State of Wonder and Before I Go To Sleep

The best thrillers sometimes turn out to be the ones that aren't even billed as such. To be able, at the end of a book, gasp with surprise, is a rare pleasure. That gasp was the difference between Ann Patchett's State of Wonder and Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson.
The blurbs on Watson's book referred to it as "Memento on meth" and it was reminiscent of Memento. Christine wakes up every morning with no memory and has to quickly learn who to trust. A daily phone call from her doctor tells her where to find her journal, where she writes down what she pieces together (and what she also has to read every day) about her life. It is a fast paced if generally unbelievable book. It didn't take me long to figure out the real story, although in the end there were a lot of unanswered questions. Still, it was entertaining!
State of Wonder reminded me of Bel Canto-- many unrelated characters thrown together, forced to interact and with the outcome a surprise. Marina Singh is sent to the Amazon by the pharmaceutical company she works for to get an update from her med school mentor, Dr. Swenson, on the latter's research and to find out more about the mysterious death of her colleague. Marina becomes enthralled with the Amazon tribe she lives with, Dr. Swenson's research, and Dr. Swenson's "adopted" son Easter. The final Amazon scene is exciting as any Indiana Jones movie and my jaw dropped.
3 stars for the Watson book and 5 stars for the Patchett.

Run

I tend to be highly critical of books and movies about Boston, always looking for inauthenticity. The Afflecs are always, "We're from Bahston, we've got the accent." And I'm like, "No, you're from Cambridge. But thanks for advocating for the larger Boston metro area." Authors tend to overstate Boston landmarks, making egregious references to neighborhoods like Roxbury, Dorchester and Charlestown. In Run, Anne Patchett made mostly skillful remarks about landmarks, noting the Citgo sign on a drive to Cambridge, and referencing various T stations. In fact, knowing the city and knowing how small it really is and how various locations fit together, is key to the story.

A prominent Boston Irish politician and his wife adopt two African American children after they couldn't have any more children (suspend your disbelief that such a mixing of races could happen 25 years ago in Boston) and Run takes place over the 24 hours after one of the grown sons is nearly hit by a car, save a strategic push from a woman who turns out to be his and his brother's biological mother. The woman's young daughter, Kenya, witnesses the event and over the course of the night details how she and her mother know the family, and how they have been secretly keeping tabs on the boys for years. This sort of anonymity and close proximity is so possible in a city like Boston. Save the transient college students, Bostonians live here for generations and the city is small enough that you can run into the same people over and over again. Blue blood Boston Brahmins live mere blocks from the city's poor in public housing.

Besides checking on the accuracy of references to my city, I also hold close a carefully edited book, one which keeps the economy of words in check. Fortunately this book held up on both accounts. I'll give it 4/5 netflix stars.

As a nice aside, my mom went to a reading by Ms. Patchett and had this book signed for me!