Vasily Grossman, trans. by Elizabeth Chandler and Robert Chandler
PositiveShelf AwarenessGrossman exhibits keen powers of observation, analysis and humor--and an immense, stubborn affection for the human spirit, even amidst its worst manifestations. This makes the novel a riveting drama that is still boldly critical of dysfunctional military bureaucracy and Soviet magical thinking (its excessive optimism and despair) ... In its evocative depictions of the characters\' past lives, The People Immortal relates the history of a people, a community and a nation, all set in the present tense against (in a dark irony) the beauties of late spring bursting into summer.
Jemele Hill
PositiveShelf AwarenessHill is a skilled writer with a sharp eye for salient details and a master of sharp turns of phrase. She possesses great aptitude for in-depth character development and analysis. Powering these refined skills is a gregarious spirit and genuine wisdom. The effect is instant trust between her and her readers, which is essential for any memoir, and assurance that what is being told is the unvarnished truth ... shot through with witticisms, hilarious anecdotes and zany encounters. And she refuses to sugar-coat what it took to work her way up as a Black woman in the fiercely competitive, predominantly white and male world of sports journalism. But with its compelling stories--the \'inside baseball\' from a long career in sports media, told with great candor, thoughtful soul-searching and a sense of humor--Uphill brings insight and laughter to nearly every page.
Greg Steinmetz
RaveShelf AwarenessSteinmetz writes in short chapters and with focused and clear prose, weaving in vital historical context. The result is like a chronological collection of news articles about particular episodes of Gould\'s life. It\'s an accessible and informative biography that communicates a clear message and major ramifications for today\'s different, but in some ways similar, rough-and-tumble business world.
Damien Lewis
PositiveShelf AwarenessLewis writes with a flair for hard-boiled drama, sharing insights into the clandestine world of espionage and its nests of expert, aristocratic spymasters; hard-living, shrewd field agents; and debonair mafiosos with their hideous henchmen. The drama is balanced with lively details. Readers will delight in tales of Josephine with her entourage of animals, including a pet cheetah named Chiquita, and fall for a narrative that almost resembles a friends-to-lovers romance, were it not for the immense stakes and horrifying consequences of failure. Agent Josephine is a wonderful addition to the canon of World War II stories.
Chris Offutt
PositiveShelf Awareness... a crime thriller with characters as ugly and beautiful as the landscape of the Kentucky hills ... Offutt writes in the classic detective genre with clarity and ease, providing the structural satisfactions of a mystery unfolding into a taut climax, and possesses the kind of sophisticated language and human insight only a fine writer can deliver. Enriching the story are arresting turns of phrase and intricate details, such as gorgeous descriptions of birds and trees, mushrooms and plants and the way the sun looks as it falls across the forests, meadows and hills. It is a world of startling beauty and cruel violence, its harsh truths unsparing, unemotional and unredeemed.
Elizabeth Hardwick, Ed. by Alex Andriesse
RaveShelf Awareness... makes a fine companion to her Collected Essays, selected by Darryl Pinckney and published in 2017 ... In their range of subject matter and length, these essays demonstrate Hardwick\'s ability to illuminate with both high-beam headlights and pocket flashlights, to digress articulately at length and compress immense thoughts into curt phrases. Every piece contains sharp observation and analysis. But Hardwick\'s writing is also full of keen feeling, lively curiosity and deep concern for the world\'s many people, places and things. Hardwick may have led the enviable life of a New York City intellectual, but she always carried with her the critical eye of an outsider. Her essays bring to life the perspective of one equally at home in the salon parlor and on the sidewalks of Main Street ... This collection may be read from front to back or in any order. No matter how readers choose to dive in, these essays deliver the enlightenment and pleasure that only a brilliant mind unfurling itself on the page can offer.
Kali Fajardo-Anstine
RaveShelf AwarenessCombining extensive research with a propulsive narrative that spans decades, Fajardo-Anstine delivers a historical novel that never feels like a history lesson. She does so in prose often joyous and warm but unsparing in its depiction of oppression based on race, gender and class. Mysterious and vivid, Woman of Light is an extraordinary painting of a vibrant world both old and new.
Don Lee
PositiveShelf AwarenessFor readers to whom Don Lee is a new author, The Partition is the perfect place to start. Lee, the author of four novels and a collection of short stories, transports readers around the world in this short story collection, which shines a light into the nooks and crannies of contemporary life and Asian American experiences ... Not only are these nine stories illuminating, but they are told in fine prose, clear and full of precise details ... At the heart of every story is a compelling human life.
Mieko Kawakami, trans. by Sam Bett and David Boyd
PositiveShelf Awareness... a deeply serious meditation on modern womanhood; its colloquial, confessional and conversational style and wondrous discourses on the nature of light lend an atmospheric tone devoid of melodrama. By portraying the specific with such intricacy, Kawakami invites all readers in.
