Under the Mercy Trees by Heather Newton

"When men cried the sound had to force its way up through muscle and thick bone. Men didn’t learn how to cry the way women did. It scared them when it happened, the same as if they’d looked down and noticed they were gushing blood."

Under the Mercy Trees by Heather Newton begins when Leon Owenby goes missing. His brother, Martin, returns to the family farm in Solace Fork, North Carolina after decades in New York City to help look for his brother. Martin left with dreams of becoming a writer, but finds his life centered around booze and flings with men. Returning to the Owenby farm means encountering the demons of his past, including Liza, the girl who's heart he broke. Under the Mercy Trees alternates in perspective between Martin, Liza, as well as Martin's sister, Ivy who sees ghosts, as well as his sister-in-law Bertie who left his brother James for four days several decades ago a mistake which has never been forgotten. Each of these characters, as well as Ivy's children, Bertie and James' children, and Liza's husband, are developed and unique, and each of them has their own struggles to be overcome.

Although the story develops leisurely at times, Newton's language is so beautiful that I hardly minded, finding myself immersed in the world she had created. The mystery and family secrets the novel contains are revealed throughout the novel, as the past of the characters is a tangled web that Newton slowly unweaves. The imagery in Under the Mercy Trees is incredibly beautiful and powerful, and the reader is easily taken into the Owenby world of a rural Southern town as they fall under Newton's spell. Newton takes on a complex and vast number of issues through the Owenby family, including alcoholism, homosexuality, first love, the meaning of family, infidelity, marriage, suicide and a mother's love for her children. Despite the wide scope of Under the Mercy Trees, each issue is addressed with the maturity and thoughtfulness that makes the novel so successful. 

Under the Mercy Trees is a stunning and incredible debut, and I have purposefully kept my description of the novel vague because this is a gem best which is best discovered by the reader as it unfolds. Newton never resorts to gimmick, and I found myself completely surprised and heartbroken by the ending. The characters in the novel are flawed and human, and the lessons they learn can be universally applied. I also think it would make a great novel for a discussion group or book club due to the number of issues the book addresses. Under the Mercy Trees is a complex and powerful debut, but it is not a book to be read in a rush, it is best enjoyed if the reader allows themselves to become fully immersed in the realistic and beautifully described world Newton has created.

Release Date: January 18, 2011
Pages: 352
Overall: 4.5/5
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Source:

This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own. 

Follower Love Giveaway Hop: Beatrice and Virgil

Welcome to Follower Love Giveaway Hop at In The Next Room. I'm offering one new paperback copy of Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel provided by the publisher.

*cover of the book you receive will be different as it will be the new trade paper back release 
 
Summary from Goodreads:

Fate can take many forms. For Henry, a writer living in a foreign city, it arrives in the form of an envelope from a reader. Instead of the usual fan mail, the envelope contains a story by Flaubert, a scene from a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note asking for Henry’s help. The note is signed “Henry,” and the return address is not far from where Henry lives. When Henry walks his dog to hand-deliver his response, he is surprised to discover a taxidermist’s shop. Here, stunning specimens are poised on the brink of action, silent and preternaturally still, yet bursting with the palpable life of a lost, vibrant world. And when the mysterious, elderly taxidermist introduces his visitor to Beatrice and Virgil—a donkey and a howler monkey—Henry’s life is changed forever.

Yann Martel’s previous novel, Life of Pi, has become a modern classic. A fantastical tale about a boy and a tiger shipwrecked in the Pacific, it asked probing questions about belief and reality. Now Martel has written another story that uses animals to examine our humanity. In Beatrice and Virgil, he poses enduring questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity. Haunting and unforgettable, this is an extraordinary feat of storytelling.

You must be a follower to enter this giveaway. To enter leave a comment with something non-material you love. Make sure you include your e-mail address so I have a way to contact you. The winner will be randomly selected using random number.org and will have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail. It is open the US only, no PO Boxes. This giveaway will close when the giveaway hop ends at 11:59 PM on February 13th EST.

Click here to return to the Follower Love Giveaway Hop homepage and visit the rest of the awesome stops. 

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

"It's all she can do to just breathe. And count.
Count breaths: thirty-six. Count stones in the dirt: more than fifty. Count people saying stupid things: all of them.
Count all the days she's known him: infinity."

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann takes place in the small town of Cryer's Cross, Montana (population 212) where 16-year-old Kendall lives. Kendall has OCD and when a freshman student from the highschool disappear, Kendall's world is thrown off-balance. It gets even worse when Kendall's best friend and boyfriend Nico also disappears without a trace. There are plenty of rumours going around but nobody knows how two teenagers in the same small community could go missing, until Kendall discovers a connection: Nico and the freshman both sat at the same desk. Kendall finds herself drawn to the desk, looking for clues of Nico and wondering if she too will disappear. Things get even stranger when she begins receiving graffiti messages on the desk that appear to be from Nico. Could he still be alive somewhere? In the mean-time Kendall has started to grow closer to the attractive but annoying new student Jacian. Not wanting to betray Nico, Kendall knows she has to find out where Nico went and what is going on with the desk...

Cryer's Cross is the first book I've picked up by Lisa McMann who had previously written the Dream Catcher series (Wake, Fade and Gone). The novel has a Twilight Zone-like premise, but personally I wished the book was far more creepy. If you're going to write a book about a haunted desk, it might as well be full force. Instead, Cryer's Cross seems halfway between mystery thriller and love story, with both only having half the effort and success because of the divided focus. I did appreciate the characters, as they all seemed like real believable teens, and it was interesting reading about how Kendall copes with her OCD, counting things to keep her brain from spinning too much. However I often got distracted by the poor story- for example in between the characters there are supposed messages coming from the desk which are probably supposed to be scary but are mostly just ridiculous and remind me of a bad ghost story, messages like "We carve on our face".

Overall, the love story between Kendall and Jacian was pretty cute, and I found it realistic how Kendall thinks she is in love with Nico just because she hasn't known anything else. I probably would have enjoyed Cryer's Cross more if I was the kind of reader who could be satisfied with only a love story, but in general I am unlikely to pick up a romance novel knowingly. What I was hoping for with Cryer's Cross was a creepy novel, and what I read felt more like a first draft with enjoyable characters but a weak storyline. I'd recommend Cryer's Cross to readers who can enjoy the teenage relationships without expecting too much from the mystery component of the novel.

Release Date: February 8th, 2011
Pages: 240
Overall: 2.5/5
Source: E-galley from publisher
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