Digging to America, Anne Tyler (3.5)
It took me awhile to get into this book. At first, I found the characters all quite annoying. The story is of two extended families who meet at the airport as they are picking up their adopted children from Korea. We follow the families over a few years as the two girls grow up and the families stay close. Eventually I can to appreciate the nuanced writing as the story illustrated the feelings of various types of immigrants, though mainly affluent ones. Whether they chose to come to the US, are second generational with strong cultural ties to their family’s original country or were adopted into these families, their feelings were oddly both different and similar. The writing was good, even if I didn’t like the characters.
The Diamond Eye, Kate Quinn (4.0)
I normally don’t read historical fiction as it can reshape my memory with regards to actual history. In this case, I enjoyed reading a fiction story about a real woman sniper in the Russian army during WWII. The main character was interesting and more complex than many of the others. Following history, she did make a propaganda trip to the US. She was part of a group invited by Eleanor Roosevelt with a mission to get US to engage on the Eastern front as an ally of Russia. Kate Quinn once again does a good job bringing to life important women in the war. While WWII has been the setting for many books, her choice of unknown heroes makes the stories fresher. I found the love story elements a bit simplistic, but I was anxious to read it quickly to find out what happens to the Lady Sniper.
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