About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Bill McKibben
Positive The Christian Science Monitor ...more political fable than literary novel. The plot is heavy on coincidence and light on believability. But readers of Radio Free Vermont didn't come here for the book's literary merits. The novel, which was blurbed by Bernie Sanders himself, is being marketed as a grippingly relevant tale for these dire times ... Yes, McKibben's evocations of the ravages of global warming are relevant and poignant – the book takes place in January, but Vermont is in the throes of another warm, muddy winter. His depiction of overarmed local police forces are also spot-on. But overall, the big bad world that Radio Free Vermont's characters fight against doesn't read alarmingly like ours; if anything, it actually feels dated ... But even if it's not a shockingly relevant mirror of these modern times, Radio Free Vermont is still worth reading, because it espouses a timeless principle that is indeed relevant today: local government and grassroots efforts hold great power to transform the world around us ... Radio Free Vermont may not live up to certain aspects of its marketing, but it's a stirring reminder of the importance of loving our home, working with the people around us to figure out what we want that home to look like in the future, and then fighting for that vision.
Winifred Gallagher
Positive The Christian Science Monitor ...a fascinating portrait of communications and transportation history in the United States, as well as a poignant love letter to an institution that, not for the first time in its history, is teetering on the edge of peril.
Mark Molesky
Positive The Christian Science Monitor Molesky’s narrative flags in some sections, such as in the early chapters tracing the history of the Iberian Peninsula from antiquity to the early modern age, or the attempt to reconcile reports of the final death toll. But these sections are few and far between, and overall, Molesky’s attention to detail only serves to bolster his narrative.
Volker Weidermann
Positive The Christian Science Monitor The kinds of readers who loved A Moveable Feast or Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories will find much to like in Ostend ... a melancholy evocation of a group of people and an era on the verge of being swept away forever.