The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar revisits characters from her earlier novel A Space Between Us. Umrigar is one of my favorite Indian authors. Here she writes about the least visible of all people, a low caste illiterate woman who lives in a slum in Mumbai, and another who is homeless, both struggling to scrape by and hold on to their dignity. The sights and sounds of Mumbai come alive, and the characters are so real I could not…
Lost Children Archive by Mexican author Valeria Luiselli is one of the most extraordinary books I’ve read in years. The characters remain unnamed, simply Ma, Pa, the boy, the girl. Told in alternating voices and filled with quotations, documents, polaroids, poems, musical references, the story becomes an incantation, a migration, a conversation with the past. The family takes a road trip, searching for lost immigrant children, searching for their place in the world. They record sounds, language, birdsong, whispers of…
The Dragonfly Sea by Kenyan author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor is historical fiction based on the little known fact of Chinese sailors being shipwrecked on the small island of Pate on Kenya’s eastern seaboard some 600 years ago. It is a coming of age story of Ayaana, a small girl growing up outcast and fatherless on Pate until she claims a sailor Muhidin, as her father. When dignitaries from China come to Pate and do DNA testing, Ayaana, now 21 is…
The Island of Sea Women is the latest historical fiction by Lisa See. This time she focuses on the little known Korean Island of Jeju where the women are the providers and the men stay home with the children. As soon as they are old enough, girls learn to dive from their mothers and grandmothers, harvesting riches from the sea. The book follows two best friends through decades of colonialism, war, marriage, children and into modern times. See highlights the…
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay is the book I’ve been most disappointed by this year, probably because of all the hype around it and how much I was looking forward to reading it. Although parts are beautifully written, I never understood or liked the main character, Shalini. She is a wealthy, naive young woman from Bangalore who goes to live for a time with a family in Kashmir, this part is semi-autobiographical. However, the choices she makes are hard…
Mama’s Last Hug, Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves by Frans De Waal is a book about the study of chimpanzees and other animals over the course of many decades. De Waal, one of the worlds leading primatologists, concludes that we should be treating animals better since they too have emotions. That this is still unknown to so many people is baffling to me. I’m glad this book is out if this is what is needed to…
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman is the original book about the Owens family, of which the more recent The Rules of Magic is the prequel. I really enjoyed The Rules of Magic, but was disappointed in this book, it felt dated and indeed it was written in 1995. Too little magic, too many abusive relationships, it just wasn’t a very good book and it was turned into an even worse movie. I still think Hoffman is a great writer, but…
You Think It, I’ll Say It:Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife, reminded me why I don’t read short stories. Even when written by writers I like, they almost always disappoint. Here were several stories with unlikable characters that made me wonder why I wasted my time reading about them. Skip this collection and pick up one of Sittenfeld’s novels instead.
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman is a prequel to Practical Magic, which I haven’t read yet. Hoffman is a prolific writer and a couple of my favorites are The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things. In this novel we meet the Owens’ siblings, Franny Jet and Vincent, all with unique magical gifts but cursed with great tragedy if they fall in love. Set against the backdrop of NYC in the sixties, Hoffman is a wonderful storyteller; she…
One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan is written in Tamil and was hugely popular in India. Now translated into English, I feel all the richer for having been able to read it. Set in rural South India, a loving couple Kali and Ponna are unable to have children. This is an unacceptable situation in their village and they are treated with disdain by everyone, family included. Murugan wonderfully portrays this struggle in an otherwise happy marriage. After praying and making…