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The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

May 25, 2018

perfect

Summertime is thriller time. There’s something about the pacing, when it’s done right, that matches the weather to my brain—overheated and a bit frenetic. The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy is my most recent venture into twisted turn thriller territory. Molloy doesn’t go for subtle in choosing a plot guaranteed to ratchet up the tension: an infant disappears from his mother’s ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, Harper, mystery, New York City, thriller, women

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

May 23, 2018

mars

  There isn’t any status in it unless you’d be impressed to know that the Mars Room is not a middling or mediocre strip club but is definitely the worst and most notorious, the very seediest and most circuslike place there is. In stark contrast to all that was warm and lovely in Monday’s book, Tin Man, I’m back today with a book that probably worked because it was ... Read More...

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, Scribner, social issues, women

Tin Man: A Novel by Sarah Winman

May 21, 2018

tin

When Sarah Winman's Tin Man begins the tragedy of Ellis Judd’s life has already ended. He is a 45-year-old man who works the night shift at a car plant near Oxford, England. He lives alone with a life of monotonous routine and works nights because he can’t sleep. Can’t sleep because he’s left with nothing but memories of his wife, Annie, and his dearest friend, Michael, both of ... Read More...

22 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: friendship, literary, Putnam

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews

May 18, 2018

it's

I'm back, with two spring releases that I didn't care for, but that I recognize could very well work for someone else.    The family of women in What Should Be Wild are cursed. They are the Blakelys and they go back generations to 400 A.D. when the first, the young Alys, is slain by conquerors. There are seven and range from Emma who is only five and was left in ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Bloomsbury, contemporary life, family, fantasy, Harper, magical realism, mini-reviews, new adult

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll

May 16, 2018

favorite

There is a book for every mood and sometimes, your subconscious knows what you need better than your thinking mind. I had no idea how hungry I was for flat-out over-the-top drama until I finished Jessica Knoll’s newest novel, The Favorite Sister. I was drawn to the book by its premise—a reality TV show about a group of high achieving, self-made, female millennials whose life ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, mystery, New York City, pop culture, satire, Simon & Schuster, women

The Map of Salt and Stars

May 14, 2018

map

Making maps is the fulcrum for Jennifer Joukhadar’s debut novel, The Map of Salt and Stars. Rawiya and Nour are young women who tell their stories side by side even though they are separated by almost a thousand years. Rawiya is a sixteen-year-old in ancient Ceuta who longs to see the world beyond her village so she leaves home in the guise of a young man and becomes an ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, contemporary life, cultural, Middle East, mythology, Touchstone, war

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