Book #24

Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Karen Russell

This book was a birthday present from my brother. He's 11 years older than me, and has had a profound impact on my love for reading. He read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to me when I was about 7, and through the years we've read "A Series of Unfortunate Events" together. He bought me the whole set, and he inscribed the last and final book in the series, aptly titled "The End", with a really nice message for little Ayelet. We're still reading together, and talking and sharing books. It's nice. Now that I am older, our reading relationship has become reciprocal, with me now contributing by lending him some of my books and suggesting some good ones that Ive read. Recently, he's been borrowing the "Game of Thrones" books, and we have had some really great discussions about those. He just finished the third, and its hard for me to hold all the spoilers in. Basically, he's an awesome older brother.

Karen Russell is a pretty big deal, from what I hear. "Swamplandia!", her other book, is critically acclaimed, and so is "Vampires in the Lemon Grove".

Well, I dont know why. The stories are good, but very creepy and I was almost scared to read them at night. "Proving Up", about a family working to secure land under the Homestead Act, is a predictable horror story that despite its predictability managed to scare me. "Reeling for the Empire" made me nauseous, with excellent story telling and interesting characters, but a mind-bending main theme. The last story was the best and the worst. "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" made me really think about the actions of the narrator, and kept me turning the pages at a far more rapid rate than the other stories, but again, the overall content was sad and hard to read.

I dont think I sound very coherent. Its a hard book to discuss and break down, because there are a bunch of stories with no major link. I guess my overall thought is that it is still making me think, and thats the true sign of a successful book. I dont know if I would recommend it to my friends, because I dont think they would enjoy it, but I definitely want my brother to read it and tell me what he thinks.

It says: "Its ben great sharing these books with you over the years. If weve learned anything from them, its to read everything, stay close to your siblings and keep a disguise handy" I told you he's the best.