It's a Family Affair

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Young Philip has been raised by his uncle Ambrose. Ambrose goes to Florence because of his health issues, in the hope that the warm weather will do him good. While there, he meets a long lost cousin, Rachel, and marries her. Sometime after that, he dies. Days after his death, Philip shows up in Florence looking for Ambrose because he feels something is wrong with him. He finds out from Rachel's friend, Rainaldi, how Ambrose died and that Rachel had left town, headed he knew not where.

Philip comes back to Cornwall, and finds out that he is the sole heir to Ambrose's estate, but then Rachel shows up. Philip wanted very much to hate her, but she is just so charming. He ends up falling in love with her, and he thinks she does for him too. Until his birthday, that is. Philip comes into his inheritance on his 25th birthday, and he decides that he wants to abide by a will that Ambrose never signed off on. Prior to giving Rachel notice that he has done this, he asks her to marry him, and he believes she says yes (I thought she did too, so either I misread or got caught up in this). Then, over drinks the night of his birthday, Philip announces that he and Rachel are engaged, but she tells everyone that this isn't true.

Not long after, Philip falls deathly ill. When he awakens, he remembers a lost letter from Ambrose that indicates that he thinks that Rachel poisoned him. Philip begins to wonder if Rachel is poisoning him as well.

I won't tell you how it ends, but just know that Philip was still hung up on Rachel even when she hurt him.

This took 200 pages to get interesting, but the last third of the book is what made this book worth reading. I'd like to see the movie adaptation now that I have finished this.

Lizzie Borden Took an Axe....

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

Everybody knows the rhyme about Lizzie Borden. Scratch that. Everybody my age and older knows the rhyme about Lizzie Borden. I've always been fascinated by the story, and my personal thoughts on the matter are that Lizzie is the one responsible for the murders of her father and stepmother. It wasn't the maid. It wasn't some random stranger. It was Lizzie. I don't care that she was acquitted; I firmly believe she did it.

So, when a coworker mentioned that a book came out about the Borden murders, I knew I would have to have it. It took me weeks to find (because I haven't been to a proper bookstore in months), but find it I did and devoured it in two days.

This is told from four perspectives: Lizzie, her older sister, Emma, Bridget the maid, and Benjamin, some drifter their uncle finds in a nearby town.

In Lizzie's chapters, it's often hard to remember that it is being told by a woman in her thirties. More often than not, I felt like I was reading the thoughts of a teenager, at best. It makes me wonder, mostly because every program I have seen about the real Lizzie Borden never mentioned it, if Lizzie was mentally impaired in some way. Of course, this could just be the author's interpretation of Lizzie. It was made very clear that she always acted like a spoiled child, and expected everyone to give into her whims.

The Emma chapters seem to cement the notion that Lizzie was mentally impaired and that everyone had to concede to Lizzie. I often felt sorry for Emma. She had to give up the man she loved because of Lizzie. She had to give up things that should have been hers for being the eldest. Worse, for most of her life, Emma just went with it because of a promise she made to her mother on her deathbed. I congratulate Emma for trying to live her own life, however short lived it was.

Bridget the maid's chapters gave some insight into Mrs. Borden. In many ways, she thought of the maid more of as her child than her own stepdaughters. Or, at least that's how it read at first. Toward the end, I had other thoughts about the Mrs. Borden/Bridget relationship, but only from Mrs. Borden's point of view. I think Bridget knew the truth of what happened that day, and just wanted out of that house, which is why she wasn't exactly helpful during the trial.

Finally, the Benjamin chapters.... I think they were included to appease all of those people who believe some random stranger came in and killed the Bordens. The way it is presented in this book is, admittedly, plausible, but it would have had to have been like it was in the book: where he was hired by someone in the family. Frankly, I could have done without his chapters. I didn't need his backstory, as it had little to do with the story as a whole. Just my two cents though.

I really enjoyed the book, and I can see myself going back to read it again in the future.

Important Lessons

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I knew going into this book that this post was going to be hard to write. Not because the book is sad because it is that, for a variety of reasons. No, this was going to be hard to write because I am a middle-aged, white woman and this book is about a white police officer unnecessarily killing an unarmed black teenager who wasn't doing anything wrong. Unfortunately, it seems the society we live in, there's a right and a wrong way to be, and even if we think we are right, we are most likely wrong. Even if we try very hard to love everybody for who they are and not the color of their skin, if you say just one thing wrong, you are villified forever. I don't want to be villified.

In fact, now that I am writing this, I don't think I am going to go into the premise of the book at all. All you need to know going into this book is that it is SO worth the read, and that the lesson to be gained is to always try to do the right thing. I can understand all the acclaim this book is getting, and I feel it is so well deserved. I hope it opens some eyes. I know it opened mine to things I hadn't considered before (and am ashamed for not noticing).

Instead, I am just going to urge you to read this one. It's going to make you angry; it's going to make you sad. If anything, I just want it to make you think.