Angelology

This book is not part of the angel movement we saw  few years ago. Far from the cute cherubs,  this book is based on the reference in Genesis 6


When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.


Canielle Trussoni's book on angels is based on the Nephilim and how they as a race have been manipulating humanity. The Watchers sent to earth to watch God's perfect creation, man and how they fell out of grace. These are not your cute angels, these are the rebel angels, the fallen angels, the angels that walk the earth.


The book takes place in 1999 starting on December 23rd and ending on Christmas Day.  An appropriate read for December.


The book starts off promising and certainly in the vein of The Da Vinci Code and other great adventure books based on religious quests.  The middle section of this book was the best part, I found the beginning ok and the ending section to be sloppy writing.  It's as if Ms. Trussoni lost interest in her characters and the premise of this book.  As if a secret society of angelologists would choose license plates with Angel 1 for their vehicles when we know they are being watched by the Nephilim!! I thought the love story between Evangeline and Verlaine was juvenile. The novel takes place in 1999 but never mentions the internet and people never use cell phones yet both existed.  Also Verlaine is an art history graduate and doesn't know some basic art history knowledge. 


There was potential here for a fabulous well written novel but it just fell flat at the end.   The characters were well developed at the beginning and Ms. Trussoni should have just left well enough alone rather than trying to impose a love interest between the two main characters.  This could have been such a great read and certainly I had high hopes, fell flat at the end and was only a so-so novel. As this was a New York Times bestseller I guess I expected better.  I'm not saying don't read this book, just be aware that the ending isn't all that great.


Hoping the movie will be an improvement on this story.

Not Scarlet O'Hara

A bit of catching up to do on the blog posting.  I've read three books that I have been meaning to blog about. Here is the second...

This novel is about the Civil War and Mary Sutter, a woman who wishes to be a surgeon. The time period is the American Civil War and Robin Oliveira doesn't skimp on the details either.  I loved the characters in this book and the heartwrenching sacrifices the men and women had to endure during one of America's bloodiest battles.  Mary isn't Scarlet O'Hara, although she has much the same spunk, she's got far more compassion and grit.  The men who fall in love with Mary Sutter do so not because of her beauty but for her character, her determination and her passion for medicine.  Mary's character has to endure so much to finally arrive where she wished to be in life. I don't want to write a huge long review of this book because I really think it needs to be read slowly and enjoyed, plus I don't want to give too much away of the story line.

A slow read but that was due to having to slow down to take it in. A riveting story!

PS: Dear friends you cannot borrow this one from me.  It was given to me to read and pass along and I've already passed it to another reader to enjoy.

This book is the story of Marina Singh and her journey to the Amazon for the pharmaceutical company she works for, Vogel, to find her former mentor and discover what happened to her colleague Anders. What Marina discovers is beyond what she imagined and her time in the Amazon does leave her in a State of Wonder.  


Here we have the big pharmaceutical company concerned only about profits, doctors and reseachers wanting to do further work and thus hide their intentions from the company and one woman coming to terms with her past and moving forward.  The characters are well developed, complex and interesting people.  I will say the book took a bit of time to "take off" but once I was into the middle I understood the reasons for laying down all the details in the beginning. 
There are unanswered questions at the end of this book, but I rather liked that Ann Patchett didn't write a nice compact ending.  


This is the first book I've read by Ann Patchett and I would like to read some of her other ones. This wasn't a quick read and you really need to be in the mood for a book that makes you think and leaves you wondering.