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American Fever: A Novel

September 21, 2022

fever

  Stereotypes happen when you don’t understand the thing itself, and so you interpret it. This is not an account of how America was. It’s an account of who I was. Like many normal teenagers 16-year-old Hira can’t wait to leave her boring life behind. She’s tired of her all-girls school, her annoying parents and little brother, all of it. So tired in fact that she signs ... Read More...

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

NSFW: A Novel

September 9, 2022

nsfw

I recently read NSFW a debut from Isabel Kaplan and I’m fairly certain my visceral reaction to the novel is a response becoming more and more common to me and to many of the women I know given recent events in America. Which is to say, I found the novel to be triggering in a way that I would not have felt so strongly in the past. NSFW’s narrator is unnamed—an interesting and ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, new adult, social issues, women

Sirens & Muses: A Novel

September 7, 2022

sirens

The bucolic landscape surrounding Wrynn College of Art a private, elite school in New England disguises an atmosphere of intensity in Antonia Angress’ novel, Sirens & Muses. Louisa and Karina are sophomores and roommates, but that’s where their surface commonality ends. Louisa is from New Orleans and can only afford school through loans and part-time jobs. Karina is from ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, contemporary fiction, debut, 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

Nightcrawling: A Novel

August 22, 2022

nightcrawling

At a time when most teenage girls are busy with dating, hanging out with friends, and choosing colleges, 17-year-old Kiara is facing a rent increase that is likely to render her homeless. She lives in a rundown East Oakland apartment with her older brother Marcus. Their father is dead and their mother is in prison. This is the world explored in Leila Mottley’s gritty debut ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, debut, social issues, teen years

Remarkably Bright Creatures

August 11, 2022

remarkably

Hello, everyone! I’m easing back in today with a novel that melted my curmudgeonly heart. Remarkably Bright Creatures is a debut by Shelby Van Pelt that takes place in Sowell Bay, a fictional small town in northern Washington State. Tova is an elderly woman, who works nights cleaning the town’s aquarium. It’s quiet work that, on the one hand, suits her wish to avoid prying, but ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, Pacific Northwest

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