the exhilarations—and real-life complications—of getting, and staying, married. It stretches across continents, generations, and plains of emotion. What has always set Nell Freudenberger apart is the sly, gimlet eye she turns on collisions of all kinds—sexual, cultural, familial. With The Newlyweds, she has found her perfect subject for that vision, and characters to match. She reveals Amina’s heart and mind, capturing both her new American reality and the home she cannot forget, with seamless authenticity, empathy, and grace. At once revelatory and affecting, The Newlyweds is a stunning achievement.

My Quick Thoughts:

I expected this to be about a culture clash between George and Amina. There is that, but there’s a lot more going on in this story. 

Marriage can be messy under the best of conditions. It can be especially difficult when outside forces conspire against you. It can be nearly impossible when there is a jerky jerkface of a character that is trying to suck all of the joy out of your lives!

Great settings, great characters, great read. You’ll dig it.