RaveBookreporter\"If you were a Rory Gilmore growing up (as I was and still am), attending social events with a large copy of the combined works of your favorite poet in your bag in case things got boring, this book is made for you. If you love Handler’s work and want to understand how he got those wonderful ideas, this is a good book for you. If you want to be a writer, this book will help justify and qualify your greatest hopes and dreams.\
Matthew Perry
PositiveBookreporterThere are plenty of memoirs in which celebrities tell you all about the behind-the-scenes horrors they have endured, but this book is different. Perry doesn’t really blame anyone but himself. And it’s a big deal to admit to everything one has done while masking pain in the giant world arena ... He is more like the snarky, funny, vulnerable Chandler in person than he is in the book; in these pages he is forthright and funny at times, but angry and then resigned as his illness goes on ... To watch this handsome, talented man write so honestly about how his addiction and fears have turned him into a bachelor semi-recluse is a difficult read ... Congratulations to him for being alive, first and foremost, and for writing a compelling, partly TMI book about one man’s battle against himself. Could there BE a more human story than that? I don’t think so.
Katherine Dunn
RaveBookreporterDunn gives her faithful readers (and hopefully some new ones as well) a sharp, pointy stick of a read about growing old, the pain of past follies as a young woman, and the rage and isolation that can change perspectives in the sometimes swampy land of middle age ... Dunn loves to mire in the smells, feels and tastes of things that are both beyond their prime and a source of desperate nutrition ... Dunn\'s ability to pierce through the ravages of age while also perfectly relaying the foibles and craziness of young adulthood and identity seeking is a joy to read. Readers are pulled through the narrative like Sally; we are not always comfortable with where we are, but we are quite anxious nonetheless to see how it all works out ... Katherine Dunn was a truly creative, innovative and inspirational author.Toad speaks to these qualities and more. Descriptive, disgusting, heartwarming and enraging, this book will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
Constance Wu
RaveBookreporter... a beautiful memoir ... The recollections of her growing up in Virginia, her relationship with her family and her decision to become an actress are written in a conversational yet steady and engaging tone. The chapter about her mom is a literary highlight, written with such honesty and care (even the uncomfortable spots) that I dare you not to tear up ... it is refreshing to read a story where we can genuinely champion the celebrity at the heart of the book. Wu puts herself out there, discussing the cultural milestones of her work with as much aplomb and sincerity as her foibles in love and her search for her true self. I can’t recall reading a memoir by anyone other than a literary writer that felt as friendly, feminist and complex. Wu\'s quiet, lyrical voice is a joy to experience.
Orhan Pamuk tr. Ekin Oklap
RaveBookreporterThis beautifully translated work reads like a Salman Rushdie novel. Pamuk is no stranger to grand philosophical discussions, but the staging of the drama and the interaction of the characters take a gigantic premise and make it an entertaining journey. Regardless of the weight of this tome, readers will find themselves drawn into the tale, especially with our newfound understanding of the politics and chaos of such a situation. Every character offers something of intense value to the plot, and the dramatic twists and turns are delightful ... a rich and rewarding masterpiece from a master storyteller that will entertain even the least focused reader with its simple telling of a very labyrinthine story. If you need something to take your mind off the insanity of the holiday season, get this book and find a quiet corner to hide out. It’s a true page turner.
Lionel Shriver
RaveBook ReporterLionel Shriver brings her bristling sharp wit and open heart and mind to this explosive array of work ... Shriver is angry, too. Cancel culture is beyond the point, in her opinion, and some of her other leanings may take away the breath of more progressive readers. Nevertheless, from the essays being reprinted from long ago to the ones that ring clear with today’s dire messages, Shriver gives us history ... A fascinating reading experience. It gave me such interesting fodder for thoughts that I often run from, as well as a unique perspective on a novelist I have loved for years. Lionel Shriver is well worth reading. Even if you find your ire rising at some of her words, you can be assured that they are worth pondering.
