BookBrowse Editorial Review
These Heathens: A Novel
by Mia McKenzie
(6/18/2025)
McKenzie offers compelling insight into the questions the movement, and integration specifically, raised for Black Americans at the time. For instance, Doris is lukewarm on the prospect of eating at a lunch counter beside white people who don't want her there, and Mrs. Broussard raises the question of whether there will be any Black teachers remaining once schools are integrated. It is a canny decision by McKenzie not to delve too deeply into Doris's backstory. The fact that the pregnancy is the
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Sky Daddy: A Novel
by Kate Folk
(4/9/2025)
Linda's sexuality is obviously the novel's hook, and it is very interesting to learn about what it means to her and how she sees herself and her potential partner(s). She does not identify with objectum sexuality (an attraction to objects) because "Planes were not static objects, but sentient beings with rich inner lives." Who are any of us to say she's wrong? But tragically, Linda also feels shame, thinking of herself as a "pervert," a brand of self-loathing that will be familiar to many whose
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Price of Salt, or Carol by Patricia Highsmith
(1/29/2025)
If lesbian pulp fiction was the Trojan horse providing cover for these women to read about themselves through stories ostensibly meant for men, then Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt (1952) was the Trojan horse inside the Trojan horse providing a disguise for a genuine love story between two women. It is widely regarded as the first novel about queer women to feature a "happy" ending. Which is not to say the story is without tragedy. It centers around a 19-year-old woman named Theres
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Sisters K by Maureen Sun
(11/20/2024)
The Sisters K is a retelling of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, so the sisters are refracted through a prism of the source material as well as through the abuse they suffered in childhood. Minah is an impulsive spendthrift who seems the most likely to outright murder Eugene, much like the eldest Karamazov, Dmitri. Sarah, like her counterpart Ivan, is a bookish intellectual searching for something meaningful to believe in. Esther is the moral compass of the family, like the dee
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Women's Hotel: A Novel
by Daniel M. Lavery
(10/16/2024)
The novel unfolds in a somewhat meandering manner, like a slice-of-life series of scenes rather than a tightly plotted story. But what seems like a casual recounting of disparate events aligns into a deceptively complete and carefully crafted narrative. What's more, the deadpan comedic tone throughout leaves one unprepared for an emotionally impactful ending. It's an effective management of mood — it takes a turn for the serious without becoming bleak. The characters with sad stories are n
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Rejection: Fiction
by Tony Tulathimutte
(9/18/2024)
While some stories are more dynamic and some characters more compelling than others, the collection is uniformly hilarious and Tulathimutte exhibits exceptional powers of description. The male feminist discovers an online community with whom he identifies — those "willing to declare unapologetically that narrow-shouldered feminist men are the most oppressed subaltern group." Alison of the one-night stand adopts a raven, which "turns out to be a flesh-ripping fiend with a knife for a face"
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Most by Jessica Anthony
(8/21/2024)
The Most is a novel about unhappiness in marriage in the vein of Raymond Chandler, John Updike, or Alice Munro. But the most obvious comparison is that it feels like a lost season of the television show Mad Men in its representation of how the strains of marriage, or monogamy really, can pull two people apart, especially when they are living in the pressure cooker of traditional gender values imposed and strictly enforced by mid-century America. It is more engaging than Mad Men<
BookBrowse Editorial Review
We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
by Kellie Carter Jackson
(6/19/2024)
The chapters in We Refuse focus on five distinct (though often enmeshed) forms of Black resistance to white supremacist oppression: revolution, protection, force, flight, and joy. In the opening chapter, Jackson focuses on the Haitian Revolution in particular as an example of a radical and systemic transformation of a society through the use of violence, detailing the overthrow of the French colonizers by an armed, organized, and motivated populace (and led by the indefatigable Toussaint
BookBrowse Editorial Review
All Fours: A Novel
by Miranda July
(5/15/2024)
An unnamed 45-year-old woman who is a writer/artist of modest fame plans a solo drive to New York City from her home in Los Angeles to celebrate a career success, leaving her husband and child behind. But about 30 minutes from home she encounters a young man named Davey at a gas station and feels an intense romantic pull. July captures desperate sexual yearning and the frenzied joy of falling in love vividly and intensely — the narrator is undone by her feelings for Davey. All Fours
BookBrowse Editorial Review
James: A Novel
by Percival Everett
(4/17/2024)
Jim's voice, along with the voices of the other enslaved people he knows and meets on his journey, is one of constant code switching. The ignorance-feigning language of minstrelsy also hearkens back to Erasure's book-within-a-book called My Pafology, which is written with a white audience in mind, employing the stereotypical language this audience would expect to hear from a streetwise Black criminal. Slavery's violence is unflinchingly captured in all of its horror, but also in it
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Novel
by Jennine Capó Crucet
(3/20/2024)
In search of a new ambition, Izzy decides to model his future on Tony Montana, the protagonist of the film Scarface. He is squeamish about involving himself in the drug trade, so instead he (along with his friend Rudy, who he has chosen to be his sidekick) pursues a career smuggling migrants into the United States. Jennine Capó Crucet resists the easy narratives of migrant tragedy, personal growth, strength and perseverance in the face of generational trauma. We're told early on that
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Liberators by E. J. Koh
(1/24/2024)
American responsibility for a split Korea (both for the initial fissure and its enduring existence) casts a long shadow across the novel. In just over 200 pages, EJ Koh covers a remarkable amount of 20th century Korean history, with enough detail to offer vital context for the characters' homesickness for a homeland that has become unrecognizable, that has been irreparably broken by political gamesmanship and imperialism.
