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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

June 14, 2019

on earth

On Wednesday I reviewed a book that I  liked, but thought others might find too odd. I have the same hesitation today, but for a different reason. Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is itself a thing of beauty. His writing is poetical prose. Not surprising, because he is a poet. The novel is ruminations on his life in the form of a letter written to a ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, debut, literary, Penguin Press, social issues

The Paper Wasp by Lauren Acampora

June 12, 2019

paper wasp

The Paper Wasp is the story of two young women living in small Michigan town who were best friends. Up until high school that is, when Elise was discovered and left town for L.A. to become an actress. In losing her popular best friend, Abby floundered and even though she ended up as valedictorian she never fit in again. Now, a decade has passed and Elise’s star is on the rise ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, friendship, Grove Press, Hollywood, literary

Vessel: A Novel by Lisa Nichols

May 24, 2019

vessel

When Catherine Wells returns to Earth after 6 years of being presumed dead in space, it’s a big deal. And a great premise for a sci-fi novel, especially because she returns alone, without her five team members, AND she has no memory at all of what happened. She is the captain of a space vessel that not only went past Earth’s solar system, but landed on a planet beyond any we ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Atria Books, debut, science fiction

Fruit of the Drunken Tree

May 22, 2019

fruit

Petrona used to live on a farm in Colombia, with her nine brothers and her sister. Then the paramilitary showed up, burned down their house and their fields, and took her father and her three oldest brothers. Now, she, her mother, three of her brothers and her sister live in shack in the slums of Bogotá. At 13 she is sent to work as a maid for the Santiagos, a wealthy family in ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, South America

Riots I Have Known

May 20, 2019

eight

Sometimes a synopsis can come out of nowhere and make you pick up a book you never thought you would, but it’s a dicey proposition because marketing people are wily devils. Their entire purpose in life is to seduce. But it still doesn’t quite explain why I thought a novel about a Sri Lankan male inmate in an American prison in the midst of a riot would make for something I ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, debut, humor, literary, satire, Simon & Schuster

Mothers’ Week: A Woman is No Man

May 8, 2019

woman

It’s easy to become outraged about the treatment of women in the Muslim world when it takes place far away, as in the memoir Daring to Drive or fiction like Song of a Captive Bird or The Pearl that Broke its Shell. It’s ingrained through centuries of custom and dogma, but debut author Etaf Rum shreds any sense of complacency about American values superseding cultural ones in ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, Harper, New York City, religion, social issues, women

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