Monday, April 15, 2013

"Please, treat yourself to this little gem." --Jackie


In this tautly woven tour de force, the paths of four very different women intersect, briefly but significantly, in ways that will change each of them forever. MacKenzie Bezos’s Traps is a propulsive exploration of the snares we build for ourselves, and of how life’s trials and reversals can lead to startling freedoms.

Dana is a beautiful young security guard trained in special ops can disarm a bomb or suture a wound but is terrified of committing to the man she loves. Lynn is a fiercely independent older woman living alone in Nevada and running a ranch for rescued dogs. Jessica is a reclusive movie star and mother of two whose father keeps selling her out to the paparazzi. Vivian is a seventeen-year-old prostitute who will do anything to protect her twin babies. Bezos brings deep intelligence and rich texture to her portraits of four women whose fates, though only tangentially connected, are linked in miraculous ways.

With infallible comic timing and enormous emotional generosity, Bezos mines the interior lives of her heroines: their fears, their longings, and above all the remarkable reservoirs of inner strength they bring to their struggles. Instantly engrossing, powerfully moving, and impossible to put down, Bezos’s page-turning novel reminds us that sometimes our greatest gifts may come to us disguised as our greatest obstacles.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Jackie says:
"This is a beautifully written story about four women who think they are strangers, but they have connections to one another that become clearer as this slim novel moves through a few days of each of these ladies lives.  The narrative weave is masterful, and several emotions are teased to the surface for both the characters and the reader. The theme throughout, however, is that life is full of things that feel like traps.  Our weaknesses and mistakes.  The violence done to us by others or ourselves, or that we may have done to others who have crossed our path.  But things like that aren't always what they seem--a bad turn can sometimes take us to exactly the place that we need to go.  Ultimately, maybe it's only ourselves we have to forget or forgive.  I did a lot of cheering towards the end, and at least one fist pump.  Please, treat yourself to this little gem."

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