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Dust Child

March 14, 2023

dust child

The Vietnam War has been written about from many points of view in fiction, but for the most part my reading has focused on the years of the war, rife as they are with the atrocities perpetuated on the Vietnamese, both by their own people (ARVN soldiers in the South, Viet Cong in the North) and then the Americans. Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai takes a longer view by ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, historical fiction, Vietnam, Vietnam War

2022 Underrated Gems

December 26, 2022

gems

Nothing like waiting until the last week of the year to put out best-of lists. Today I want to share five gems that I adored that didn’t get as much love and attention as they deserve. Hopefully, you got gift cards and pick up at least one of these remarkable novels.   Title links go to my full review     This debut novel from a Native American author ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary life, favorite books, historical fiction, literary, mini-reviews

The Complicities: A Novel

September 26, 2022

complicities

Con man Bernie Madoff’s life inspired a plethora of novels about the aftermath of a wife left to clean up her husband’s mess. Or at least try to escape it. By and large, they come from a perspective of innocence. But in Stacey d’Erasmo’s new novel, The Complicities, she opts to forgo the black-and-white ease of innocent or guilty to go with something much more compelling—the ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, literary

Calling for a Blanket Dance

September 5, 2022

calling

In a desperate attempt to save her marriage, Turtle packs up her 6-month-old son, Ever, finds her drunk husband, Everardo, loads him into the car and leaves Oklahoma for Mexico. Her plan is to reunite Everardo with the mother he hasn’t seen in a decade in the hope she’ll pressure him into living up to his responsibilities. The visit is a welcome one and ignites Everardo’s sense ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, cultural, debut, literary, Native Americans

Metropolis: A Novel

June 27, 2022

metropolis

A storage warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts hardly seems the place to play out a multi-layered suspense novel, but when Metropolis opens a body is found at the bottom of the building’s elevator shaft. As the police circle, the owners of four storage spaces disperse in an effort to keep their secrets safe. Complete strangers, they find their lives suddenly overlap in ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, mystery

Honor: A Novel by Thrity Umrigar

January 10, 2022

honor

When Smita arrives in Mumbai she thinks she’s there to help a good friend undergoing surgery. Otherwise, even as a global journalist, she has never returned to the country her family left when she was a teenager. Now, in Thrity Umrigar’s new novel, Honor, she’s forced to confront her past while coming face-to-face with another young woman horribly impacted by the same forces in ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, India, women

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