Show Us Your Books: February 2019

February was a decent month of reading for me. The first two books were pretty heavy, but the third was slightly lighter. They all had a theme of family though, which was not at all intentional.

This book is one that will stay with me for a long time. I was warned of this by Jana, who featured it on her blog last month. The story follows the journey of a father who's son has been accused of shooting a prominent political figure. It's intriguing to see a crime from this angle -- not the shooter or a victim or a family of one of the victims. I think the family of the perpetrator is often forgotten or at least pushed to the back of our minds when things like this happen.  In a way, they are victims too. Throughout the father's journey to find answers, we learn that he has not been a perfect parent and he wonders how he missed the signs in his son. We also learn about other (real) shooters and their backgrounds. I powered through this book pretty quickly, anxious to find out how the story ends and whether or not the father finds any answers or closure.

After her husband has passed, Pival books a trip to America and a cross-country trek to find answers about her son, Rahi. He had come out to his very traditional parents a year earlier and then they learned he had died. Pival wanted to know how and why her son died ... and also how he lived in America. I'll admit it took me a little while to get into this one. I had a hard time caring about the characters at first. I think that's because there were so many of them to learn about, so the author could only touch on them a little to start. But as the story continues, I began to have more affection or at least understanding for the characters and I cared about how their journeys turned out. It was also interesting to see America from the viewpoint of the travelers.

I finished the month with a slightly lighter read. There was still a family theme here -- a daughter and father who run a failing orchard, a brother who thinks they should sell the orchard, and a father and son who spend a summer at the orchard, hiding from their own life's disappointments. I was almost immediately invested in these characters, and the author had a beautiful way of describing the landscape and conveying the importance of the orchard to this family. I also loved the slow burn of romance between two characters. It wasn't the focal point of the story, but it was a pleasant and relevant part of it.

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