PositiveNPRHistorian Tom Reiss went to France specifically to uncover the papers and tell the story of this forgotten Dumas, the titular Black Count of Reiss\' fascinating new book ... While Alex Dumas is an unquestionably fascinating figure, parts of the book read like an extended fan letter rather than objective, analytical work. It occasionally borders on the hyperbolic, akin to an American\'s idol worship of George Washington as a man who never lied and single-handedly won the American Revolution ... Throughout the book, Reiss argues that Alex Dumas is an important, criminally neglected historical figure quite apart from his relationship to his famous offspring. Despite Reiss\' sometimes overblown regard, it\'s difficult to argue with him. That a former slave could rise on his merits so far, so fast some seven decades before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation is a truly amazing story, one that needs no literary embellishment.
Vaddey Ratner
PositiveNPRVaddey Ratner was five when her world was destroyed, and her book, In the Shadow of the Banyan, while technically a work of fiction, borrows heavily and directly from her own experience ... The novel begins as many horror stories do, in an idyllic setting seemingly insulated from any danger. Young Raami's world is one of poetry, lotus ponds and butterflies ... Uncertainty, fear and hunger spread like wildfire among the displaced citizens. Raami's father, a well-known poet, copes by writing ...last 40 pages or so of the book are a hallucinatory glimpse into hell — an army of ghosts pushed on by nothing but basic survival instincts. Ratner's account of these dark days feels like memoir, the kind of thing that can't be authentically fictionalized without substantial firsthand knowledge.
Jason Diamond
PositiveNPRThe weakest parts of Searching for John Hughes occur when he belabors that conceit — Diamond works like hell to fit his own narrative into this Hughesian framework, and sometimes it's a stretch ... But this memoir is satisfying in a way that a Hughes film never could be, and the author's story will be achingly familiar to anyone who relied on Hollywood for a respite from reality but who came away disappointed ... while Searching for John Hughes isn't exactly the book he originally set out to write, it's clearly the book he was meant to write.
William Finnegan
PositiveNPRBecause he treats the waves as the book's primary characters, there are sections of Barbarian Days that are less Point Break and more dispassionate oceanic survey course ... In a sense, Barbarian Days functions as a 450-page thank you letter, masterfully crafted, to his parents, friends, wife, enemies, ex-girlfriends, townsfolk, daughter — everyone who tolerated and even encouraged his lifelong obsession. It's a way to help them — and us — understand what drives him to keep paddling out half a century after first picking up a board.