Yiyun Li
RaveBook Reporter... masterfully explores the enduring power of friendship and the resilience that such a deep and abiding love can have on a life, long after the person who gives it is gone. A post-WWII novel that shares a sensibility with Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet and Vera Brittain’s famed Testament series of memoirs, the book is a sharp, incisive, modern look at a long-ago distressed world and the ways in which two girls made use of their natural caring and imagination to impact one of their lives forever. ... will give readers a unique experience. It is not a work to be rushed through; rather, it is to be savored and pored over, page by page. The confident stride of Li’s words is meant to resonate long past the story she tells in these pages, and it does so incredibly well.
A. M. Homes
RaveBookreporter... a fable for the ages ... there is a sense of Homes as a great overseer of history, taking a look at one particular generation gap to represent the bigger gap that has led to the tumultuous America we know and live in today ... a wise book, finding the inner demons of a few and forcing us to look closely at how these situations have exacerbated the hidden but divisive problems of our country all along. It is an unusual and perhaps controversial attitude to consider the Obama-McCain race as a wakeup call for people on both sides of the aisle. My tired old brain would have thought that the Reagan era would be the start, but Homes proves me wrong. The racism and conflict that have wrested our attention in the larger American scene today certainly have a foothold in many eras of American history, but this is a warranted background to the story ... The book is deceptively easy to read, with a breezy, quiet style. Homes brings us one family’s journey to the two versions of America we see today. Along the way, we follow the hearts of two very different people who may actually want the same thing but have very different ways of finding it. The miasma of this literary America marches on in a far more entertaining and interesting way than does the real thing.
Mohsin Hamid
MixedBookreporterHamid pushes us into a dark and swirling river where all we can do is focus on paddling and staying afloat. Our questions are not going to be answered ... This book is indeed an experience. However, it will not help us figure out the conundrum of race and identity in which society is presently embroiled. He gives us the \'What if?\' without the \'What then?\' ... At first thought, Hamid was ignoring the essential societal questions about these ideas, but really he is addressing the more important personal ones ... unlike most dystopian fables of our time, the specifics of the personal is far more haunting than big bold swipes at societal failure and illusion.
Monique Roffey
RaveBookreporter... mesmerizing ... It is the combination of these two voices --- the mythical storyteller with the mermaid info and the deep-feeling fisherman with the desire to keep this woman of the sea safe as his only true love --- that creates a compelling story that will keep you glued to the page ... Aycayia is so strong and caring that we feel as if the magical realism of the novel has taken the genre itself into new and exciting territory. Readers surely will fall in love with the love story that plays like Shakespeare in island patois. David’s voice is so heartbreaking and Aycayia’s thoughts are so modern that their desires may overwhelm you as they do to themselves ... Roffey never allows her work to fall into any clichéd traps about humans and fish. It has a potent sense of magic and reality, and the characters are caught in the conundrums both present as they try to change for each other while revealing what they most want for themselves. This is a very human story told in the guise of a mythical relationship and a search for what is and what can be home to any thinking creature ... a dramatic and truly contemporary look at an old fish-out-of-water story. It is a revelation, and a very fine and fulfilling read.
Julia Armfield
RaveBookreporterThe little details that Julia Armfield builds into her debut novel are strange but incredibly compelling ... a beautiful tale about a lovely marriage that has fallen under the spell of powerful natural forces. It encapsulates the vulnerability of love and union, and how the world is constantly throwing us curveballs. Armfield’s straight-ahead narrative style is an awesome twist with the strange mythic forces that she avails to her protagonists. This fantastic debut is a totally captivating thrill ride and a love story that offers a real romance.
Akwaeke Emezi
RaveBookreporter... the summer’s spiciest book and a most winning diversity story all rolled into one ... This story is for those who want a good beach read in the form of a naughty but genuinely moving romance and those for whom diverse representation is appreciated and desired. Their fans will be completely compelled and charmed by the fiery determination of all the characters and the refreshingly stark and straight-ahead depiction of sexuality in a variety of aspects. The language of love and the ferocity of sexual longing and performance create a foundation for what could have become a banal soap opera storyline. Instead, readers have a chance to experience a woman coming back to life in ways that are unexpected and deeply thrilling ... not a genre book. Those expecting a Hallmark romance might want to go elsewhere. But if you’re looking for a down and dirty look at grief, lust, love and everything in between through the eyes of a protagonist just awakening after a long respite, this is the book for you. I have to admit that the frankness of the sexual material was sometimes quite shocking to me, but it is ultimately a provocative look at what one woman’s new world order can become ... Emezi is a magician who doesn’t mince words. This is truly one of the most profane and simultaneously sacred books about love and grief I have ever read. Put that copy in your beach bag right now and try not to gasp out loud at any of the stunning twists and turns this story takes.
