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The Affairs of the Falcóns: A Novel

April 8, 2019

falcons

Life for Ana Falcón is walking a high-wire above a field of razors. She works long days at garment factory hunched over a sewing machine, while her husband, Lucho drives a cab at night. They live with their two small children in the bedroom of a cousin’s apartment in Brooklyn. A cousin who has made it clear they need to move on, but their jobs don’t bring in enough income to ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, ecco, social issues

The Other Americans: A Novel

April 3, 2019

other americans

Late one evening, Driss, an older man, is hit and killed in a dark intersection near his restaurant in a small town in California. His death is at the center of Laila Lalami’s new novel, The Other Americans. She assembles Driss’s family, the police, a potential witness, and nearby business owners—each with their own perspective—and lets them tell their story, not just of the ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, literary, mystery, Pantheon, social issues

Women Talking: A Novel by Miriam Toews

April 1, 2019

women talking

In the Mennonite community of Molotschna eight women gather in a barn to talk. Their meeting is a secret, made possible only because the men have gone into the city to bail out eight men who have been accused of a heinous crime: that of drugging and raping over 100 of the community’s women and girls repeatedly over a two-year span.  It will take two days for the men to return ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Bloomsbury, book clubs, cultural, literary, religion, social issues, women

A People’s History of Heaven

March 18, 2019

history

It’s funny, being a girl. That thing that’s supposed to push you down, defeat you, shove you back, back, and further back still? Turn it the right way, and it’ll push you forward instead. A People’s History of Heaven was one of my winter picks. It’s set in a 30-year-old slum called Heaven in Bangalore, India and centers around the lives of five young girls: Banu, Padma, Joy, ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Algonquin Books, book clubs, coming-of-age, contemporary life, cultural, friendship, India

If, Then by Kate Hope Day

March 13, 2019

if then

It feels a bit as if alternate realities are all the rage in fiction this year, which is not too surprising if you pay attention to what’s happening in the real world. First, there was The Dreamers, where people fell asleep and dreamed of different lives. Dreams so vivid that upon awaking they believed their dreams were real. Kate Hope Day takes things further in her debut ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, literary, Pacific Northwest, science fiction

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken

March 8, 2019

bowlaway

It’s the end of the 19th century when Bertha Truitt appears in Salford, Massachussetts. Literally, just appears. If she has a past she doesn’t want to talk about it. What she does want to do is open her own candlepin bowling alley and with the money she has she does. This is just the first of Bertha’s actions that make her the most intriguing character in Elizabeth McCracken’s ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: family saga, historical fiction, New England

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