Book Review: THE MEDICI BOY by John L'Heureux

The Medici Boy

Title: The Medici Boy by John L'Heureux
Published April 1, 2014; Astor + Blue Editions
Genre: historical fiction

Michelozzo's wedding was the occasion for another of those Medici interventions in the lives of artisans that have produced astonishing works, like Donatello's bronze David or the frescoes of Fra Angelico or the Madonnas of Filippo Lippi whom Cosimo locked in a room and refused to let out until he had made progress with his painting. These would never have existed without Cosimo's insistence. And his money.

The art patron in question is Cosimo de'Medici, the wealthy and influential banker in Renaissance Florence, who commissioned the sculptor Donatello to make a bronze statue of David, the statue that gave the author the idea for this book, The Medici Boy. The title of the book does not refer to Donatello or to David, however, but to a fictional character in the book - the handsome young Agnolo, who is the model for the David sculpture.

The Medici Boy is about the works of Donatello in one part, the history of the Medicis in Florence in the early 15th century in another, and in yet another, a fiction about Donatello's personal life and loves during a time when love between men or between men and boys was punishable by death.

The Night Officers were not men to antagonize.... Donatello seemed not to realize this. His infatuation with Agnolo had in truth become a kind of madness. (ch. 33)

The fictional narrator Luca observes Donatello and Agnolo with great care and with some jealousy. He works as the keeper of accounts and helper in Donatello's workshop in Florence and later in Padua. We see everything through his eyes, and he has his own intriguing personal story to tell also.

I recommend the book not only for its historical information on the life of a great artist and his wealthy Medici supporter, but also for its social implications which extend to our own time. The author's fluid narration and his command of language made this informative and thought provoking novel both a challenge and a delight to read. I was a little scared I would not do justice to the book, so I will add this link to the recent Washington Post's review (which I have not yet read). It should add more.

John L'Heureux has served on both sides of the writing desk: as staff editor and contributing editor for The Atlantic and as the author of sixteen books of poetry and fiction. His stories have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper's, The New Yorker, and have frequently been anthologized in Best American Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His experiences as editor and writer inform and direct his teaching of writing. Since 1973, he has taught fiction writing, the short story, and dramatic literature at Stanford. In 1981, he received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and again in 1998. His recent publications include a collection of stories, Comedians, and the novels, The Handmaid of Desire (1996), Having Everything (1999), and The Miracle (2002).

The Medici Boy Readers Guide
Video Trailer for the book

Thanks to publishers Astor + Blue for a review copy of this book for their book tour.

John L'Heureux

Sunday Salon: Reading for Book Tours

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer; It's Monday: What Are You Reading? at Book Journey. Also visit Mailbox Monday.

Re the garden, we put in wire around our raised vegetable garden bed, and not even the chipmunks can get it. There are already shoots of bean? showing. A ton of sprouts are showing in the raised flower bed - cone flowers, asters, marigolds, or? It will be great to see which seeds will grow, of all the ones we planted.

I finished reading several books last week and posted reviews and/or comments:
Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hiraraha, a mystery set in ethnic neighborhoods of LA
Death Money by Henry Chang, a mystery set in NYC Chinatown
The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, a novel of suspense with a controversial ending
The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose, a fantasy

A book tour for The Medici Boy comes Tuesday and am still reading the book, though it's an easy read and very well done. After that, The Gondola Maker, another historical novel, is my May 8 book tour.

I received only one book last week in the mail! Bee Summers by Melanie Dugan, for another book tour on May 22. Before that, I'll review The Idea of Him on May 19.

Bee Summers

We have given away the frame and headboard of a twin bed that had been taking up space in the basement. That leaves me with room for more book shelves, yah! Slowly downsizing and leaving only those things "most loved." Also, sharing the goodies - shipped off a small box of cozies and a copy of Mrs Poe to my niece, a fellow lover of mystery novels. Her older daughter likes historical fiction. So glad to have some family members to share books with. Most of them are too busy to be readers! Ahem!

How did your week shape up?

Book Review: Death Money by Henry Chang

Friday 56 Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.

Also Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader.

Death Money

Title: Death Money: a Detective Jack Yu Investigation by Henry Chang
Published April 15, 2014; Soho Crime
Genre: police procedural

  page 56
"Find out anything, bro?" It was Billy Bow.
"Yeah, he's Chinese,"snapped Jack. "Why?"
"Last name Chang, right?" teased Billy.
"And you know that how?"Jack countered.
"Ancient Chinese secret."
"Stop f---ing around, Billy. It's a homicide deal now."

Book beginning:
It was 7 A.M. when Detective Jack Yu stepped into the frigid dawn spreading over Sunset Park.A slate gray Brooklyn morning with single-digit temperatures driven by wind shrieking off the East River. He scanned Eighth Avenue for the Chinese see gay radio cars bur saw none, only a couple of Taipan minibuses, sai-ba, queued up a block away from the Double Eight Cantonese restaurant.