Maggie Shipstead
RaveBookreporterIt is rare that the same imaginative force and storytelling ability is found in a writer when he or she pens both long-form novels and short fiction ... The art’s tongue-in-cheek humor gives us a heads up on the irreverent and fascinating tales that you will find inside ... Each of the 10 stories in this book is a snapshot, a fully loaded freeze frame of love and death and everything in between. You can read them in one sitting or space them out, making it a daily treat. Because this is not a concept book, it is nice to pick and choose which compelling tale you would like to read at any one time. Savor each morsel ... I typically am not a fan of short story collections. I like having my life swallowed into an epic tale. But with the shortened attention span that I now have after the anxieties of the outside world eating my brain for the last six years, You Have A Friend in 20A is a gift. I am grateful to Maggie Shipstead for this special summer delivery.
Julia Glass
RaveBookreporterGlass’ narrative is buoyed by how she offers us gentle glimpses into each person’s makeup. She gives us insight into their souls and the damage done to them during the timeline of the story, sugar cube by sugar cube. Like a hungry thoroughbred, we step quietly and decisively through the town, picking up details and adding them to our sacks full of tidbits of info that will provide a full meal at the end of the book ... To base a novel on a possible future, one of the many that could be awaiting us, and by centering its people on the ocean --- a place of great violence but also great peace, the element most likely to reconfigure itself without the least concern for mankind --- Vigil Harbor is both a societal comment and a blueprint for the next step ... The characters are so beautifully drawn, and they do not preach about the past or their regrets over what they didn’t do to protect the old world. Each one has a singular story to tell, and eventually they are woven together in such a deceptively easy way that you may feel gobsmacked. It is a tribute to Glass’ shining prose and heartfelt dialogue that we are so immersed in the moment-to-moment actions of the story that we find surprise in sudden movements ... a book that asks a little more of your summer reading brain, but its immersion and lessons about our future as a species and as a country are worth every concentrated effort.
Stephen Galloway
PositiveBookreporter... fascinating and detailed ... The pain of Leigh’s issues and heartbreak brings her to life for us, even though Galloway seems to have a less-than-stellar appreciation of her acting ability ... interweaves the intense and storied lives of these superstars with the famous vehicles with which their career highs were associated ... Galloway has a slightly nasty tone when discussing the particulars in the couple’s life and seems to fall very distinctly on the side of \'Larry.\' This keeps us from getting a fully impartial telling of how their love began, rose and declined but never died. Truly, Madly is an eminently readable story with a snarky tone that takes you back to the past and then back to the future --- our future --- as our screens begin to make or break our lives. It gives one a lot to think about.
Melissa Fu
RaveBookreporter... a beautiful debut novel that focuses on one man’s attempt to forget where he has come from and his daughter’s insistence on understanding it ... Melissa Fu ponders the questions of home in this forceful and compelling family generational saga ... told in a simple and deliberate tone, which truly allows us to see the humanity in each character’s story and relate to it. Fu’s words are often infused with a poetic grace that belies the strength of her characters, their convictions and their attempts to overcome the obstacles in their way. They are all striving to create a place for themselves in the world. May this book open us to thoughts of compassion and love for those who are currently running for their lives and looking for refuge around the world.
Claire Messud
RaveBookreporter... [a] triumph ... A Dream Life feels like an afternoon fever dream, which those who have suffered through COVID may recognize. And the social structures that fall prey to a slowly thinning veil feel like an emotionally tense situation that perhaps mirrors some of our own isolation and trust issues arising from the pandemic. This arresting novella imagines that the dream life of most is the dream life of only those who can balance themselves on the rocky course of the lies required to live in such a way.
Jennifer Egan
PositiveBook ReporterSo much has been written about tech’s golden gods, real or otherwise, that I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that it wasn’t going to be just some Google spinoff guy’s adventures in 21st-century creativity ... As she wrests the idea of normalcy from us, she presents a multicolored realistic mural of all the ways in which our most prevalent memories just may be the ones from our most difficult times ... In her inventive but easy-to-read style, Egan offers us her own response to the mental hits that we all took during the pandemic ... his is what makes the book such a fascinating read.
Jami Attenberg
RaveBookreporterIsn’t the point of life to understand why we’re here and what we do, and aren’t we supposed to offer our talents to others while we’re here to make a better world? Yes, Attenberg would say. Absolutely. That is what makes this heartfelt memoir such an engaging read. It takes so much hard work and effort to be a writer in this world. The book talks about the importance of reading, the recognition that someone else’s hard-earned artistic exports can change your life—both as an artist and as a person. Isn’t it all connected anyway? The answer is a resounding yes ... To meet Jami Attenberg on this journey is a delightful and compelling experience.
Olga Tokarczuk, Tr. Jennifer Croft
RaveBookreporter\"... once the story starts rolling, the character of Frank wields his power over readers, and the words flow uninhibited as one falls prisoner to the dramatic circumstances and questions of his identity ...The historical aspects feel particularly visceral, given the difficulties of the Eastern European countries right now ... As Frank crosses borders and finds melting pots of religious possibilities and cultural formalities in each place, he attempts to explore with his followers the fantastic and universal ways that the world can be depicted and developed. This tome is a masterful story, using Tokarczuk’s strong narrative imagination to resonate with contemporary audiences the same way that Frank would have done with his 18th-century counterparts.
The Books of Jacob is a commitment, dear readers. However, I do not think that anyone would fail to get swept up in this epic story, as dense as the product itself, as far-reaching as the most spiritually investigative books known to humankind. This is the type of book that wins a Nobel Prize, a masterpiece that so deftly tells its historical tales that you will be thinking about it for years to come. It is an experience that is worth your time and is truly unforgettable.\
Claire Keegan
RaveBookreporter... as small as all the elements of the physical book are, the novel packs a terrible gut punch that readers won’t soon forget ... Keegan, a short story writer, does not waste a single word in presenting the fears and shame of this reality through the discovery of a country gentleman who would never expect to be caught up in such a tumultuous and depraved situation. Naturally, a story like this might be more intensely executed through the heart and soul of a woman who had similar experiences or through the eyes of a nun who thought she was only doing what her faith expected of her. By making the protagonist a man who discovers just one of the many victims of this ill-conceived system, Keegan ensures that the story will find a larger audience for its unsettling contents. And perhaps, since the church is run by white men in the Irish state, it is more impactful that a man find out the ugly truth ... There is an appreciated level of anger in the way that Keegan tells her story. She wastes no time in helping Bill Furlong understand the dangerous situation that he has happened upon. It is an emotionally quiet but powerful tale that uses brevity to draw us in and give us access to the most feeling part of our empathetic selves. Politically, it is not a parable but a seasoned piece of fiction that exemplifies the tone of injustice in a compelling manner ... small in everything but its enraged heart. It is a novel for these ages as the veils of vaunted institutions like the church peel to onion skin thinness. We see the Wizard behind the curtain, and it is yet another clarion call for change through the power of artfully told stories.
Ethan Joella
RaveBookreporterThe lessons we all must learn—of tolerance, forgiveness and compassion—transform these people as they would transform you and the members of your own family or community. It almost feels like a documentary in its lack of poetry; Joella’s direct writing style doesn’t leave room for soap opera drama. Instead, these are people. People who need people. It may not sound special, but that is precisely what makes A Little Hope a special book ... a breath of fresh air in a world of TikTok books that use escalating plots to entertain their readers.
