It’s the 1950’s and Teddy Daniels, a US Marshal and war veteran, has been sent to Shutter Island along with his partner Chuck Aule to find escaped patient Rachel Solando. Shutter Island is the home of Ashecliffe hospital, a mental institution for the criminally insane. Teddy has his own ghosts though, having lived through the war and the loss of his wife, who died in an apartment fire just a few short years ago.

But something is strange about Ashecliffe and as Teddy and Chuck delve deeper into the disappearance of Rachel, they realize that there are much more devious things going on on Shutter Island. With a hurricane bearing down on the island, things only get more confusing. It turns out that on Shutter Island all is not quite what it seems. How could have Rachel escaped a locked prison cell? When Rachel all of a sudden reappears you realize that the mystery of Shutter Island has only just begun. Has Teddy come to the the island with his own agenda? And will Teddy and Chuck make it off the island in one piece?

Like the wind from the hurricane that has hit the island, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane will throw you around until you no longer know which way is up. Lehane’s writing grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the very end. Shutter Island is one of those books you just can’t put down and I read it in a few short days, always trying to stay one step ahead of the author to figure out what was really going on. But just when you think you know what is going to happen, Lehane throws in another plot twist that literally blows your mind. I was blindsided a few times while reading the book and really enjoyed the twists and turns of the story. Shutter Island is a great psycological thriller.

Once finishing the book, I got a copy of the movie which is directed by Martin Scorsese. You can see the trailer below.

I was impressed by how closely the movie followed the story in the book and also thought that it was well cast. I would recommend reading the book then watching the movie, as I think they both were well worth my time.

Claire, busy preparing her Upper East Side apartment for the arrival of four other women, all who like herself have lost their sons in Vietnam. Corrigan, a monk living in the projects of NYC and struggling with his vows. Tillie, a black prostitute who works the streets with her own daughter. Lara, a struggling artist who has a fender-bender that would change the course of her life. A man walking a tightrope strung high up between the twin towers. While holding your breath to see if the tightrope walker will make it safely to the other side, the story unfolds and you soon find out how all the characters are connected.  

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann is a novel of multiple stories, all intricately woven together into one book. With the true-life tightrope walk between the twin towers (done in the early seventies by Philippe Petit) as the moment in time that pulls the story and characters together, Let the Great World Spin is a really good book. With in-depth characters, an exploration of the political climate of the seventies, the crumbling justice system, the Vietnam war, prostitution, religious beliefs and drug abuse, Let the Great World Spin takes on a lot of topics. You would think that the multiple stories and various topics might be overkill, but the author weaves together the plotline seamlessly. He effortlessly switches from Tillie’s rough and tumble voice to the more refined speak of Claire without skipping a beat. As the story unfolds, we learn how all the characters come to change their lives and how in a city as big as New York, each and every person matters.  

Having said all that, I really liked Let the Great World Spin, but I felt there was a bit of a disconnect between writer and reader. Obviously McCann is an extremely talented storyteller, but the book didn’t pack the emotions punch that some of my favorite novels have had. For me, a truly great novel has to grab my emotions by the throat and never let go. While Let the Great World Spin didn’t move me emotionally, I have to say that it is definitely a very good book and would recommend it.

I am really interested in learning more about the tightrope walker mentioned in the novel, so I hope to watch the documentary Man on Wire by Director James Marsh. Have any of you seen it?

Thank you TLC Book Tours for sending me Let the Great World Spin for review.

Oh Charlotte, how I love you!  I can’t believe it took me so long to ever read a Bronte novel – what was I thinking?

Jane Eyre is the classic story of head strong, independent and imaginative Jane, a ten year old orphan living with her awful Aunt Reed and spoiled cousins. Life with the abusive Reed family is terrible, and soon after the novel starts her Aunt sends her to a boarding school for poor children. The situation at Lowood Institution is not much better and Jane survives near starvation, mistreatment by the holy roller who runs the place and a sickness that nearly wipes out half the school. After eight years Jane is finally able to leave the school and becomes a governess to young Adele, the ward of the passionate and tortured Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall. 

Even though Jane is considered plain and unattractive and Mr. Rochester is abrupt and cynical, they begin to have feelings for each other. But there are strange goings-on at Thornfield Hall – crazy laughter heard through the house in the middle of the night and a near fatal fire in one of the bedrooms. As Jane and Mr. Rochester’s romance develops, the story about Mr. Rochester’s past unfolds. Soon Jane finds herself torn between the love of her life and the morals she hold dear.

It took me awhile to get through Jane Eyre as I wanted to savor the experience. And an experience it was! Passionate love, turmoil, betrayal and despair mixed in with lush scenery and gothic elements all made Ms. Bronte’s novel a fully engaging read.

I found myself re-reading many of the passages as they were so lovely. Here is one of my favorite quotes when Jane explains the feelings she has for Mr. Rochester:

Most true is it that ‘beauty is in the eye of the gazer.’ My master’s colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth – all energy, decision, will – were not beautiful, according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me: they were full of an interest, an influence that quite mastered me – that took my feelings from my own power and fettered them in his. I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my sould the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.

After finishing the book I rented the Masterpiece Theater version of Jane Eyre and was really happy to see that it was pretty faithful to the novel. The sexual tension between Jane (Ruth Wilson) and Mr. Rochester (Toby Stephens – who by the way is the son of Maggie Smith – aka Professor McGonagall) was spot on. As with most Masterpiece productions, they did a wonderful job with the costumes and scenery. In fact, I had only two minor quibbles with this production. First, I felt the actress who played Adele seemed way too old for the role and was awkward in the part. Also, I found the Toby Stephens was almost too like-able for Mr. Rochester. In the novel Mr. Rochester is way more brooding, gruff and temperamental. It seems that he was softened a bit, even to the point of being jovial, to make his character a little easier to swallow for modern audiences. These two issues aside, I felt the movie was ultimately a good adaptation of the classic book.

After finishing Jane Eyre, I immediately picked up Becoming Jane Eyreby Sheila Kohler. The story chronicles a brief period of time in Charlotte Bronte’s life when she was writing Jane Eyre. Fresh off the heals of the rejection of her first novel, Charlotte is in the midst of writing Jane Eyre while helping her ailing father, worrying about her brother’s destructive behavior and coming to terms with her own life. Kohler cleverly intertwines the story of Jane Eyre with Charlotte’s own life and allows the reader to imagine which experiences in her life contributed to her timeless story. I enjoyed Becoming Jane Eyre (although found the alternating narrators to be distracting) and would suggest before picking the book up that you read Charlotte’s novel first. Without a more than basic understanding of Jane Eyre you might find Ms. Kohler’s novel hard to follow and not as satisfying.

Thanks to Laura’s Reviews for hosting the All About the Brontes Challenge and for Penguin Classics for sending me a copy of The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) and Becoming Jane Eyre.