Koh's writing has a natural elegance. She can set a scene with poetic acu
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias
(10/4/2023)
Though a man lights the match that ignites the plot, the book succeeds on the strength, folly, desperation, and hope of the Cepeda Valverde women. Teresa's longing for a reconciliation with Lyra, a relationship with her grandson, and some way of making sense of her mother's murder are rendered with delicate and anguished precision. Lyra is perhaps the most stable member of the family, but her anger toward Teresa for her neglectful behavior after the events of 1968 and her grief for Carmen burn i
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Ghost Girl, Banana: A Novel
by Wiz Wharton
(6/7/2023)
While there is a mystery element involving the provenance of the inheritance, and dramatic tension heightened by betrayals, tragedy and threats of violence, Ghost Girl, Banana shines in the quieter moments of familial connection across decades and the fissure of life and death. It succeeds on the strengths of its characters. Sook-Yin is clever, ambitious, in some ways (the best ways) ferocious. Lily is funny, caustic to hide her vulnerability, loyal, relatably searching for meaning throug
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Biography of X: A Novel
by Catherine Lacey
(4/5/2023)
As a series of stories about an eccentric and bizarre person, Biography of X has plenty of moments of brilliance. The central premise that intrigued me was the question suggested by CM's quest: How well do we really know those we love, those we've chosen to spend our lives with? But CM's situation is so hyper-specific, her wife so willfully, intentionally unknowable, a literal master of disguise, that it lacks some of the universal appeal that might have otherwise invited readers to refle
BookBrowse Editorial Review
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures
by Sabrina Imbler
(1/4/2023)
In "My Mother and the Starving Octopus," Imbler explores the pitfalls of motherhood and womanhood through the lens of an octopus that brooded over her eggs for an astonishing four-and-a-half years, not leaving them even for a moment to seek nourishment. An essay called "We Swarm" is an ode to queer locations and events in New York City, including the annual Pride parade and accompanying Dyke March ("which any of us will remind you is a protest, not a parade"), as well as a stretch of Jacob Riis
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones
(10/19/2022)
As the novel progresses, the view widens to interrogate the larger structures of racism, art and, most importantly, friendship. While Amanda wonders why Ernest stays with Catherine, one might also wonder why Amanda gravitates to the couple over and over. Why has she inserted herself into this strange dynamic? Amanda is a somewhat unreliable narrator; her entanglement with Ernest and Catherine robs her of perspective and she rarely says anything direct about herself. Interspersed with her present
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Perish: A Novel
by LaToya Watkins
(9/7/2022)
This is the novel's central conundrum: What do you do with a family member who has done something monstrous? What if that family member also had something monstrous done to them? How can you love someone who has done something unforgivable? Perish is a remarkably well-crafted Southern gothic that shows no mercy. The climax features a shocking event — whatever you're imagining, I promise it's more shocking than that. Watkins takes risks at every turn and almost all of them pay off. I
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Nightcrawling: A novel
by Leila Mottley
(9/7/2022)
Kiara's interior monologue is shot through with the dreamy, poetic sensibility of a young person who comes to see the world as it really is, but nevertheless has not lost hope. She sees the people she meets stripped of the fanfare of how they present themselves to the world. Camila, a sex worker who acts as a mentor to Kiara, appears to be a model of poised self-confidence, but Kiara comes to recognize how this is an act Camila performs to feel more in control. Kiara also comes to understand her
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
(7/13/2022)
Talty has a remarkable talent for summoning bizarre imagery and incidents, details that are vividly realistic, funny and vaguely reminiscent of a horror film, like the one referenced in the book's title. These details include a woman firing a Super Soaker squirt gun full of her own urine in a store, and a plague of caterpillars squirming across the reservation's roads ("Some were dead, run over by cars and trucks—it sounded like popcorn popping when we drove over it—and others were a
BookBrowse Editorial Review
A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times: Stories
by Meron Hadero
(6/8/2022)
An atmosphere of generosity and benevolence permeates A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, even in stories that are acerbically funny and direct in their portrayal of racism. In "Mekonnen aka Mack aka Huey Freakin' Newton," an 11-year-old boy named Mekonnen immigrates to New York City with his family in 1989, a period in the city's history in which violence against Black Americans and immigrants was particularly rampant.
