Laura Dave Archives - The Litertarian

I’m coming to realize that Laura Dave is one of my favorite authors right now. She’s an excellent atmospheric writer. The tone of her books is clear from the first page and blankets the entire narrative in a somber and mysterious aura. It’s right up my alley. Couple that with excellent character work, interesting narrative concepts, and prose as smooth as butter and you’ve got yourself a five-star book all day long.

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave Book Cover

Nora is a strong woman who will be okay no matter which way the story turns. But the death of her father, and her estranged brother’s insistence that there is more to the story, brings up deep personal conflicts within her that she suddenly needs to explore. It is this train of story that we need closure on, and not necessarily the mystery surrounding her father’s death – but because she can’t reconcile her own issues without understanding his last days, we need to know that too. It’s brilliant story building, and I was hooked all the way through.

My one complaint is something that probably makes her books all the more marketable: they’re not longer. I could read 450+ pages of one of her stories happily, and I know she’d fill it all in with scintillating details that would only enhance it all. However, she fits a damn good story into these 320 pages, and I have to call that just about perfect.

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Details

Title:: The Night We Lost Him
Author:: Laura Dave
Genre:: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:: S&S/Marysue Rucci Books
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 7h 49m
Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan
Published:: September 17th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Villa | Rachel Hawkins
I Think I Was Murdered | Colleen Coble & Rick Acker
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline

Timing is everything, and who knows that better than a wine maker? I’m learning that lesson again from Eight Hundred Grapes. I read it once before in 2022 and rated it 3 stars. Rereading again in 2025 it has earned 5.

I suppose for me it was an acquired taste.

Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave Book Cover

Georgia flees town in her wedding dress, taking refuge back home in Sonoma county, at the bar her brothers own together. She’s been away awhile, and returns to find things not at all how she left them, but in just as complicated a mess as she finds her own self in. The foundations of her family she always believed to be unshakable have been shooketh, and she’s scrambling to make sense of the new reality taking shape around her.

I’m struggling to understand why a version of myself from three years ago didn’t find anything to connect with in this novel. I must not have, to have rated it three stars. The me of today sees a young woman coming to terms with a rite of passage that was thrust upon her all at once instead of coming to it on her own: the dissolution of her folks turning from ‘parents’ into ‘people’. This coming on the heels of a revelation that her fiancé has been hiding the biggest imaginable secret, and that her brothers are tangled up in something she doesn’t understand. All of these things are reinforcing the idea that people, no matter how good their intentions are, or how otherwise ‘good’ they may be, can and will make decisions that can hurt you. Decisions you may not understand. Decisions that will cause ripple effects far beyond what might have been expected.

This book is about coming to terms with the humanity and imperfections of your family, about the impermanence of some things and the imprinting of others upon the very fabric of your being. About holding onto and letting go of childhood. It’s about potential. It’s about building cultivating the soil and knowing when to give up, and more importantly, when not to. It’s about taking control of your own destiny, and accepting the fallibility of others, as we are fallible ourselves. But really it’s a story of a family in crisis, and who can’t relate to that at some level?

Laura Dave, I’m sorry I did not see or understand the brilliance of this novel the first time around. I’m just glad I picked it up again and saw its true worth this time. Thank you, for such an incredible story.

Details

Title:: Eight Hundred Grapes
Author:: Laura Dave
Genre:: Contemporary/General Fiction
Publisher:: Simon & Schuster
Length:: 274 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 6m
Audiobook Narrator:: Joy Osmanski
Published:: February 1st, 2022
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars