Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart

Rating: ★★★★

This book is a great work of historical fiction. The characters are what move the story along, and I enjoyed the somewhat mundane details of the sisters’ lives on a farm in New Jersey in 1914. I think when this book first came out, we didn’t know it’d be part of a series. But I’m glad that there is a second book! I can’t wait to pick it up.

While the book is classified a mystery, that is a rather small element of this story. This is the story of Constance and her sisters, Norma and Fleurette, and how they’re getting on when they’re unlucky enough to run in to a rather pathetic gangster.

I did thoroughly enjoy this book, and I read it quickly, but sometimes it felt a bit too slow. Some bits could have been left out to make the plot move along a bit faster. The one other con I have against this book is that Constance, our protagonist, is almost the weakest character. I have a good sense of who Norma and Fleurette are – what interests them and what their personalities are like – but with Constance, she sometimes seems like a doormat and at other times she jumps up and manhandles people. Maybe Constance is uncertain of herself, her life, and her own wants, but I still think that, by the time she’s in her mid-thirties, she’d have more personality traits.

The Wangs vs the World by Jade Chang

Rating: ★★★

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I went into this thinking it’d be a fun, silly, humorous road-trip novel, and while it hits some of those points, I felt the story was trapped between wanting to be funny and wanting to be dramatic.

Most of the story focuses on the Wangs – there’s Charles, Barbra, Saina, Andrew, and Grace. Some chapters are dedicated to one character and his/her thoughts, and others will jump around between characters. There are even two chapters that are from the car’s point-of-view, which was definitely strange. There is tension between the family members, but then the story falters because it wants to be amusing. Absurd scenarios take place throughout the novel, and I was particularly annoyed with the third and final leg. If the author had focused on one or the other – either humor or drama – the story would have been much more successful.

I did decide on a three star rating because the writing, at times, was very poetic and moving. I believe this is Chang’s debut novel, and I would definitely pick up her next book, especially if it were more subdued and didn’t strive to be humorous. Additionally, I did keep reading it! I wanted to know how it would all turn out. However, around the 70-80% mark, I was getting very frustrated and considered putting the book down. At that point, though, I figured I’d come far enough. I might as well finish it.

I don’t know if I would recommend this book to anyone, though. Like I said, it’s trapped between two worlds – the family drama and the absurd, humorous plot devices. I suppose if you interested in both of those things, you can check this one out.