In the mordantly funny "Sinkholes," a teenager in a Florida
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Probably Ruby: A Novel
by Lisa Bird-Wilson
(4/6/2022)
Bird-Wilson's background as a poet is apparent in her rich, evocative language. Rose longs to return to the home of her birth, "Where the sound of shaken leaves on dry branches ripped across the acres like soft gossip." Chapters that feature the perspectives of Ruby's biological mother, father and other relatives heighten the book's complexity, showing the reader where Ruby has come from in ways she cannot access herself. Probably Ruby is a deft work of characterization. Though some might
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Sea of Tranquility: A novel
by Emily St. John Mandel
(4/6/2022)
Loneliness is a palpable theme in the novel, almost unbearably so. But the web of connectivity among the characters makes them members of a community, even if they don't get to know themselves how they fit into a larger picture. Like The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven, Sea of Tranquility is concerned with deep philosophical questions. The author considers the nature of reality, time and memory, the significance of art in perilous times, and what we owe one another as fellow
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Shit Cassandra Saw: Stories
by Gwen E. Kirby
(3/2/2022)
The speculative stories tend to be built on gimmicks, to varying degrees of success. One of the best of these stories is "Mary Read Is a Crossdressing Pirate, the Raging Seas, 1720," which does not lean on a comical title or absurdist setup, but simply and movingly narrates the experiences of an 18th century English woman who lived as a man and joined a crew of pirates.
Still stronger are the stories grounded in reality, with more heart and less humor. "Mt. Adams at Mar Vista" revolves around a
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
(2/16/2022)
It's a versatile collection that shows the author's range.
Some seasoned readers of speculative short fiction may feel that Fu isn't breaking a lot of new ground. She relies heavily on tropes, even if she is subverting them. But the ingenuity of each story's world and the author's stylized language — what one might call grotesque poetry — are twin engines that propel the reader through the darker and more absurd recesses of Fu's imagination.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
People from My Neighborhood: Stories
by Hiromi Kawakami
(11/17/2021)
Stories often begin abruptly, as though you were in the middle of a conversation with the narrator and briefly spaced out — you feel you have to accept whatever is being said to catch up. "There's a hell, the old man said, for people who are mean to chickens." Of course there is, tell me more. Kawakami skirts the line between realism and the fantastical with precision. Many of the stories are bizarre, but they are neither too cute nor weird for the sake of being weird. Her language, transl
BookBrowse Editorial Review
My Monticello: Fiction
by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
(10/20/2021)
The end of the story shouldn't be spoiled, but "Control Negro" is a powerful, exceedingly dark demonstration of how the wounds of racial injustice trickle down from one generation to the next. The second half of the book consists of the eponymous novella, a story about a young Black woman named Da'Naisha escaping with her boyfriend and some neighbors from a violent uprising of white nationalists in Virginia. "My Monticello" unfolds as a dramatic and well-executed survival plot, but the story's m
BookBrowse Editorial Review
All the Little Hopes: A Novel
by Leah Weiss
(9/22/2021)
The novel shimmers with the vivid voices of its two narrators, Lucy and Bert. The girls are different enough to offer two unique perspectives of everything that unfolds in Riverton, but similar in the important ways that foster a flourishing friendship. Readers might easily identify with Lucy, the bookworm who wishes more than anything that Nancy Drew was real, or tomboyish Bert who struggles with guilt related to her mother's death and later falls easily under the spell of a touring musician lo
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Matrix by Lauren Groff
(9/22/2021)
Groff's language casts a spell over the reader — words like "misericord" and "cellatrix" and "scriptorium" are plentiful. Characters have names like Amphelisa, Wevua and Wulfhild Thrasher. Those who need more than these linguistic oddities and inflections for entertainment will find the plot to be substantial and riveting. We know little of the real Marie de France, which makes Matrix all the more impressive. Groff's Marie is made magnificent by her Crusader backstory, chivalrous in
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
(8/18/2021)
"Human Development" is the collection's standout, a carefully constructed renunciation of the trope of the model minority. Afterparties ends with a fraught story of survival that considers the way tragedy can be appropriated by outsiders who try to center themselves in a loss that is not theirs. Anthony Veasna So died in December 2020 at the age of 28, eight months before the publication of Afterparties. On the one hand, it is impossible not to mourn the enormous loss of potential
