Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was one of the most talked about women of the 20th century. An ocean of words exists, including her own, allowing analysis and dissection of every aspect of her life to feed the insatiable appetite of those fascinated by this enigmatic woman. What could another book possibly offer? In the case of Dawn Tripp’s new novel Jackie the freedom of fiction ... Read More...
June Books I’m Ready to Read
Hello, June 2021! While some things feel as unsettling as they have for the past 4 years, others are getting easier. Those of us who are vaccinated are looking forward to a more open summer. But the country seems no less divided. Without meaning to, the books I want to read this June feel the same way—light versus dark, heavy versus fun nonfiction, sequels I’ve been ... Read More...
Homeland Elegies: A Novel
These days, I’m attuned to fiction that takes my mind off reality. Not necessarily easy or soothing, but novels that grab me with their drama (Against the Loveless World) or distract me with their lovely prose (Monogamy). It’s with some surprise then that I’m reviewing Homeland Elegies, a complex novel I’m still not sure I fully understand. Ostensibly, it’s about Sikander, a ... Read More...
Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
Seldom has there been a public figure more scrutinized, disparaged, and talked about than Hillary Rodham Clinton. You might think it’s the price to be paid for entering politics, but the level of personal attacks against her often seem largely based on the fact that she is a she. Add to this her marriage to a man not known for his fidelity and her defeat in the 2016 ... Read More...
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America
Last week, I left behind heavy nonfiction with Adam Rippon's memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, but today I'm back with a heavy dose of reality. Dopesick is Beth Macy’s well-researched and documented rise of opioid addiction in America. Specifically, in the Appalachians—starting with the over-prescribing of high dose Oxycontin to coal miners in the late 1990s. Macy weaves ... Read More...
Mothers’ Week: Mother Country
Nadia’s life is not an easy one. She works not one, but two jobs—as a home attendant for an elderly man and as a nanny for a little girl. It’s necessary because she lives in Brooklyn while her daughter Larissa is still back in Ukraine. They’ve been separated for six years. Lonely years for Nadia as a non-English speaker, looked upon with distrust by the other Ukrainians she ... Read More...
