Who is Maud Dixon? and Apples Never Fall

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Red Fern Book Review! Amy reviews two of the biggest books of 2021: Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews and Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Both are bestselling mysteries that are executed very differently. Who is Maud Dixon? is a clever thrill ride that combines an edgy whodunit reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith with the fun and accessibility of Sophie Kinsella. Apples Never Fall is the much anticipated novel by the author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers. The novel focuses on missing matriarch Joy Delaney, her four adult children, husband, and a mysterious houseguest.

Books and media discussed:

River Cafe Table 4, podcast
Tig and Cheryl: True Story, podcast
Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Strangers on the Train by Patricia Highsmith
Strangers on the Train, movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Casablanca, movie, directed by Michael Curitz
Remember Me? Sophie Kinsella
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

 
Amy reviewed The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz in Season 2, Episode 3. To Listen to that episode click here: The Plot and When The Stars Go Dark

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Transcript

Amy Mair: 0:18

Hello, welcome back to the Red Fern Book Review. I'm your host, Amy Mair. And today, I wanted to wish you, first of all and foremost, a happy new year. And what we're going to do today, I'm going to share with you a pair of podcasts that I'm enjoying. And I thought we kick off this new year on a lighter note, and discuss a couple of the really big reads that I read last fall. One I didn't like very much, and one I liked a lot. And those books are. The first book we're going to talk about is Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews, and then we're going to talk about the behemoth behemoth of a book literally and figuratively. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. But before we get to that, first I wanted to talk about the podcasts that I picked out to discuss. Okay, I'm gonna put my notes here. The first one I want to talk about is called River Cafe Table Four this is a fun podcast, especially for you foodies out there. And what it is, it is hosted by the founder of the River Cafe, which is a very, it's a Michelin starred Italian restaurant located in Hammersmith, London. And it's very famous, it started in the late 80s. And lots of movie stars go there as regular people do as well. And it is known for its Italian cooking. And also it's not I don't think it's a vegetarian restaurant per se, but it's heavy vegetarian, I believe. So, anyway, what's fun about this is table four is sort of the best place to sit in the house. And the founder Ruth Rogers, who happens to actually be a baroness. Her name is Baroness Rogers of Riverside. She's American born, but she's a British chef. And she married an Italian architect, British Italian British architect, and she spent a lot of time traveling and learning about seasonal cooking. She spent time in Italy, and I think some time in France, and so she sits down and what she does is she brings on famous guests, and they just have a chat. So she has on people like Jake Gyllenhaal, Victoria Beckham, and Paul McCartney. And I dropped in on the podcast with Paul McCartney. And what was cool about that is if you've ever heard him interviewed, he's such a plain spoken guy and just really interesting and he picks out his favorite recipe or favorite dish of hers and talks about it and he selected roasted Ober jeans with tomatoes and parmesan and Ober jeans. For those of us stateside is a plant of course. Anyway, anything he talks about his life he talks about growing up in Liverpool, and we learn about a favorite dish in Liverpool is called scouse, which is a type of stew and it's made from chunks of meat and potatoes and onion. And they actually call people in Liverpool a lot of times they're referred to as scousers and has to do with that, that that particular dish. So he just sort of talks about that and talks about how he was a vegetarian before it became popular. And I just really liked the conversational feel. I like learning more about the restaurants and just kind of that one on one discussion. Okay, so the second podcast I'm going to talk about is super fun. And my friend Cora told me about this, and it's called Tig and Cheryl: True Story. So this is with Tig Notaro, who's a very funny comedian. And Cheryl Hines from Curb Your Enthusiasm, who's also a comedian and they are just a super unlikely duo and they happen to be good friends. Tig is super deadpan. And Cheryl Hines is very hyper. And what they've done is they've teamed up and they go in depth Look at crime documentary. And along the way, they get super distracted and goof off. And what I really like about it is I happen to be obsessed with True Crime documentaries. And so those of you who are as well, you know who you are, I think you'd really enjoy it because they clearly are too. And so they actually go really in depth on some, if any use any of you saw The Staircase, that was a really good documentary, or I listened to one on Amanda Knox, and but at the same time, they goof around and have fun and play off each other. So I really recommend that. Okay, so, um, with the books, these two books, I really put them in the same category, kind of a little bit of a lighter read, potentially even a beach read, but I think they were executed differently. And they both I felt very differently about each of them. Okay, so the first book is Who is Maud Dixon? and this is a debut novel by Alexandra Andrews. And I really love this. It was a it's very much a mash up of a bunch of styles. I found it a little bit. Patricia Highsmith as in The Talented Mr. Ripley. And she also wrote Strangers on a Train, which was adapted into a screenplay by Alfred Hitchcock. I've added