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Walking on Cowrie Shells by Nana Nkweti
(7/14/2021)
Each story is a contained world with its own magic, each protagonist a fully realized construction with the walls of cultural expectations closing in around them. Some short story collections that cover many genres and styles can invoke a kind of narrative vertigo in which the reader struggles to keep up with a parade of jarring transitions, but that does not occur here. Nkweti is so deft at every turn and so confident, it is easy to trust in even the boldest and most abrupt swerves.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
(6/9/2021)
Despite some lulls in the Tuấn storyline and perhaps an overabundance of water-related metaphors, this is an exceptional debut novel. Nguyen works background and historical information into the text without breaking narrative stride, capturing the aftereffects of the Vietnam War as an integral part of family lore. The story is an artfully constructed arc, yet also full of small, meaningful vignettes in which ancillary characters, such as Kim-Anh, are given their brief moments of brilliance
BookBrowse Editorial Review
First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami
(4/7/2021)
Each story features a narrator reflecting on a memory from the past in a state of ambiguous longing — not with a desire to recapture something they once had, but with a vague awareness that they missed something critical at the time the events occurred. They are detectives looking for clues in the ephemera of their pasts from a present that is generally undefined. There's an electric potency to Murakami's writing. The plots are tightly constructed in neat arcs, the themes are elegantly rea
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The Removed by Brandon Hobson
(2/3/2021)
Interspersed with the chapters from the perspectives of the Echotas, Hobson also includes the point-of-view of an ancestor, Tsala, a prophet who foresaw the events of the Trail of Tears, an act of genocide in which thousands of Cherokee were forcibly removed from their land. These chapters ultimately intersect with Edgar's in the novel's arresting and sophisticated climax. There are some elements in the book that are lacking in subtlety. However, the rich characterization and the sharp details o
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Nights When Nothing Happened by Simon Han
(1/6/2021)
Annabel's nocturnal behavior is a metaphor for the ways in which the Chengs, particularly the parents, are sleepwalking through their lives. Han's characterization of Patty and Liang is expert; their parental negligence is fully explored as a consequence of their personal insecurities and backstories. Patty is singularly focused on her work because it gives her confidence and a sense of purpose. Liang's mother died when he was young and he was raised by an abusive, often absent father. Thus he h
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Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
(9/16/2020)
The memoir is bookended by the author's recounting of a recurring dream. Of this dream and a particularly vivid and traumatic memory from childhood, she writes, "What matters is the transformative power of metaphor and the stories we tell ourselves about the arc and meaning of our lives." For a writer especially, metaphor is a powerful tool. But Memorial Drive offers insight and instruction for anyone who has experienced trauma. The memories, dreams and other ephemera that haunt us may ul
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The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures by Jennifer Hofmann
(9/2/2020)
The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures defies easy categorization and the reader's expectations to provide a nuanced portrayal of aging and the hollow feelings of loneliness and futility that may come along with it. Zeiger is (for the most part) a sympathetic protagonist, as he has committed his heart, soul and life to the GDR, only to be cast aside as irrelevant. Hofmann also expertly ties together the disparate threads — the missing waitress, Zeiger's illness, the telepo
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration
by Christine Montross
(8/5/2020)
The concerns Dr Montross expresses in Waiting for an Echo are exceedingly relevant to the present moment in which many Americans are reevaluating the role of police in society and the inequity inherent in the justice system (as well as the appalling lack of concern for health and safety within many prisons). She puts a human face on the suffering of mentally ill people who are incarcerated and makes a compelling argument for compassion and change on their behalf.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
(6/24/2020)
Kendi continues interspersing the personal with the political throughout the text. He recounts the early stages of his parents' relationship and incidents from his own life, and in doing so, he charts the history of racism and Black activism from the 1970s to the present.