(above quotes taken from an advance uncopyedited edition of the book; final copy may differ)

Publisher description: 
Novelist Henry Chang returns us to the Chinatown of NYPD Detective Jack Yu, and spins one of his most noir tales yet. When the body of an unidentified Asian man is found in the Harlem River, NYPD Detective Jack Yu is pulled in to investigate. The murder takes Jack from the benevolent associations of Chinatown to the take-out restaurants, strip clubs, and underground gambling establishments of the Bronx, to a wealthy, exclusive New Jersey borough. It's a world of secrets and unclear allegiances, of Chinatown street gangs and major Triad players. With the help of an elderly fortune teller and an old friend, the unpredictable Billy Bow, Jack races to solve his most difficult case yet.

My comments:
I enjoyed the author's previous books, Year of the Dog and Red Jade, and continue to find the world of NYC's Chinatown fascinating, as it appears in this series. The novel has a no-holds-barred frankness that may shock some, but its honesty in its portrayal of people, places, and situations makes it an intriguing book.
There is a subplot that I wish had been developed more in the novel - Jack Yu's romance with an attractive Chinese lawyer. The subplot could help to lighten some of the tense events of the mystery novel as it went along.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from the publisher.

Book Review: The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

The Other Typist

The door banged shut. We all turned to find Odalie standing in front of the threshold peering at us with her wide blue eyes and a faint smile on her lips. Her sudden apparition and elegant countenance were utterly incongruous with her surroundings. We were struck. (ch. 3)

About the book: Rose Baker's life is one of a struggling typist living in a boarding house in NYC during the 1920s, doing her work as a typist at the NYPD with resolute efficiency. That is, until a new typist Odalie enters the scene. Odalie persuades Rose to move into her luxurious hotel rooms with her as a roommate and slowly effects a change in Rose's habits and appearance. Rose is smitten with the new typist, the new experiences, their visits to speakeasy joints, drinking during a time of prohibition, wearing fancy dresses, and dining in elegant restaurants.

Things begin to change, however, when Rose changes the wording in a "confession" by a suspected murderer. And then someone from Odalie's past shows up to question Odalie about a suspicious death years previously. Events quickly begin to tumble out of order and reason, and the reader is left in a maze, wondering about the two women, "What...?"

My comments: Rose is an unreliable narrator who sees herself as enlightened and reasonable, but we the readers can see how flawed she is in her rigidity and her prejudices. Her head over heels infatuation with the new typist, Odalie and Odalie's lifestyle and manners, is just another contradiction in her personality. 

I believe the author could have ended the novel and its suspenseful plot in about three different ways. She chose to use all three ways in the novel, however, a technique which may leave the reader gasping. I was nonplussed at first until I realized what the author was doing.

The book kept my attention till the very end, to the culmination of the suspenseful events, so I give this read a 4/5 rating! Though I might have wanted a more definitive end to the story!

Thanks to Penguin for a review copy of this book for their book tour.

THE OTHER TYPIST has also been optioned for film produced by and starring Keira Knightley, seen here in The Guardian this past summer.

Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B; choose two teaser sentences from a random page of your current read. Give the title and author for readers.

Murder on Bamboo Lane

Title: Murder on Bamboo Lane: An Office Ellie Rush Mystery by Naomi Hirahara

Published April 1, 2013 Berkley

Genre: mystery

Most locals consider Olvera Street just a tourist trap where you can be swallowed up in a pit of tchotchkes that look Mexican but are probably made in China. Dig a little deeper, I tell my friends. It's more than taquitos. There's an adobe house there that may not look like much, but it's the oldest standing house in Los Angeles. And then there is the Siqueiros mural, painted in the 1930s and restored recently for ten million dollars. (ch. 7)

My comments: This new mystery series by Hirahara may sound as if it's about the Mexican population in Los Angeles, but in reality it has a new bike cop, Ellie Rush, ranging around in areas populated by Asian groups - Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Apart from the mystery plot, the novel takes you through Los Angeles ethnic neighborhoods and enclaves. I liked that about the book, in addition to the unique murder story.

Publisher description:
Trouble awaits rookie LAPD Officer Ellie Rush as she patrols the mean streets of Los Angeles on her bicycle… Bike cop Ellie Rush dreams of becoming a homicide detective, but it’s still a shock when the first dead body she encounters on the job is that of a former college classmate.

At the behest of her Aunt Cheryl, the highest-ranking Asian-American officer in the LAPD (a source of pride for Ellie’s grandmother, but annoyance to her mom), Ellie becomes tangled in the investigation of the coed’s murder—with equal parts help and hindrance from her nosy best friend, her over-involved ex-boyfriend, a smoldering detective, and seemingly everyone else in her extended family…only to uncover secrets that a killer may go to any lengths to ensure stay hidden.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review/feature.. 

