Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
Reviewed by: Jennifer Chretien, Reference Librarian

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

It is the near future and the world has changed on a cellular level. Evolution has come to halt and is beginning to reverse itself. Chickens now have skin like lizards, dragonflies are emerging with over 3 foot wing spans, and human babies are born resembling Neanderthals with alarming frequency. All of these environmental changes result in a food shortage. This food shortage causes the United States government to fall and a new religious world order to rise in its place. There are no more cell phones, televisions programs, or entertainment. Pregnant women are rounded up for scientific study. There is a person called “Mother” that is your news source and the government uses drones to spy on its citizens regularly.

At the center of the story is a young pregnant woman named Cedar. Cedar was adopted as a baby and is on a quest to find her Ojibwa birth parents for medical reasons. The book is told through her journal entries to her unborn baby. In it we learn about her search for her birth parents, her religious struggles, and her unwavering love for her baby she has not yet met. Through her journal, Cedar describes the lengths she and her loved ones go through to keep her hidden from the government. It is at times a bleak future painted for Cedar but the feeling of hope and faith resound throughout the book.

This book is an interesting departure for Erdrich. She stays true to her trademark lyrical style with a Native American focus but turns it into a dystopian thriller. While the premise is dark, her beautifully descriptive prose keeps the story from becoming depressing. Erdrich’s description of snow in one passage was so gorgeous that it actually makes me look forward to our first snowfall!

Cedar remains hopeful and curious despite her uncertain present. Here is one passage Cedar writes in her journal:

"The sky has bloomed, it is verdant with stars. Deep, brilliant, soft. I am comforted because nothing we have done to this earth affects them. I think of the neurons in your brain connecting, branching, forming the capacity I hope you will have for wonder."

While Future Home of the Living God is similar to V for Vendetta, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Children of Men, it is also something vastly different. It is the story of science gone wrong and the overreach of the government true, but it is also about the bonds of family and how it is through love that one can withstand anything.  This is not a light read by any measure but it is a book that will stimulate your mind and also entertain you. 

The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester
Reviewed by: Hope Fox, patron

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:
Bletchley Park, 1942: As World War II rages on, Honey Deschamps sits at her type-x machine, tediously transcribing decrypted signals from the German Army, doing her part to assist the British war effort. Halfway across the world, Hitler's armies are marching into Leningrad, leaving a trail of destruction and pillaging the country's most treasured artworks, including the famous Amber Room--the eighth wonder of the world. As reports begin filtering into Bletchley Park about the stolen loot, Honey receives a mysterious package, hand-delivered from a man that she has never seen before who claims that he works at the Park as well. The package is postmarked from Russia, and inside is a small piece of amber.

Review
A mystery involving code breakers at Bletchley Park during the events of World War 2. This was a good read with interesting subjects.

Origin by Dan Brown
Reviewed by: Jennifer Chretien, Reference Librarian
Rating: 4 stars

Review:
Robert Langdon, famed symbologist, finds himself mysteriously summoned to an event by former student named Edmund Kirsch. Kirsch, a famed tech giant and renowned atheist, claims that he has discovered the answers to the two most elusive questions. The answers to “Where do we come from?” and “Where do we go from here?” will rock mankind and Kirsch wants Langdon there to witness it. When Kirsch winds up murdered, Langdon and museum director Ambra Vidal must piece together the clues Kirsch left behind.

OK folks! I have a confession to make: I don’t particularly care much for Dan Brown books. I don’t have anything against him per se, but I find a lot of his writing to be formulaic in a slightly pulpy way. He writes like he doesn’t read a lot of fiction, which is exactly who Dan Brown is! He has the most interesting theories and ideas, but can’t quite get his plot to measure up. In Origin, this somehow works.

Langdon is out of his element here with fewer elements of symbology and more modern art, and he doesn’t spend his time flirting with his sidekick; the fiancée of the Crown Prince of Spain. This, along with the introduction of an A.I. main character and a Spanish setting, gives Origin a less scripted feel. I also found the characters to be a lot more complex this time around.

​Don’t get me wrong, Origin isn’t a great work of fiction, but that is not what Brown intended it to be.  He uses current events and trending topics to make the book relevant to this moment in time. This usage of controversial current events allows the reader to experience the stress and urgency the characters are feeling because they are all over the news. The result is a fast-paced suspense that is a surprisingly great time.  If you need something fun to combat the holiday blues, Origin is a fantastic distraction.

Synopsis:
​Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

Review:
"As always, Mr. Sparks weaves nice stories that hold your attention and provide a surprise or two. Good read!"

​Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II By Liza Mundy
Reviewed by: Jennifer Chretien, Reference Librarian

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:
Until the fairly recent declassification of material, few people knew that thousands of women served as code breakers during WWII. In this fascinating and well researched investigative history, journalist Liza Mundy thoroughly details both the story of these women and the role of cryptanalysis within the war effort using interviews of surviving women, their families, and petitions to declassify information related to their work.

It is hard to grasp that over ten thousand women, including Bill Nye's mother, were recruited as cryptographers; yet we knew nothing of it. Among their successes were breaking the code used by the Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and learning about the Japanese surrender before the military leaders did. Mundy brilliantly portrays what it was like for a code girl and it wasn't as glamorous as you would think. Code girls were sworn to absolute secrecy. Not even their husbands and families were allowed to know what they did. Often times they decoded details of an operation where loved ones were in mortal danger, but they were unable to do anything about it. The job was isolating, stressful, and crucial so they banded together as a support system. 

I cannot praise Mundy's writing and research skills enough. I do have to warn you that there is, at times, an overwhelming amount of details and information. Some of the technical details could have been excluded without compromising the integrity of the book, and a more intimate look at fewer women would have been better. Overall, this is an amazingly readable book despite all of the details crammed into the narrative. That is a testament to just how great a writer Liza Mundy is.
​
If you enjoyed Hidden Figures you need to read this. I am not particularly interested in WWII military non-fiction as a rule, but Code Girls had me riveted!