The author's contextualizing of the impact of systemic racism within his own life story is compelling and persuasive; his personal examples serve as proof of his claims regarding how racism affects Black people, and also invi
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen
(6/3/2020)
There have been numerous narratives of the Trump presidency published in recent months that simply rehash the major events of the past four years and offer aggrieved commentary on various injustices but little else of substance. Gessen does recount some of these events (in a time frame spanning Trump's election up to the impeachment hearings), but also presents a compelling thesis, that the president is intentionally working to erode public faith in any facet of government that is not him, and t
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy
by Alastair Gee
(5/20/2020)
While the authors do discuss climate change, they also refuse to allow Paradise's victims and heroes to become symbols or martyrs in such a way that might inadvertently dehumanize them. Their depictions of these individuals are powerful and vivid; we genuinely come to know them. This is a powerful work of narrative nonfiction with a word of warning about the perils we face in a warming world, but it's also an eloquent and heartening illustration of empathy, generosity and hope.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth
(4/22/2020)
While the characters of Barn 8 are exceedingly compelling, the novel is fundamentally an ode to the humble chicken and a critique of factory farming wrapped up in a darkly comical heist plot. The subject of animal rights is addressed with urgency and passion, but the book succeeds because of Deb Olin Unferth's light touch.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit
(3/18/2020)
...Resentment, we are told from the beginning, leads to the first murder among the Plymouth settlers. But there's another story as well, that of Alice and her guilt over past choices, her grief over the death of her best friend (and William's first wife) Dorothy several years earlier on the Mayflower, and her struggle to conform to the inflexible roles and expectations placed upon her as the pilgrims fashion a new society from scratch. Despite the constant, looming dread established by th
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The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams
(2/19/2020)
The novel is a clever critique of the paternalism and subtle condescension often present just below the surface of supposedly forward-thinking men. The author sustains a deeply discomfiting atmosphere of dread throughout, making The Illness Lesson a quiet feminist thriller about the perils of respecting male authority over one's own moral instincts.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
(1/22/2020)
The author is recounting her own narrative, but also building on a foundation of storytelling that is timeless. There's a villain, but the hero doesn't know she is in danger. There's a haunted house, and we want to tell the hero to get out of there. There's ominous foreshadowing around every corner, and we want to grab her by the lapels and shake her, tell her, "This is not right!" Which is to say, Machado is a master of dramatic tension, and brilliantly illustrates the constant, low-level dread
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The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
(1/8/2020)
Sexton's deft plotting creates one of the best, most layered generational family sagas in recent memory. She skillfully demonstrates how the past informs the present, and how we are all the sum of not just our personal choices but also the intricate webs of our family histories. The metaphysical connections between Josephine, Gladys and Ava are creatively drawn and beautifully rendered, and these relationships elevate the novel to truly impressive heights.
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Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
(10/30/2019)
Frankissstein is funny and delightfully weird. The author's penchant for flouting conventions and genre norms has been fully and completely realized in this magnum opus. The magic of the novel is its philosophical daring and imaginative construction. Winterson moves back and forth through time weaving together themes and symbols, and asking bold questions about the relationship between humans and machines.
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Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker
(10/16/2019)
Who Put This Song On? is a blistering, aching portrait of adolescent depression and racial alienation with an unforgettable narrator who charms and even delivers laughs despite the pain she feels about being unavailingly different from everyone she knows. Parker’s first novel, following three fearless and highly praised poetry collections, should easily appeal to adult and teen readers alike.
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Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
(9/18/2019)
These are stories about the breakdown of human connections, of communication, of the body and mind. The Haitian settings are largely atmospheric—important, but hardly the most interesting aspect of the collection...If you like character-driven fiction with emotional depth and complexity, narrated by an author with a poet's linguistic sensibility, don't pass this one up.
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The Trojan War Museum: and Other Stories
by Ayse Papatya Bucak
(8/21/2019)
The Trojan War Museum is a unique balancing act, a testament to Bucak's ability to juggle multiple moods and themes in a way that corresponds with the reality of actual human emotion and captures the complexity of personal motivations...This sophisticated understanding of human behavior, along with Bucak's exceptionally clever plotlines, elevate the collection to greatness.
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Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
(6/19/2019)
Karen Russell has a tremendous gift for crafting uncanny, through-the-looking glass worlds that are so much like our own, with a surrealist edge...Even if you're not ordinarily attracted to books with supernatural elements, Russell is so effective in humanizing this theme.
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Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
(5/29/2019)
Reid's characters are layered and endlessly fascinating, prompting deep emotional investment from the reader. The book is alive with historical detail, creating a vibrant, eclectic atmosphere of 1970s rock 'n' roll. Those who remember the culture of this era of music well will be especially delighted with this trip down memory lane.
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The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino
(5/1/2019)
Guadagnino's careful plotting is very engaging, but marred slightly by a rather abrupt ending. Nevertheless, The Parting Glass provides intrigue and ardor against a vivid backdrop of 19th century New York, with a charismatic and memorable cast of characters.
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Women Talking by Miriam Toews
(4/17/2019)
The conversation among the women is riveting, philosophical, and even occasionally funny, as they consistently argue with one another like siblings (which some of them are.) It is profoundly deep and often emotionally meaningful. Despite the odd setting, the women are relatable, particularly from a feminist perspective; what woman hasn't felt like her humanity is in question at some point or another, or been asked to forgive something inexcusable so as not to rock the boat? Dramatic specifics as
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The Wall by John Lanchester
(3/20/2019)
While The Wall might not provide any deep introspective examination of its subject matter, that simply doesn't seem to have been the goal. Instead, Lanchester offers an action-heavy excursion in an extreme environment with a protagonist that is brave, but also flawed and relatable. There's a lot to be said for a novel that is just plain fun to read.