Book Tour: The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose

"It is with irony now, forty years later, to think that if I had not been called a murderer on the most frightening night of my life, there might not be any perfume in Paris today. And that scent—to which I gave my all and which gave me all the power and riches I could have hoped for—is at the heart of why now it is I who call myself a murderer."
From The Collector of Dying Breaths


“When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered...the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls...bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory.”  ―Marcel Proust 

Title: The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose
Published April 8, 2014; Atria

My comments: Definitely a book for those who enjoy fantasy in novels of reincarnation, romance, and history. I can see its appeal for lovers of magic and romance. It's a novel those who do not normally read fantasy might have to be in a particular mood for, however. But it is rich in historical detail and setting and highly recommended in its genre.

Publisher description:
A lush and imaginative novel that crisscrosses time as a perfumer and a mythologist search for the fine line between potion and poison, poison and passion…and past and present.

 Florence, Italy—1533: An orphan named René le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Medici’s perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from Italy to France, René brings with him a cache of secret documents from the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fragrances and potent medicines—and a formula for an alchemic process said to have the potential to reanimate the dead. In France, René becomes not only the greatest perfumer in the country but the most dangerous, creating deadly poisons for his Queen to use against her rivals. But while mixing herbs and essences under the light of flickering candles, Rene doesn’t begin to imagine the tragic and personal consequences for which his lethal potions will be responsible.

 Paris, France—The Present: A renowned mythologist, Jac L’Etoile, is trying to recover from personal heartache by throwing herself into her work, learns of the 16th century perfumer who may have been working on an elixir that would unlock the secret to immortality. She becomes obsessed with René le Florentin’s work—particularly when she discovers the dying breaths he had collected during his lifetime. Jac’s efforts put her in the path of her estranged lover, Griffin North, a linguist who has already begun translating René le Florentin’s mysterious formula. Together they confront an eccentric heiress in possession of a world-class art collection. A woman who has her own dark purpose for the elixir… a purpose for which she believes the ends will justify her deadly means. This mesmerizing gothic tale of passion and obsession crisscrosses time, zigzagging from the violent days of Catherine de Medici’s court to twenty-first century France. Fiery and lush, set against deep, wild forests and dimly lit chateaus, The Collector of Dying Breaths illuminates the true path to immortality: the legacies we leave behind

Thanks to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for a review copy of this book. Click on the link for more tour stops and reviews.

M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of fourteen novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio. Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the ’80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors – Authorbuzz.com. The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose’s novels in the Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype. She is also the co-founder of Peroozal.com and BookTrib.com.

Rose lives in CT with her husband, the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.

For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Sunday Salon: Mixed Genres, Again

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer; It's Monday: What Are You Reading? at Book Journey. Also visit Mailbox Monday.

Isn't it exciting about the canonization of two Popes today? Brings back memories -  I remember John XXIII being considered as a candidate to become the new Pope; I was just a young kid in school then. Later, we saw John Paul II celebrate Mass in the stadium in Bangkok on May 10, 1984! Who knew these two would later become saints in the Church!
At home, we planted a vegetable garden, a medium sized raised bed, and seeded another round bed with flowers. Can't wait to see what will come up after all our digging in the soil and watering!

A few new books this week:

Where Earth Meets Water

"In this poignant and breathtaking debut, one man searches for meaning in the wake of incomparable tragedy…

Karom Seth should have been in the Twin Towers on the morning of 9/11, and on the Indian shores in 2004, when the tsunami swept his entire family into the ocean. Whether it's a curse or a blessing, Karom can't be sure, but his absence from these disasters has left him with crushing guilt—and a belief that fate has singled him out for invincibility. " (goodreads)

Queen's Gambit

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived...

This is the story of the last wife of Henry VIII, the one who survived.

Widowed for the second time at age thirty-one Katherine Parr falls deeply for the dashing courtier Thomas Seymour and hopes at last to marry for love. However, she attracts the attentions of the ailing, egotistical, and dangerously powerful monarch Henry VIII, who dispatches Seymour to the continent. No one is in a position to refuse a royal proposal so, haunted by the fates of King Henry's previous wives, Katherine is obliged to become his sixth queen. (goodreads)

Herbie's Game

It’s everyday business when Wattles, the San Fernando Valley’s top “executive crook,” sets up a hit. He establishes a chain of criminals to pass along the instructions and the money, thereby ensuring that the hitter doesn’t know who hired him. Then one day Wattles finds his office safe open and a single item missing: the piece of paper on which he has written the names of the crooks in the chain. When people associated with the chain begin to pop up dead, the only person Wattles can turn to to solve his problem is Junior Bender, professional burglar and begrudging private eye for crooks. (goodreads)

What new books are you reading this week?