The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce ****

 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Harold receives a letter from Queenie, whom he hasn’t seen in 20 years. She is in hospice. He believes she will not die for as long as it takes him to walk to her. The walk is also his penance for his life’s sins. The walk goes viral. A novel of redemption.

Harold and his wife, Maureen, lived in the same house. She took care of the house, made meals, and did the laundry. She slept in the guest room, and he slept in the master bedroom. Their son disappeared (drug, alcohol) after Cambridge. Only Maureen communicated with David. Both Harold and Maureen blame Harold for David’s problems. Harold was a successful beer salesman until he was demoted. He is depressed. The walk gives his life purpose.

After receiving the letter from Queenie Hennessy, Harold decided to walk from Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed. He is ill-prepared in terms of fitness, experience, and equipment. He has yachting shoes instead of hiking shoes. He left his cell phone at home. Later, he mailed his wallet and debit card back to Maureen. When totally dependent on the goodwill of others, he is like a pilgrim of yore. “What you’re doing is a pilgrimage for the twenty-first century. It’s awesome. Yours is the kind of story people want to hear.”During the pilgrimage, Harold meets many people. Most of the people he met were good, and Harold didn’t dwell on the others.

During their separation, Harold and Maureen reviewed their relationship and reevaluated it.

English humor: “What do you call two robbers?” he heard her ask. This time, they were back in the car. “I beg your pardon?” “It’s a joke,” she’d said. “Oh, I see. Very good. I don’t know. What do you call them?” “A pair of knickers.”

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Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay (Historical novel) *****

 Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay(Historical novel)

The dark side of California history. The Filipino immigrant experience. From the Spanish-American War to farm laborers to World War II allies to anti-Asian sentiments in the 21^st century, the US relationship with the Philippines has been difficult.

Over the centuries, immigrants came to California for work. There were the 19th-century Chinese who came for mining and railroad work. The Okies during the Depression for farm labor. Mexican guest-workers in the 1960s. This book is about the Filipino experience.  Each Filipino generation faced its own challenges: “Manong Generation, the Watsonville riots, Stockton’s Little Manila, the Delano grape strike, the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr., and the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This book explores the relationship between the Philippines and the United States. Between the Spanish-American War and World War II, Filipinos were non-citizen US nationals. People like Francisco could immigrate. As Francisco learned, he was not a citizen and was not welcome. Francisco faced brutal racism. During WWII, Filipinos were promised citizenship, but this didn’t happen.

The Filipino experiences of racism and discrimination are shared with other minorities. They were grouped with other Asians during the Asian backlash during COVID-19, and with Mexicans during the California farm labor movement. This book is valuable for focusing on Filipino history instead of combining it with some other group.

A historical novel that is hard to read at times.

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

Longlisted for the National Book Award

Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction Award

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Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay (coming-of-age) *****

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay (coming-of-age novel)

Four generations of fathers and sons. Francisco, Emil, Chris, Enzo. Each father wants his son to benefit from his experience. Each son wants to set off in his own direction. Each generation lives in a different society. How can they span the generation gap?

Francisco arrived in the United States in 1929, looking for a better life for himself and his family back in the Philippines. He faced racism and brutality and fought back as a farm labor organizer. His son, Emil, resented that his father was rarely home. He responded by being apolitical and choosing school and assimilation. He became an engineer. His son, Chris, felt secure enough to pursue his heritage and personal interests. He became a high school history teacher. His son, Enzo, is still in high school.

The book presents narratives. Each boy navigates his teen years, struggling to find a place in a world unknown to his father, while his father offers obsolete and out-of-touch advice. The book chronicles four generations of a Filipino family. The generational conflicts are universal and reflect US societal changes.  This is not a book specific to Filipino families. For example, like many others of his generation, Emil responds to the Depression and WWII by seeking conservative security. Similarly, Enzo’s goals and aspirations reflect many teens who experienced COVID-19 lockdowns.

Four coming-of-age stories spread across time.

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

Longlisted for the National Book Award

Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction Award

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It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover *****

 It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Lily Bloom hated that her mother stayed with her abusive father. At 23, she married neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid. His sister Allysa was Lily’s best friend. Unfortunately, Ryle had a temper. Lily found herself in the same situation as her mother. Stay or go?

When Lily was 15, she fell in love with Atlas Corrigan. He lived in an abandoned house behind Lily in Plethora, Maine. When her violent father caught them together, he beat Atlas with a baseball bat. She went to college, and he joined the Marines. At 23, she took her inheritance to open a flower shop. Lily Blossom Bloom opened a flower shop in Boston. There she met Ryle and Allysa. She also ran into Atlas. She married Ryle and became pregnant before she realized that Ryle was abusive, like her father was. She loved the father of her child. What should she do?

This is a romance. The sex scenes are detailed and long, while the abuse scenes are truncated.

The book’s subplots have many enjoyable, but not surprising, twists. However, the book never ventures far from the question of domestic abuse. What is the impact of abuse on the abused spouse? What causes domestic abuse? What is the impact on the next generation? The author presents the cases with empathy for all parties, but in the end, she passes judgment.

This is a fast read and an exploration of dysfunctional families. The book idolizes Ellen DeGeneres and Dory from Finding Nemo.

The novel won the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance.

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The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes ***

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

When Maya was seventeen, she watched her boyfriend Frank murder her girlfriend Aubrey. She didn’t know how he did it, and no one believed her. Seven years later, she saw him murder another girl, on video, on social media. She returned to her hometown (Pittsfield) in western Massachusetts to solve the mystery. Horror.

She met Frank in the library and soon came under his spell. She had a full-ride scholarship to Boston University with enrollment starting in a few weeks. She considered taking a gap year to be with Frank. After Franck murdered Aubrey, she left Pittsfield to enroll in BU. She returned seven years later after she saw a video online where Cristina Lewis died sitting across the table from Frank. From her experience with Aubrey, she knew she couldn’t accuse Frank without evidence.

Frank is a powerful, murdering, controlling monster. Frank represents men who control and abuse women. When the women accuse the men, they are not believed, and instead of investigating the men, society treats the women with psychotherapy and drugs. That was Maya’s experience. Frank takes women to his cabin in the woods, where they have detailed fond memories of the cabin, but also blackouts where they do not remember anything for hours.

Part of the response to Maya’s insistence that Frank murdered Aubrey is that her mother sends her to Dr. Barry, who prescribes Klonopin (Clonazepam), a benzodiazepine medication used to prevent and treat anxiety disorders, seizures, bipolar mania, and OCD. It is a long-acting tranquilizer. Maya becomes dependent on it and alcohol. Seven years later, another doctor prescribed mirtazapine, a prescription antidepressant used to treat major depressive disorder.

Author Ana Reyes is half Guatemalan. Her paternal grandparents and father, all of whom grew up in Guatemala, left the country while her father was 11 due to regional instability precipitated by American interference. The book includes a subplot about Maya’s father, who was murdered in Guatemala when Maya was young. Shortly after Aubrey was murdered, Maya and her mother, Brenda, visit her father’s village, where Maya retrieves her father’s unfinished novel. Maya wants to be a writer.

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