Elif Shafak
RaveBookreporterShafak has penned another masterpiece ... The pain of Kostas’ yearning and regret are palpable, and Shafak makes him a very engaging and heartfelt personage of love everlasting, even in all its painfulness ... has all the elements of a tragic love story, a raging war-time drama, and an important attempt to use the past to define and explain the present ... How the trees create a through line from one generation to another is perhaps the most moving part of the book. It’s a warning and a respite from the horrors of the natural world that we are witness to every day ... The idea of Ada having that tree as a reminder of her connection to her family is a wonderful symbol of survival and redemption and the fact that some things find a way to adapt and move into the future with remarkable stability and determination ... the perfect story for these changing times, but first and foremost it’s an important document of the history of Turkey. It combines large social issues with rather common yet heart-wrenching ones. In the course of doing so, it educates and elevates our hearts and minds well beyond the pettiness of our present-day pandemic discourse. Perhaps unwittingly, Shafak has written a novel that helps us identify and reclaim our love of the world even in the midst of unspeakable sadness and difficulty.
Jeanette Winterson
RaveBookreporterWinterson is a wonderful writer, and these essays are so thought-provoking, inquisitive and well-researched that one wonders if it is too academic a tome to enjoy as a regular reader. I am NOT a tech reader, I don’t like Kindles and I do enjoy my dystopia. But when it comes to the science behind the tech, I tend to put up my hands and wave a white flag. Still, I found 12 Bytes to be a fun and informative read. Winterson writes in a straightforward...conversational tone that kept me so engaged that I read the book straight through and then read it again. That’s not something I’m used to doing, but dear reader, I dare you not to do the same. There is hope in Winterson’s book, a humanity as I mentioned that cuts a clear path through all the William Gibson-esque possibilities she discusses. I, for one, am hoping that she has the 411 on the future, and it is one that will command cooperation between humans and AI. We’re happy to have them as long as we can figure out that there is room for all of us on this planet—and that tech can help us save this place and undo some of man’s weightiest crimes without adding more to the mix.
Joshua Ferris
MixedBookreporterI think that A Calling for Charlie Barnes would be an incredibly funny book if it didn’t come out as the world around us crumbles and struggles to reform itself into something resembling anything. In fact, like Updike’s Rabbit quartet, it solidifies one type of white man’s experience in a world that is now immersed in showing its underbelly ... The supposed pot of gold doesn’t anchor the end of anything, let alone a rainbow, and the payback for a lifetime of behaving yourself is the biggest letdown one can experience. Charlie Barnes is yet another totem that takes up the compelling idea that bucking the system and finding your own way of perceiving those normal slights and punishments is the true success story ... Joshua Ferris is a no-nonsense writer with a sharp, witty style that pulls you through the novel quickly and efficiently. If A Calling for Charlie Barnes has anything to give us during this difficult time of uproar and dissent, it is his overwhelming optimism that a life lived is still being lived and recreated well past what society considers the proper expiration date.
Cecily Strong
MixedBook ReporterStrong brings us uneasily into her world of pain and her struggle to learn joy again ... Strong is guarded as she tells the story of her cousin, Owen. She shares texts and tales about her relationship with him but never quite cements us to his image the way she does to her own foibles from the past ... Strong doesn’t quite grasp the bigger picture to which we all can relate through her personal lens ... Strong uses her personal lens to give the reader her take on this insane period. It is strongest felt when she is talking about her own life and her memories of growing up in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. This Will All Be Over Soon is a good and sincere first take on these pandemic times.
Dolly Alderton
RaveBookreporterDolly Alderton is funny, and she has the same kind of engaging conversational writing style that has made Carrie Bradshaw and Bridget Jones characters who will live in infamy. Nina’s sly musings about her friends’ changing lives clearly and hilariously send up the hypocrisy of newly married couples ... Nina is a fresh, smart and funny protagonist who finds some truly graceful (and not-so-graceful) ways to grow up for real. As the world continues to unravel on the outside, a book like Ghosts is gold. It is not just a beach read, though. Put on your big person pants, and ride the waves of humor and relatability into a wonderful story about a young woman whose entire life is transforming. Like all of us, Nina must learn to sail these ever-changing seas—with a mixture of fun, anxiety and jubilation. Ghosts is magic. Read it now.