a little bit Casablanca, and a little bit like The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz, which I loved last year. And I'll give you links to that in the show notes, which is a fun campus novel. And a little bit, Elena Ferrante, the mysterious author, and that sort of pseudonym, of My Brilliant Friend, so just combines a whole bunch of things. And believe it or not, I haven't heard this anywhere. But this is my personal opinion. I really found this a little bit Sophie Kinsella, very much in the at the chicklit kind of genre. So what the story is, it's about working girl, Florence Darrow. And she is not getting anywhere fast in the very glamorous publishing industry. And what happens is she moves to New York, and she's an editorial assistant, and she's hanging out with all these glamorous people. She's not particularly happy, she's not really getting anywhere fast. But while she's at this particular publishing house people, she hears people talking about mA Dixon, who is this mysterious author, and she's written a runaway bestseller. And she's very much modeled after Elena Ferrante in My Brilliant Friend, no one knows who she is. But she's done very well. So she ends up to be honest, I can't remember but I think she loses her job. And or she's no longer working there or she gets a phone call. And somebody asks her, if she would be interested in being mod Dixon's assistant, but in order to do so she has to be completely confidential, and have the utmost discretion. So what ends up happening is she does interview with and finds out the person's name. Her name is actually Helen Wilcox, and she has to go live with her and a secret location, which is upstate New York. And what she does is she becomes her personal assistant. But it doesn't take from the very get go, you know, very early on. What happens is, Helen says we've got to go on a vacation and I've got to do some research. So they take off to Morocco, Morocco, and that's where the story just gets really fun. All kinds of things happen. There's disaster ensues, there's murder, there's mayhem, there's police, there's sexy just shoveled surfers. There's exotic hotels, back alleys, colorful streets of Marrakech and windswept beaches. And, you know, right away when they've touched down in Morocco, it's very clear to the reader that not everything is what it seems, and it becomes a caper. And it alternates kind of between light and dark. And at the, as a matter of fact, on the very first page, what ends up happening, we know this from the very first page, there's there's been an accident, and Florence is with her boss, Helen, and there's been an accident. So on the very first page, Helen ends up going missing, and Florence wakes up in a hospital And the staff just assume she's Helen. And so they call her Helen and she pauses just for seconds. And she's really disoriented. And she decides just to run with it. It's been her goal to be an author. And this is her, she decides that this is her big break. So she kind of makes it and I find that kind of interesting because she's this really good person. And she kind of makes a split second decision to kind of make a potentially bad decision. And so then the, the book goes on from there. And I just wanted to mention, I mentioned this earlier, but this book reminded me of Sophie Kinsella. She's a bit of a queen of checklists. And she wrote a book that I read it actually only read one book by her. But I highly recommend it if you want something really light, and it's called Remember Me?. And it wa written in 2008. And what tha book about is about, it's a 2 year old woman who her name i Lexi smart. And she has thi kind of average life. And sh wakes up in the London Hospital And all of a sudden, her teet are perfect. Her body is toned and her handbag is Bhutan. An so she's survived and ca accidents, and a big chunk o her memories missing three year to be exact. And she goes fro being a 25 year old working gir to a corporate Big Shot. And s she's got to piece her lif together and figure things out And she has this glamorous life And it's just, I can't explai exactly why I will compare the but there just was a bit of a overlap. And it just had simila pacing and kind of fun an glamour. So I really recommen this book. I thought it wa incredibly creative. And s that's that book. Okay, so th next book that I'm going to tal about you probably i You'd hav to be under a rock not to hav heard of this book. It's calle apples never fall by Lian Moriarty, who is the Austral an domestic drama powerhouse. nd she's a very big deal. Ri ht now. She's written a number o books and best known right now. She's the author of Big Little Lies, which became a big strea ing show with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. And then sh also is the author of Nine P rfect Strangers, which are the hat became the screenplay for th t, which is streaming o Hulu, and in the States and n on Amazon and Canada. And t at's also featuring Nicole idman. So the expectati ns were really high for this bo k. But it didn't quite work o t for me. But let me let me xplain to you a little bit mor about the book. So the wa it starts. The novel starts ou with a discarded shiny new min green, seven speed bike th t's meant to be ridden in t e cool crisp air of a Europea village. And their four green pples are splayed on the grou d. And a bike is abandoned on th side of the road. And th person who's riding the bik, her name is Joy is missi g. And her husband Stan, they fi d him has cuts all over his body, which he says he got from alling into a hedge at home. An they have a mysterious housegue t, who's also missing. So from t ere, that's the very beginning. That's the setup. And then fro there, you get the backstory of where we got here. And so it s a mystery to figure out what appened and where things are go ng. So the backstory is tha joy and Stan are these tennis, they run a tennis academy and they've been married forever. And Joy could have gone to Wimbledon, but she set her dreams aside for her