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The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel

July 8, 2019

eight

Where to begin about The Most Fun We Ever Had? To be concise: It’s a sweeping story of a Chicago couple who meet and marry in 1970s and go on to have four daughters. But that’s like telling someone the Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground and not the way I work. Marilyn and David are the perfect couple to everyone around them, including their daughters Wendy, Violet, Liza ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 21st century, book clubs, debut, Doubleday, family saga, marriage, relationships

Cygnet by Season Butler

June 24, 2019

cygnet

The narrator of Season Butler’s debut novel, Cygnet, is known as the Kid. She’s 17 and her parents have dropped her off at her grandmother’s house on an island off the coast of New Hampshire to live while they try and get their lives together. It’s supposed to be for a few weeks, a month at most, but three months later, the Kid’s grandmother has died and she’s never heard from ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, debut, Harper, literary, New England

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

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