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The Given World

April 27, 2015

given

When Riley is thirteen her brother Mick is declared missing in Vietnam. This news kills what little desire she has to stay in their small town and by the time she is eighteen she is gone, making her way from Montana to San Francisco to see the ocean and to escape every facet of life that might remind her of her brother. She leaves behind her parents, a boyfriend and her newborn ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, literary, Vietnam, Vietnam War

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

April 6, 2015

goldfinch

The Goldfinch won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It will be out in paperback this week so I'm reprising my original review. If you have not read the book yet it is well worth it. If you have, what did you think? Did it deserve the Pulitzer?     Donna Tartt’s latest novel is The Goldfinch. Oh My. This is a B.I.G. book, figuratively (Tartt’s first novel ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, Back Bay Books, book clubs, contemporary fiction, literary, Manhattan

Hausfrau

March 23, 2015

hausfrau

Anna is an American, married, mother of three who lives in a suburb of Zurich with her Swiss husband. Despite her efforts she cannot acclimate to Switzerland and exists in a state of low-level depression that expresses itself through having multiple affairs. She is the wife in Jill Anderson Essbaum’s Hausfrau, a new novel that is evoking a plethora of vigorous response, largely ... Read More...

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, Europe, marriage, Random House

Our Endless Numbered Days

March 18, 2015

endless

There are few things more important to little girls than their fathers and Peggy is no exception. Her German mother is a famous concert pianist but she is often brusque and busy while her father has friends who come over and hang out, smoking and talking about exciting things she doesn’t fully understand. He plays, calls her Rapunzel and has projects that involve her. He is at ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, literary, mystery, Tin House

All the Days and Nights

March 13, 2015

  I continue to look at a partially formed canvas; fragile and imprecise. Just one untruth will ruin it: if I lie to myself, the painting will dissolve. The temptation to destroy clings to my skin, densely packed and impermeable. What painting is, is the temperance and determination to avoid these urges. I am only as strong as my will allows, only measuring my worth in ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, literary, The Friday Project

A Little Life

March 9, 2015

little

  At the most basic level A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is the story of four men who meet in college, move to New York City afterwards to pursue their careers, and whose lives stay entwined for the rest of the novel. They can be easily defined by their careers: Willem is an actor, JB an artist, Malcolm an architect, and Jude a lawyer. It is also quickly evident that, ... Read More...

16 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, contemporary fiction, Doubleday, friendship, literary, Manhattan, social issues

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