Joyce Carol Oates
RaveBookreporterThis is straight-ahead American fiction where the hard truths are voiced and the hard facts are faced. Michaela is a sympathetic character as we watch her find unbearable disbelief in how her world is being yanked out from under her. This novel is a perfect pandemic allegory, yet it is reality to so many families and partnerships in the last year and a half. It is hard to find a way to fictionalize the horror that so many people have been going through recently, but the dedication of a longtime prose master like Oates is the perfect scrim through which to witness one case up close, a case that everyone will experience at one time or another ... Even with heartache at the center of this story, Breathe is a beautiful read, a flowing, steadfast journey that will call upon your empathy and compassion in a way that is profoundly real and really profound.
Yan Ge tr. Jeremy Tiang
PositiveBookreporterGe’s style, as translated by Jeremy Tiang, feels very much like the verbiage and vivacious search for truth that Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett put to paper for their classic noirs. Our narrator is a plainspoken and honest voice that juxtaposes her subjects for maximum effect. The beasts are given multidimensional elements that engage the reader with both whimsy and high emotion in equal measure. Ge’s worldbuilding is sparse but effective, the language again giving us just enough information to form vivid pictures in our minds that we won’t soon forget ... a thoughtful and introspective look at the results of our earthly need to expand species and play God with all things living. As we look at the gigantic repercussions of climate change and the inventiveness of stem cell research and other such medical miracles, this is a book that reminds us that the most important part of our moving forward on this planet is love and tolerance, self-expression and caring. This engaging mystery masquerades as a sci-fi/thriller hybrid that is so much more.
Laurie Frankel
PositiveBookreporter... the book’s vitality and high energy will keep you reading, maybe in just one sitting, to find out what’s going to happen next. The ideas [Frankel] puts forth about our responsibility to the environment are couched in a cat-and-mouse mystery with unique and intelligent characters ... Summer reads aren’t supposed to be about much of anything. They are typically the kind of books that can get sandy, and be exchanged among friends or left for renters. One Two Three is a summer read that is breezy and racks up surprising velocity, but it also leaves you with a sense of having discovered a way of looking at the natural world that you haven’t seen before. It’s fun, entertaining and educational…and it moves. What more can you ask for during this summer of insanity? Enjoy!
Nana Nkweti
RaveBookreporterEach of the 10 stories in this collection is a gem ... Jumping genres and creating characters who explode off the page, this impressive debut is a bold splash of language that will outshine anything else you read this summer. From the beautiful textured cover to her regally gorgeous author photo on the back, Nkweti’s first book is sure to win her a massive audience ... Nkweti, who studied at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and teaches English at the University of Alabama, is truly worthy of the term \'creative writer.\' Her concoction of languages, vibrant descriptions, utterly honest and hilarious population of yearning humanity, surreal storylines and innocent humor all come together in a wholly original way. The book reminds me of both Zora Neale Hurston and Nora Ephron, her sense of place and purpose so refined yet so sharp and funny. Walking on Cowrie Shells is perfect at 10 stories, but I sure would like more.
Ashley C. Ford
RaveBookreporterThe stigma of incarceration is illuminated in Somebody\'s Daughter in a very poignant way, as we see how few members of her extended family are able to tell her the truth ... it is a fascinating reveal to see how, although occasionally divided, family still wins out and is both punishment and prize. Her prose feels like a conversation, and readers are drawn into the private tale easily. I read this book in one sitting --- and then read it again --- because it carries a message of love, hope and self-care that will be a salve for everyone during this difficult time ... a bountiful and beautiful tale.
Rachel Cusk
RaveBookreporter...one of Cusk’s most readable, enjoyable and thought-provoking novels. She manages this trifecta with clean prose that immediately feels like you’ve been swung into an ages-old conversation with your best friend ... The first-person narrative is exceptional. Somehow, our protagonist is telling the story of this summer to Jeffers, a person about whom little to nothing is known. She pours out her guts to him in a most funny and conversational tone that allows us to feel as if we are inside her very tumultuous soul and brain ... Second Place is more than a great summer read, although it easily could be consumed during a beach vacation on a lounge chair between swims. It is a romance, a thriller, a memoir, a piece of fiction that is unlike anything else you’ve ever read, and very much a showcase for the magnificent work of the bright and bold Rachel Cusk.
