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The Maid’s Version

September 6, 2013

Maid's Version

  Daniel Woodrell’s last novel, Winter's Bonewas a contemporary look at a teen’s desperate struggle to save what is left of her family when her drug dealing father skips out on bail. In his latest, The Maid's Version, he returns to the Ozarks but in 1929. He writes of Alma Dunahew, a woman whose mind is so filled with the injuries, insults, and injustices of the past that it ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, historical fiction, literary, Little Brown and Company

How Should a Person Be?

July 15, 2013

How Should a Person Be

  How Should a Person Be? is the new novel by author Sheila Heti, asking the same question. The novel’s Sheila is an aspiring playwright trying to find her place in the world. It’s her belief that everyone around her already knows how to be and so does not struggle the way she does. Initially, she believes fame is what she wants but on her own terms. By a simple life, I ... Read More...

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

Golden Boy: A Novel

May 22, 2013

Golden Boy

This spring has been a marvelous one for wildly creative authors and their unusual creations. The trend continues with Abigail Tarttelin’s debut novel, Golden Boy, and its tender protagonist, Max. Max is sixteen and in addition to the burdens of being a teenager he is saddled with a secret that is kept even from his own brother. Max is intersex or what used to be known as a ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Atria Books, book clubs, coming-of-age, contemporary life, literary

And the Mountains Echoed

May 20, 2013

And the Mountains Echoed

  I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.  The first time we met Khaled Hosseini was ten years ago when he took us to a place called Afghanistan, which most of us knew only as a foreign enemy, not a country. In The Kite Runner we walked through the door to another world that both opened ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Afghanistan, book clubs, cultural, literary, Riverhead Books

On Sal Mal Lane

May 13, 2013

On Sal Mal Lane

Where does one begin with Ru Freeman’s On Sal Mal Lane? On the surface it is the story of the Herath family and their lives in their new home on Sal Mal Lane. They are a traditional Sinhalese family, with a mother whose beliefs on what is right and proper leave her children little room to maneuver in their lives. The oldest, Suren, is a gifted musician but is expected to become ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, Graywolf Press, historical fiction, literary, Southeast Asia

The Morels

May 1, 2013

The Morels

The Morels is Christopher Hacker’s provocative debut novel about a novel that begins with a chance encounter between the narrator and an old classmate named Arthur Morel. The narrator, who in an interesting twist, remains anonymous throughout the book, is attempting to become a documentary filmmaker. When he goes to the NYC apartment of the man editing his current film he ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, family, literary, Soho Press

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