family. And then they ended up having four children, two girls and two boys. And they all are like different points on a wheel. And Amy is a free spirit. Logan is aimless and sweet. Troy is kind of a cheater type pen, a high flyer, and Brooke is a businesswoman who hasn't found a love match. They all have problems otherwise, there wouldn't be much to say but there All kind of extremes in their own way. And so what, and none of them they all got pushed into tennis and it didn't work out for any of them. And I think the parents are disappointed, particularly the dad about that, like they just it just as it is with pro sports, it didn't work out. So one nights, the parents are, oh, I guess they're in their 60s, later 60s, a stranger named Savannah knocks on the door, and her eyes cuts. And she's small and she's vulnerable. And the detainees take her in, they clean up her cut, and they feed her, they put her to bed, and then all of a sudden she becomes a surrogate daughter. And this absolutely drives the parents crazy. And I could see well, not exactly, but I'm a new empty nester. And I could see how this could happen. Like they were really looking for someone to love and nurture. And this young woman comes into their life. And there's a scene where Savannah, and instantly, or so it seems, makes brownies for Father's Day. And that happens to be one of the daughters signature dishes. And they both bring brownies to this meal. And it just there's tensions abound. But it just my issue with the book is it I just it was first of all, it was very long, I think it was a lot to ask readers to read almost 500 pages of this book. And I didn't find it a page turner. And I wasn't super invested in the characters. But what I did like about it, I thought the pacing was excellent. Like she has a great way of alternating kind of shorter chapters and longer chapters. She incorporates two detectives, Ethan and Christina. And they are I thought they were really good. And they're uncovering what's going on. And they help kind of keep things moving along. And it does read like a screenplay that it will most inevitably be. But what I wanted to do, I did pick out a little little passage that I wanted to reach you just to give you a little flavor for, for what this book is like. So they're all the kids are together. And I think they might have actually been at the lunch at this time the brunch. But this is joy, talking or thinking. And she says all four of her children each fervently believed in separate versions of of their childhood that often didn't match up with Joy's memories, or each other's for that matter. Sometimes one of them will tell a story about an incident that joy was positive never happened, or at least not in the way they described, because she had biographical facts at her disposal. But we weren't even living in the Fairmont street house then. But your grandmother wasn't alive when you turn 13. And sometimes they'd argue about which of them was the villain or the victim, the martyr or the hero. That wasn't you that got stung by the bee helping grandma after she fainted at Troy's party. It was me and joy would think it was Logan's party not Troy's and there was no bee it was a wasp, and no one got stung. Amy just thought she did and none of you helped and grandma didn't faint. She passed out drunk. Her children refused to be corrected. That's what they remembered. Therefore, that's what happened. And when their memories didn't match up with each other, they held on tight. They're their versions of stories, their stories, as stubborn as their damned father. Although sometimes one of them would get a far off look, and you'd see something click into place. And they'd re examine a childhood event with Coronavirus and say, Wait a minute, maybe grandma was drunk that day. So, you know, that, you know, that's actually kind of true. I mean, this passage does ring true and that if any of you are part of brothers and sisters, and especially if you grew up close in age, you can have different versions of events. But I just I found the book a bit long and the other thing I didn't like was it is focused on tennis but as a tennis player myself I'd i There are a lot of other books out there that I prefer with tennis as a focus. And I'm actually going to be including that these books in my newsletter for this month. One of them is from last year, which I've already talked about. All In by Billie Jean King and I've got some other novels that I think you'll enjoy. too. But I and that is that's it. That's, that's all I have to say about those books. And I'm just really glad you're here. And I just wanted to make a little comment that I have now officially been doing my podcast for a year. And I just wanted to thank you so much for listening. And I wanted to talk about a couple things that we're going to be reviewing and the next few weeks. So this month, I decided since it's the beginning of the year, we're going to start off with some fun, which was today. But the next couple weeks, I have a friend, an academic coming on. Let's Kelsey and we're going to take a look at some classics. And I thought it would be fun to do with a bit of a guide. Because we're not in school anymore, but a lot we can learn a lot. And a lot of the books we enjoy today. We need to kind of know what came before to understand what's happening now. And I've been doing something really fun in February, I'm going to have another friend of mine, who's also an academic and we're going to talk about romance and why it's such a big genre. And we're gonna do a two parter on that and look at love in books. So and in between, I will always be talking about book club reads and other top books that I think you might be interested in. So thank you so much for listening. Please follow me on Instagram at Red Fern book review by turn book review, and I look forward to connecting with you on social media. And always I can help with customized book recommendations as well. So thanks so much for listening and I will talk to you later