Falling, A Love Story, by Jane Green, seems full of cliche characters in a very predictable story, but it takes a rather tragic turn near the end. This makes the book less predictable, but not better, just sad. I used to like some of Jane Green’s books, but this is one to skip.
And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile is a deceptively simple little novel that packs a huge emotional punch. Ile’s writing is sparse and lyrical, the spaces he leaves speak volumes. It is the story of the Utu family and their three children. When Paul, the oldest boy, goes missing one day, the family is thrown into disarray. Mostly told from younger brother Ajie’s point of view, the novel is partly a portrait of a Nigerian family struggling to put…
Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins is a fever dream of a novel set in an imagined near future where the drought in Southern California has reached extreme measures and everyone except a few stragglers have been evacuated. Luz and Ray, squatting in a starlet’s mansion, are drifting through the days playing house until they encounter a child and decide to head east and look for a better life. The Amargosa, a huge dune sea growing and swallowing everything…
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota is another immigrant book, this one much grittier and more painful than Behold the Dreamers. It tells the story of four Indian immigrants, three young men and one young woman, all trying to make a better life for themselves and their families by finding work in England. Once there, the reality of finding any kind of work is brutal and if they are there illegally, almost impossible. Sahota follows the lives of…
Behold the Dreamers is a wonderful debut novel by Imbolo Mbue. It is a novel about an immigrant family from Cameroon and the rich white family they work for in NYC. Mbue captures both cultures beautifully, and we come to care deeply for the characters she has created. This is a brilliant novel that deeply explores the immigrant dream, with all its struggles, false hopes and ultimate redemption. A great read.
Waters Ghosts by Shawna Yang Ryan is a very atmospheric little novel about a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River in the 1920’s. Yang Ryan weaves history and myth together to paint a picture of Chinese immigrant life. When three women arrive in town on a boat coming in from the mist, no one is sure of who they really are and how they got there. The whole novel felt like a dream. A worthwhile read.
The Friends We Keep by Susan Mallory is a novel about three women in a small southern California town, each dealing with their own family problems; from divorce, to teen pregnancy to being unable to have a baby. They are there for each other through thick and thin. It was a decent read, with well drawn characters, but a bit too predictable and easily forgotten.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki is a brilliant novel. Nao, a sixteen year old Japanese girl writes a diary about her life and her 104 year old grandmother who is a Buddhist nun. The diary washes ashore an island in the Pacific Northwest inside a Hello Kitty lunchbox where Ruth, a writer, finds it. The story is at times very sad and disturbing, but it is also funny, wise and tender. Both stories and characters are…
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai, author of The Inheritance of Loss, is a satire about life in a small Indian village. Sampath, a twenty year old boy unremarkable in every way, decides he is tired of his life, his family, his job, etc. He climbs a guava tree in a nearby orchard and promptly takes up residence there. Suddenly he is seen by the town as a holy man and all manner of chaos ensues as people…
The Power of Meow by David Michie is part of the Dalai Lama’s Cat Series. Another great little story written from the point of view of HHC or His Holiness’s cat as she is known. This book is filled with simple wisdom, Buddhist teachings and funny moments as HHC observes the everyday happenings in her neighborhood, has dreams of her past lives, and learns to meditate. Profound life lessons are given here in a simple and humorous way; it’s hard…