Lisa Scottoline
RaveBookreporter... [a] simple beauty and heartfelt emotional journey ... Scottoline’s scholarship has inflected every vowel and consonant in this gripping, thrilling tale of lives on the brink of countless changes. The characters are so beautifully fleshed out that you feel as if you are reading someone’s family memoir ... The love affair and the biased world views are both multidimensional and balanced together in a magnificent achievement of literary construction. Perhaps Scottoline’s hard-earned research helped her see a more complete picture of the two worlds, one exterior and one interior, but both are damaging and challenging. Elisabetta, Marco and Sandro share a stage that is swift and ever-changing, which makes Eternal a truly outstanding work of historical fiction ... May the scholarship and literary invention of this extraordinary novel find a home in the hearts of readers everywhere.
Elizabeth McCracken
RaveBookreporter...love of all kinds is given to us in beautifully plated small bites ... McCracken has a breezy, conversational tone here, and even when she is relating difficult emotional truths between characters, we feel as if we are privy to casual conversations that speak loudly and plainly on the relationships at hand. It is as if we are sitting at a kitchen table, tea cup in hand, listening to a friend tell a story from the past. Her style invites readers in ... McCracken takes the sharp knife and palette with which she builds her beautiful novels and cuts the canvas of her stories into small exacting pieces that readers can enjoy one at a time.
Haruki Murakami, Trans. by Philip Gabriel
RaveBookreporter... a collection of short stories that, in one way or another, continues the unique and harnessed imaginative wanderings of one of the greatest minds of world literature ... The bizarre headspace that Murakami puts you in will feel right at home for those of us who have been hanging on every word he has ever written (yes, I’m a longtime fan). For those of you who have not yet discovered the magic and furor of his wild mind, First Person Singular will present the perfect opportunity for the two of you to get acquainted. In short, brilliantly sharpened strokes, you, too, will fall under the spell of his literary madness. This is the Area 51 of modern world literature --- there are secrets that you have heard of, but do you really believe them? Try it and find out. You won’t be sorry ... yet another exciting adventure with one of literature’s greatest adventurers. Enjoy in small doses, and celebrate that Murakami continues to grace us all with such singularly thoughtful work.
Viet Thanh Nguyen
RaveBookreporterThe Committed is a shiny pearl of a novel that carries on this story ... With humor and pathos intact, Nguyen puts the pedal to the metal. If you have spent a distinct chunk of time learning how to breathe to slow down your anxious, racing heart during the pandemic, you will have to utilize your new skills to get through this rapid-fire, violent, funny and terrifying bumper car collision of colonialism, communism and capitalism ... This sounds like a dark, moody book with a lot of posturing about political identity, oppression, the evils of colonialism, and the corruption of the freewheeling renegade consumer culture. However, it reads like a thriller ... Once again, Nguyen entertains, teaches, queries and thrills his readers with a story that touches so many of the hot coals of the firepit that is the persistence of identification and memory ... Nguyen is an awesome storyteller, and this is a book for the ages. Enjoy this rollercoaster ride of a story.
Margaret Atwood
RaveBookreporter... as dense as it is light and is a poetic magic trick that will delight [Atwood\'s] legion of fans, old and new alike ... Love poems about zombies? Yes, she went there. Enchanting lilting tributes of women who have been raped and murdered? Yes, she went there. In fact, I found myself reading Dearly to discover who she was writing about --- someone she really knows or someone she has invented to be almost real to us ... These poems are forthright and brave, yet beautiful in their hard-told truths. But they also give you the creeps because she is talking about both things that actually exist in the world that we see every day and things that we don’t necessarily notice but are there, just under the surface. The latter hide from us, waiting for us to fall down some rabbit hole where we will be face to face with them, and no mask or goggles can keep us safe from their difficult wisdom ... I recommend Dearly especially to those who only recently have become fans of Atwood’s work. The Grand Dame has so many surprises up her sleeves and on the bookstore shelves for you. You will be amazed at the hurricanes that live underneath the seemingly clear waves of words that will wash over you on an afternoon’s read ... As another lockdown feels near, hold this volume dear for the trips it will take you on while you hunker down on the home front.
