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Carole Howard

Autore di About Face

5 opere 15 membri 2 recensioni

Opere di Carole Howard

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In Senegal's tightly closed world of embassy employees and Peace Corp volunteers, the wives (or occasional husbands) struggle for identity and strive to fill the endless days of being defined by "other." Emily is one such wife, a musician playing in a volunteer orchestra, a mother, and a woman with few friends in her foreign world. When one of those friends is murdered, Emily could quietly accept that the men will solve the crime, or she could follow her heart and look for answers.

Emily makes a pleasantly smart, believable protagonist in this mystery, neither too clever nor too foolish, but certainly determined. In the late ‘90s, Senegal reveals itself as a place filled with real people, local and foreign, with real needs and real desires. Women suffer genital mutilation as a matter of course, as Emily learns. Terrorists are an ever-present fear. Cultural divisions create amusing moments. And wounded relationships thrive.

Author Carole Howard weaves authentic details and invaluable lessons seamlessly and unobtrusively into this novel, making it a truly evocative read, well-grounded in culture, time and place. Nicely drawn images of life in a different world invite readers to see through other people's eyes. The agony of needed change is beautifully balanced against the pain of change enforced through death, and hidden secrets reveal the need for and meaning of true friendship.

Meanwhile the deadly adagio plays – slow in the heat of a Senegal day, whispering the need for change, and well-composed with mystery in the beginning, middle and end.

Disclosure: I bought a free ecopy and I offer my honest review.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
SheilaDeeth | Oct 29, 2015 |
Ruth is at a crossroads in her career and her life. Well into her fifties, she is a successful business woman and a former Peace Corp volunteer and these two parts of herself start to come into conflict as her husband tries to convince her to retire early and she begins to reevaluate her life. What follows is a meditation on what it means to age and how the direction our lives take may not be what we imagined when younger. Even though I am not yet to Ruth’s age, I definitely empathized with her situation. I thought the sections of the book that explore her Peace Corp time in Africa were interesting and I would have like to see more of them. At times this book slowed down and Ruth’s musings on her own life could be monotonous. Overall though, I enjoyed the honest and refreshing look at aging and thought that this was a book worth reading for that alone. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)
 
Segnalato
LissaJ | May 31, 2014 |

Statistiche

Opere
5
Utenti
15
Popolarità
#708,120
Voto
½ 4.4
Recensioni
2
ISBN
7