The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen by Katherine Howe

The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen

by Katherine Howe

I have not read a single book by Katherine Howe that I have not thoroughly enjoyed, and this YA novel was no departure. It was the perfect antidote to the cabin fever days of cold weather and muddy ground in March.

Wes is a film student at a summer workshop in New York City. He is helping a friend with sound as they film a séance when he catches sight of a girl like no one else he has ever met.

Now that I’ve seen her, I feel like she can never be unseen. She looks . . . I suck at describing people, and beautiful feels especially pathetic.

She’s in the camera shot and his friend, Tyler, tasks Wes with getting her to sign a release. She disappears before he can do so.

At the same time, Wes catches the eye of another girl at the séance, Maddie. She’s a little more worldly than Wes.

She smiles mysteriously at me and whispers, “I see you, Wes.”

A strange shiver travels around behind my ears when she says this.

Wes is unique because, as a film student, he really looks and sees things that other people may gloss over. He’s hoping that if he produces a good enough documentary for the workshop, on the theme of what people want most, he can transfer to NYU.

But first he has to find the other girl and get the release signed for Tyler.

It’s like she captures the light. Like it moves through her, and gathers within her, and makes her exude a fragile glow. I swallow and realize that I’m staring, and I haven’t said anything, and that’s totally weird, and I’m probably freaking her out. When I open my mouth to speak I discover I’ve been holding my breath.

When Wes finds the girl, he learns her name is Annie, but he still doesn’t get her signature before she takes off again. Then she shows up in his dorm room. Wes learns that Annie has problems of her own, and he finds himself wanting to help.

I love the difference between Wes’s perception of events and Annie’s. The way the author handles Annie’s perception of her experiences is unique and riveting. Historical detail weaves throughout the story, along with detailed scene setting.

I can’t wait to read the next book by this author.

The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro

The Muralist

By B.A. Shapiro

The theme for book club this month was visual arts and I found myself completing an unheard of (for me) third book! It helps that I had them all sitting on my Goodreads list. The third one, The Muralist, by B.A. Shapiro kept me up last night until after midnight because I simply could NOT put it down. I had to finish it.

I feel like I've actually learned a little bit about abstract art appreciation from this novel. The main character is a young abstract painter named Alizee Benoit. Though she is a fictional character, she works with many people in the book who are historical figures including the abstract artists Mark Rothko and Lee Krasner, in the Works Project Administration, the WPA. They paint murals.

Eleanor Roosevelt actually plays a part in the story as Alizee gets to meet her and convinces her to get the administration to fund a couple of abstract murals. Then Alizee contacts her for more personal help.

The book is set in late 1930s and early 40s. Alizee is Jewish and her family is stuck in Europe, her parents having died when she was young in a laboratory explosion. She has not been political but starts working with a group trying to get more visas for immigrants.

It's a very good book but emotionally difficult. Her uncle is detained, leaving the rest of the family on their own, in France and her cousin almost killed. There is little she can do, but she tries. 

Breckinridge Long, the assistant secretary of state in control of all American visas, lies about how many visas were given out, being anti-Semitic and an isolationist. Alizee sets to work with a group determined to discredit him, even as she begins to create murals that speak to her fear for her family in France.

However, the story begins in modern times with a niece of Alizee, Danielle, as she tries to piece together what happened to her aunt, who disappeared in the early 1940s. Danielle’s story is quickly dwarfed by that of Alizee as we are pulled into the years before the involvement of the U.S. in World War II.

This was a deeply engaging and moving book. Characters are well developed and the story is fast paced while giving deep and interesting details. I will be looking for more of this author’s work in the future. I would give it 5 stars.