Nicole Krauss
RaveBookreporter... gives you an around-the-world view of masculinity, both gentle and toxic ... Krauss is first and foremost a novelist who writes short stories as if they are scenes from a novel that she didn’t have the energy to finish. Like a series of one-act plays, we get the expurgated histories and concerns of a myriad of characters who are trying their hardest to define their experiences as men or with men in various times of life. Her keen eye for detail keeps us interested in the many different protagonists and the switch-ups between first-person and third-person narratives throughout the collection. Sexuality, religion and elaborate cultures give us the framework for these failing or ailing relationships. It is a compendium of insights that would feel at home in a poetry journal or a psychology newsletter ... Each of the stories feels like a civil war between rationality and emotionality ... Krauss’ poetic craft operates at such a high level that it keeps readers thinking about the last group of humans while moving gratefully into a new tale with hope that these people will fare better than the last ... Like a wonderful omnibus, the wide range of experiences and dramatic repartee in these stories offers a scintillating and emotionally intense read that won’t soon be forgotten.
Bobbie Ann Mason
PositiveBookreportera series of letters in the midst of Ann’s fantastical ideas about where her life could have gone. This format gives Bobbie Ann Mason a chance to concoct a sweet love story but also wrestle with the possibilities of the road not taken, as well as the chance to find a gold ticket in what is real ... The ’60s, the music, the drugs, the clothing, the ideas are all so enticing, and even the inclusion of the hard facts about the Vietnam War gives the era a sheen of glowing perfection that seems wrong for Ann’s Kentucky upbringing (her mother’s letters to her about life back on the farm are interspersed with the other letters she uses to create a timeline). It feels as if there is a depth missing here in place of gentle reflection and surface-area fantasy. However, Mason does a good job of accessing the actual past and editing it to make the most impact on her characters ... a perfect book for quarantine as we think about what has been, what will now not be, and what we now most hope for in all of our lives.
Katharina Volckmer
PositiveBookreporterVolckmer walks a precipice in razor-sharp shoes, digging in on the difficult stuff and infusing the most dangerous and, frankly, disgusting thoughts (sex with Hitler, anyone?) with a humor that keeps you reading even as you are not sure you want to do so ... The frank discussion of sex (particularly about penises and their uses), especially as it relates to the German world before, during and after Hitler’s regime, is off-putting at times. The fantasies our heroine has in reference to the despot are unnerving, and there is little actual sensuality related when it comes to the fantasies or her real-life encounters ... The fact that Volckmer cannot find a German publisher to publish this novel speaks volumes. The intersectionality of cultural identity, gender and self-identity is not for the squeamish. It is interesting, given that Germany is so very good at contextualizing its history in order to move forward and not fall prey to such despicable politics and social order, that the narrator can only think about the example of Nazi propaganda, the death camps and the unspeakable horrors of that time in a sexual fantasy. This makes it feel like a very millennial story to me, as personal and sexual freedom and identity is the revolution for the twentysomething generation. But regardless of the age of the narrator, her disturbing rants make for some very compelling reading ... Not for the lighthearted reader, The Appointment is a treatise on how the culture in which we grow up affects every aspect of our life as an adult, as much as our parents or teachers or loved ones do. This is a very short book, but is long on ideas to ponder well beyond the last word.
Isabel Allende
PositiveBookreporter.comIn the Midst of Winter is another example of the beautiful prose of this remarkable strong woman, activist and writer whose every tome seems to only deepen our respect for her talent and wisdom ...a time travel novel that slips back and forth between very specific places and periods, and weaves together a compelling story of present-day Brooklyn, Guatemala in the near past, and Chile and Brazil in the tumultuous 1970s ...an integrative storyline that pulls the reader in deeper and deeper as more and more details are divulged. The story is complicated and messy –– there are no easy answers or endings to any of their struggles ...a timeless tale of coming together... Allende is poetic, filling her book with a light and savory prose that belies its intense political undertones and thus makes it a very readable story.
