Sara's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

This book was a disappointment (I'm sick with a cold and I'm not mincing words).

I have to admit that initially, I enjoyed the way it stylistically jumped between two stories: one based in 1942 and the other in 2002. I was also pleased to see that the author (or publisher, more likely) represented the 1942 story by using a type font and formatting typical of that era.

The 1942 story, based on the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, is horrific. I didn't know about this event and I found it terribly disturbing. Within a few alternating chapters, the book quickly its appeal and I began to skim read. I gave up on the book when it became evident that de Rosnay was unable to sustain the book's initial structure. At some point, the book was told only for the 2002 perspective.

I couldn't help but think of Blindness by Jose Saramago. This book also described unimaginable horrific, but Saramago was a master and made Blindness a literary work that was a joy to read, and altered one's view of the world. De Rosnay is not in the same league -- not even playing the same game as Saramgo. So again, the book was a disappointment and I wouldn't recommend it.

Here is the publisher's blurb:
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Mistress of Nothing

I was rather disappointed in this book. As a GG winner, I expected more and after reading The Help, I expected more tension, more depth by this work. Instead, the book seemed to languish, and I was glad when it ended.

Publisher's blurb:
Lady Duff Gordon is the toast of Victorian London society. But when her debilitating tuberculosis means exile, she and her devoted lady''s maid, Sally, set sail for Egypt. It is Sally who describes, with a mixture of wonder and trepidation, the odd menage (marshalled by the resourceful Omar) that travels down the Nile to a new life in Luxor. When Lady Duff Gordon undoes her stays and takes to native dress, throwing herself into weekly salons, language lessons and excursions to the tombs, Sally too adapts to a new world, which affords her heady and heartfelt freedoms never known before. But freedom is a luxury that a maid can ill-afford, and when Sally grasps more than her status entitles her to, she is brutally reminded that she is mistress of nothing.

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

This book was a nice surprise and a real departure from my typical reading. I was amazed at the level of suspense the author could create in a domestic situation discussing quotidien life. I was impressed. I've alrady started The Mistress of Nothing that features a servant in the 1860s, so it will be interesting to compare.

The publisher's blurb:
Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who's always taken orders quietly, but lately she's unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She's full of ambition, but without a husband, she's considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

What a delightful book. It is poignant, funny, insightful -- utterly charming, just like Major Pettigrew himself. How could such a lovely man produce such a pompass ass of a son? Even he had his moments, though. Again, delightful. They kind of book that can be enjoyed by many. And it's the author's first book! I can't wait for her next one.

Here is the publisher's blurb:

Written with a delightfully dry sense of humour and the wisdom of a born storyteller, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand explores the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of family obligation and tradition.

When retired Major Pettigrew strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani village shopkeeper, he is drawn out of his regimented world and forced to confront the realities of life in the twenty-first century. Brought together by a shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship on the cusp of blossoming into something more. But although the Major was actually born in Lahore, and Mrs. Ali was born in Cambridge, village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as a permanent foreigner. The Major has always taken special pride in the village, but will he be forced to choose between the place he calls home and a future with Mrs. Ali?