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Sugar Run by Mesha Maren
(3/6/2019)
The chapters from the past and the chapters from the present often mirror one another in subtle ways to demonstrate the lessons Jodi has failed to learn, a deft expression of Maren's skills in plotting and building suspense. It is apparent from the beginning that Jodi and her fellow outcasts are on a collision course with catastrophe, and when it finally comes at the end of the novel, it is tenderly wrought. Maren's empathy for her protagonist's plight is evident and inspires similar feelings in
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The Falconer by Dana Czapnik
(2/20/2019)
The Falconer is an instant female coming-of-age classic replete with 1990s nostalgia; equal parts cinematic and contemplative, cynical and doggedly hopeful. Dana Czapnik's protagonist will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Holden Caulfield, the archetype of teenage misanthropy, but she is so much more than that — a completely original and exceptional creation.
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Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley
(1/23/2019)
All four of these characters are vividly realized and remarkably complex; over the course of the novel their backstories work in tandem with their present-day thoughts and choices to gel into a clear picture.
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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
(1/9/2019)
As a character study, My Sister, the Serial Killer is captivating. Korede is being squeezed in a vise of uncertainty as her loyalty and morality are put to the ultimate test. However, with so much focus on the narrator, the secondary characters are barely sketched in. This lack of development is particularly discernible with regard to Ayoola. Given no access to her mind or details about her personality, one wonders what makes her tick, and how she feels about the things she has done. Guil
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Those Who Knew: A Novel
by Idra Novey
(10/31/2018)
The end of Those Who Knew leaves something to be desired, as one wishes to see Victor crushed into dust by the full weight of the law, but his reckoning, what there is of it, occurs off-page. It may be, however, that the author's primary intent is to let the strong women of the novel (and also Freddy) have the final words. Nevertheless, Novey effectively explores the ways in which the personal is political and vice versa, and how the consequences of a dictatorial government reverberate th
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His Favorites by Kate Walbert
(10/17/2018)
Walbert's sentences are long and complex, but her language is precise to an almost suffocating degree, words wrapping around words like she is tying a noose. The scene of the initial tragedy (which occurs on a golf course) is taut and bursting with detail: "It is a moonless night or a night of a new, absent moon: everything waiting for the beginning of something else—pond fountains full blast against the rising din of crickets and peepers and that late-summer whir I've never been able to pl
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Your Duck Is My Duck: Stories
by Deborah Eisenberg
(10/3/2018)
A couple of the stories never really get off the ground, and some wander a bit aimlessly before coming to the point, but the well-crafted and clever pieces of My Duck is Your Duck outweigh the weaker ones. Eisenberg is adept at creating an arresting mood and rendering complex characters, particularly those who are seeking some kind of meaning or understanding in their lives. Even if some of the stories' plots are a little thin, the protagonists are worth taking the time to get to know.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
A Terrible Country: A Novel
by Keith Gessen
(9/19/2018)
The novel is sprawling; Gessen includes details that some might find mundane or superfluous, descriptions of hockey matches, a play-by-play of Andrei unclogging the kitchen sink and cooking kasha, and a long description of a documentary about the poet Tsvetaeva. However, these scenes serve purposes: providing the reader with Russian historical background, or illustrating Andrei's growing affinity for his native land, idiosyncrasies and all. At its core, A Terrible Country is about feeling
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Brother by David Chariandy
(8/29/2018)
For a book set in 1991 and 2001, Brother is remarkably timely. Chariandy explores the harm racist and xenophobic attitudes can have on an individual, and on a community as a whole, and how law enforcement, rather than acting to improve such a community, can become a violent and oppressive presence. It is a plaintive and gripping representation of the loss of life and dignity that results when certain people in society are viewed as expendable - an urgent plea for empathy.
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The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons
(8/15/2018)
There are moments when the collection seems to be merely quirky for quirkiness' sake, and some readers may find these eccentricities grating. (The titular story featuring the talking lawn ornaments, for example, is aimless, a mere device for delivering something strange.) When all systems are firing, however, the magical elements in The Wrong Heaven are very effective tonally, providing a touch of sinister menace or even silliness to stories that read like fairy tales for world-weary adul
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The Mars Room: A Novel
by Rachel Kushner
(6/20/2018)
The Mars Room is clever, instructive, darkly funny, and unforgettable – a brilliant exploration of the gap between self-perception and societal judgment.
