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Above the East China Sea

May 1, 2015

above the east china sea

    How has he not had it drummed into him that brats don’t whine? We don’t plead. We don’t need. We require nothing. Not even real roots. We’re air ferns. In Sarah Bird's new novel Above the East China Sea the island of Okinawa is the centerpiece of a multi-generational drama that plays out during World War II and modern times. Tamiko is a native of the ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, historical fiction, literary, Vintage, world war II

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 Sympathizer: A Novel

April 20, 2015

sympathizer

So it was that we soaped ourselves in sadness and we rinsed ourselves with hope, and for all that we believed almost every rumor we heard, almost all of us refused to believe that our nation was dead. It is only fitting that the narrator in The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s debut novel, is never named. He is a Communist spy, a man who has spent his entire life turned inside ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, Grove Press, historical fiction, literary, Southeast Asia, Vietnam War

Euphoria by Lily King

April 15, 2015

euphoria

It’s that moment about two months in, when you think you’ve finally got a handle on the place. Suddenly it feels within your grasp. It’s a delusion—you’ve only been there eight weeks—and it’s followed by the complete despair of ever understanding anything. But at that moment the place feels entirely yours. It’s the briefest purest euphoria —Nell   We meet Fen and Nell as they ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, historical fiction, literary

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

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

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