RUSSKA by Edward Rutherfurd

Sometimes I love the works of Edward Rutherfurd - sometimes not.  'Russka' fell somewhere in the middle for me.  Like Rutherfurd's other novels, Russka attempts to tell the story of a city (or country) by following a number of fictional families from pre-history to the present day and sets their stories against the backdrop of historical characters and events.  I found this book to be very slow-going in parts, especially at the beginning.

Rutherfurd is known for his extensive research and this was most evident while reading the book.  I never felt a connection to the families, however.  I'm not sure what the problem was but there wasn't a single fictional character that I would have wanted to have a coffee or a chat with.  However, the 'history' part was very engrossing, especially as the story headed into more modern times.  Maybe Russia is just too large a country with too much history to fit into 950 pages and do any era justice.

I usually like to read in the evening and sometimes go to bed early just so I can read a few extra chapters.  I was happy enough to keep reading Russka but the book never made me want to go to bed early so I could read more - except on the last day of reading when I saw the end approaching and kept reading so I could be finished with it.

PRETTY GIRLS by Karin Slaughter

Julia Carroll disappeared in 1991 and never was heard from again.  She is one of the 'Pretty Girls' referred to in the title,  The other two?  Julia's sisters - Lydia and Claire.  Nearly 20 years after Julia's disappearance, Claire is happily married to Paul, a wealthy, successful architect who adores her.  Lydia is a single mum who had a rough time with drug addiction, but now has a loving relationship with her neighbour - an ex-con.  The sisters have been estranged for years after Lydia accuses Paul of rape and Claire decides to 'stand by her man'.

Everything changes when Paul is murdered.  Claire makes a number of extremely disturbing discoveries when she starts to put his affairs in order.  What follows is a book full of suspense, twists and turns and horror.  Claire and Lydia must decide to trust eachother - because it is impossible to know who else they can trust.  Their lives spiral from one horrifying discovery to another.

Throughout the book, there are chapters taken from their father's journal.  Sam's grief and his love for his wife and daughters provide a welcome break from the horror of the graphic violence in this psychological thriller.

LATE NIGHTS ON AIR by Elizabeth Hay

Late Nights on Air was the Giller Prize winner for 2007 - and deservedly so.

Elizabeth Hay creates a group of characters who work at the radio station in Yellowknife in 1975. They all come from elsewhere - the misfits, the loners, the romantics, the people running away from life.  The employees at the station fit into one or more of those categories.  Harry, the station manager, has returned to radio after a disastrous attempt at television.  Dido, the station’s most popular newsreader, fled her marriage after an ill-conceived affair with her father-in-law, only to find herself caught between the affections of Harry and Eddy, the station’s 'bad boy' engineer. Ralph has deep feelings for Eleanor, another refugee from a bad marriage. Gwen turns up in Yellowknife drawn north by childhood memories of a radio program about northern explorer John Hornby.  (side note - read more about Hornby - his expeditions sound fascinating).  She dreams of a career in radio, only to find herself paralyzed by shyness and assigned to late night radio where her stammering won't be an issue.

Harry, Gwen, Eleanor and Ralph embark on a 6 weeks-long life-changing canoeing trip to retrace Hornby's fatal expedition.  The beauty of the North, the scenery, the quiet, the seduction, the underlying danger becomes a compelling fifth character on this trip.

Their lives are played out against the backdrop of Justice Thomas Berger's commission on the proposed building of the MacKenzie pipeline through the Yukon.  Berger spent three years truly listening to all, going from native village to village, compiled 40,000 pages of testimony, and recommended “no pipeline now, and no pipeline across northern Yukon ever.”

Are you listening, Justin Trudeau!!??

Elizabeth Hay has written a wonderful book, peopled by characters that will stay with me.

THE IMPOSTER BRIDE by Nancy Richler

Who are you if everything you know about yourself is based on a deception?  This is the story of Ruth - a young woman growing up in mid-century Montreal who was abandoned by her mother, Lily Azerov, three months after her birth.  Lily steps off the train in Montreal after the Holocaust to meet her future husband - he promptly rejects her.  Sol's brother, Nathan likes what he sees, however and steps in to become the bridegroom.  Lily is not what she seems.  Like many who survived the horrors of WW2, the young woman has taken over the identity of another who died during this time.  There are others who knew the real Lily Azerov and quickly surmise that this young woman is not Lily.  Unable to live with her deception, Lily abandons her family.  The story is told from a number of different perspectives - the most interesting being that of her daughter, Ruth.  Ruth spends her adult life trying to understand who she is, who her mother is and what her place is in her loving and supportive family.

The characters of Ruth, her neighbour Ida and her daughter Elke, who keep Lily's secret are well fleshed out and interesting.  Unfortunately, the story of Lily feels very vague and I was not able to find her to be a sympathetic character.  It was disappointing, since Lily is the character upon which everything hinges.

I guess that since this book was shortlisted for the 2012 Giller Prize, I expected more.  If I had bought it for a 'beach read', I would have had lower expectations and found it more satisfying.