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Some Trick: Thirteen Stories
by Helen DeWitt
(5/30/2018)
In this erudite collection of 13 stories, Helen DeWitt explores the theme of stymied creativity, particularly as a result of financial and bureaucratic intrusions into the process of making art. The characters are unrelentingly charming and this is due to DeWitt's powers of description as well as her unconventional linguistic choices. Her quirky narrative choices and use of jargon may alienate some readers, however. There are somewhat random barrages of math, a few long descriptions of computer
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American Histories by John Edgar Wideman
(4/18/2018)
In American Histories, a collection of 21 short stories, John Edgar Wideman draws America's present and its divisive racial history as the direct consequence of a political and economic system that depends on man's inhumanity to fellow human beings. Wideman refers to this system as "empire," a word fraught with connotations of imperialism and slavery. "We wait and wait for the moment to arrive," he writes, "Wait for the time to celebrate. Time to love. We understand empire a chimera, a ba
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The Parking Lot Attendant: A Novel
by Nafkote Tamirat
(3/21/2018)
The author, Nafkote Tamirat, provides fascinating insight into the psychology of brainwashing, and how narcissistic predators with delusions of grandeur can wreak havoc on the young and vulnerable. Though the narrative is rather bleak, The Parking Lot Attendant contains surprising moments of comedy, thanks to the whip-smart and charming narrator, and her capacity for loving someone (even though he is the book's villain) is touching.
If the novel has a flaw, it is that the presen
BookBrowse Editorial Review
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
(2/7/2018)
The love story aspect of the novel is not its greatest strength. For history lovers, however, there is a lot more to admire. In flashbacks to Tom's many former lives, Haig takes readers to Elizabethan London, where Tom evocatively captures his surroundings, "The competing shouts and cries of traders. The drunken laughter of the ale-sozzled. The grunts and moos and hisses of assorted animals."
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The Kites by Romain Gary (author), Miranda Richmond Mouillot (translator)
(1/3/2018)
Published by New Directions for the first time in English, Romain Gary's The Kites tells a story of heroism and hope as the inhabitants of the small town of Cléry in Normandy face occupation by the Nazis during World War II. The Kites' only flaw is that its principal characters are somewhat one-dimensional. Miranda Richmond Mouillot is a superb translator, ensuring through footnotes that the reader has access to Gary's many historical allusions and plays on words that require dual languag
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Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
(11/15/2017)
While the book is frequently humorous, it is also haunting. Cedar's fate points to a possible future in which women's bodies are colonized and their choices about reproduction are not their own. Future Home of the Living God is smart but not pretentious. It is funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking, all without missing a beat – an impressive achievement.
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The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst
(11/1/2017)
The hurricane is an effective backdrop and metaphor for life's smaller tragedies as experienced by the Boisdoré family, the dissolution of a marriage, a parent's slow drift into dementia, the inability to protect a loved one who is seemingly too fragile for the capricious world. If this all sounds astonishingly bleak, it is. Babst really piles on the human misery, and for some readers it will be too much. There is no "happy" ending for these characters, at least not now, but there could be, and
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Five-Carat Soul by James McBride
(10/4/2017)
Five-Carat Soul is woven around themes of slavery and racial segregation — from the many references to Lincoln, to the story of an all African-American regiment that fought in World War II. These work in concert with the collection's religious overtones to assert the significance of the soul. In a world beset by differences (of skin color, of species), God is the great equalizer. McBride's superb wit and imagination ensure that this is accomplished without sermons or rhetoric.
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The Ninth Hour: A Novel
(9/20/2017)
McDermott, a National Book Award winner, excels at the quietly potent story where small moments build into something greater. The Ninth Hour is a novel about grace, family, sacrifice, and duty, how some serve God by serving other people, and how the idea of transcendence makes the earthly world bearable.
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Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
by Roxane Gay
(8/2/2017)
The titular hunger is metaphorical and stands in for many things, a hunger to be free from the trauma's long-lasting effects, the hunger to make better choices, to be normal (whatever that entails), to be happy, to be accepted. While Gay insists that her story is not one of triumph, and that she is not a role model, she doesn't give herself enough credit. Her candor is refreshing and commendable and other survivors of assault will certainly relate to, and perhaps find comfort in Gay's struggle.
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Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York
by Francis Spufford
(7/12/2017)
The language is downright musical at times, as when describing the local theater — "very dusty and dark and cumbered by lumber it was." The tone and themes of Dickens permeate the book (most notably in the critique of slavery and call for social reform), and there is a dash of Jane Austen as well. Serious devotees of historical fiction will appreciate Spufford's unrestrained verbosity and knowing winks toward his influences. Golden Hill's nimble story and whip smart humor is a handsome re
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Priestdaddy: A Memoir
by Patricia Lockwood
(6/21/2017)
The metaphors and connections Lockwood crafts to bind the book thematically are brilliant and subtle. The idea of God as a father figure is prevalent in Western religions, but when one's father is a priest, this idea takes on added significance. Priestdaddy is a serenity prayer, a ballad of acceptance and grace for what cannot be changed. Lockwood's coming of age has its share of dark verses, and her relationship with her father is complicated, largely due to conflicting ideologies. He is
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The Women in the Castle
(5/17/2017)
Regret is a visceral presence in the novel, a testament to the author's talent for sustaining tension. One character describes a man from her past as "a body washed up in her mind, dragging the tangle of her own bad choices like so much kelp." The concepts of complicity and resistance are always politically relevant, such is the world we live in, but Shattuck provides an excellent, subtle reminder of what it looks and feels like to be on the wrong side of history.
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The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason, 1798 to Modern Times
by Christopher de Bellaigue
(5/3/2017)
In this comprehensive and well-researched history, de Bellaigue examines the evolution of Islamic thought and Mideast politics over almost two centuries, viewed through the eyes of some of its most revolutionary thinkers. This remarkably vivid account has something for Islamic scholars and lay readers alike. It is accessible, not requiring a wealth of prior knowledge, and detailed, populated by many lesser-known historical personages. Those seeking to understand the hornet's nest of Middle Easte
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Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan
(4/5/2017)
If it isn't obvious, this is a fantastical account of the lives of the UAE's immigrant work force, an oppressed people living in poverty and without the rights of citizens, and it is not intended as a documentary of the situation, though readers may be inspired to look into the facts for themselves. The whimsy can become a little overwhelming, like watching a very long Wes Anderson film. If the humor sounds like it is in poor taste, it often is, to say nothing of the more outrageous narrative el
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Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by J. D. Vance
(3/22/2017)
The issues at stake for Vance are not overtly political, but personal. He counts his blessings for the advantages he did have and expresses concern for the plight of those who grow up with even less. He fully admits that "no single book, or expert, or field could fully explain the problems of hillbillies in modern America," but this is an excellent place to start for those willing to put aside their prejudices and really listen.
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Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
(2/15/2017)
Readers who do not share Kevin Wilson's sunny worldview may find the story's resolution a bit too perfect, but Kevin Wilson's Perfect Little World is an opportunity to consider what "family" means and how just one right person can make up for a world of past pain.
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History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
(1/4/2017)
This is a compelling and unconventional narrative where we are asked to examine degrees of guilt and complicity. Is a sexual predator still a predator if he does not act on his impulses, guilty for what he merely thinks of doing? Where do we place neglect on the spectrum of harmful acts? History of Wolves is also unique because the main character is on the periphery of someone else's tragedy, yet no less impacted, no less a victim.
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The Blind Astronomer's Daughter by John Pipkin
(11/2/2016)
The plot takes a while to get up and running, and even when it does, proceeds slowly. To be fair, it takes time to construct a story that is as big as the heavens. The scope of The Blind Astronomer's Daughter may be a bit too big, its cast a bit too populous, but the final chapters redeem these minor flaws.
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The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
(10/5/2016)
The Wonder is a psychological enigma, fraught with mortal tension, that the reader solves alongside Lib. Donoghue raises compelling philosophical questions about free will, the extent to which a just society can tolerate religious zealotry, and the moral/ethical obligations of medical practitioners.
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Mischling by Affinity Konar
(9/7/2016)
It is hard to describe the alchemy that Konar performs to make this story so uplifting. In a way, she has created a kinder, gentler twin experiment of her own: how will Sasha and Pearl, "two parts," so alike, but so different in disposition, face and overcome their traumas, with rage or with kindness, vengeance, or forgiveness. The results of this experiment, unlike those conducted at Auschwitz, actually has value for humanity.
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How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
(7/13/2016)
In essence, How To Set A Fire is a character study. The journal format allows for little development of the supporting cast. Lucia is not without friends, but they are barely sketched in. The plot is minimal so the extent to which you like this book will be determined by how willingly you buy into the cult of Lucia. The fact that this book isn't sadder is a credit to Jesse Ball's skill and light touch, the narrative never descends into hopelessness, even when it feels like it should.
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Smoke by Dan Vyleta
(6/1/2016)
Vyleta's London is pitch-perfect Dickensian in tone as well as subject matter, with subtle critiques of class and imperialism and more overtly in an encounter with unionizing coal miners. These elements are well-incorporated nods but Vyleta's vision is entirely original and stunning in its portrayal. Vyleta's story is all his own — a remarkably riveting, grim, but hopeful novel, that defies typical genre assignations. Hope for a sequel may be wishful thinking, but it is a compliment of the highe
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All Tomorrow's Parties: A Memoir
by Rob Spillman
(4/20/2016)
Spillman captures the rawness of youthful artistic ambition eloquently and self-consciously, the "amplified emotions you only feel in your twenties, when you are wildly changeable." His seeking of authenticity and creative fulfillment, from latching on to early influences like Hunter Thompson to his disappointment in the debauched literary culture of 1980s New York, make for a melancholy but ultimately redemptive journey.
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