After reading so many average novels, it is wonderful to read a truly extraordinary novel, and that is just what Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is. Cutting for Stone takes the reader on a journey from India to Ethiopia, to NYC and back to Africa. It is an epic tale of twin brothers born on a fateful night when their mother died in childbirth and their surgeon father fled the country in distress. What follows is a richly detailed…
A commonly used device in novels is for someone to find a diary from the past written by their grandmother, uncovering all sorts of juicy secrets about their family history. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read like this recently. I suspended my disbelief the first several times I read novels with this same theme, but found it harder this time in Sarah Jio’s novel The Violets of March. Most of the time this device works, and it…
A Different Kind of Normal by Cathy Lamb is a novel I have mixed feelings about. I can’t in all honesty say it’s a great book, because I found many faults in the writing, the one dimensional characters, the story, etc. Jaden Bruxelle, known as Boss Mom by her 17 year old son Tate, is struggling with mothering a brilliant boy born with a too big head, uneven eyes and a great sense of humor. He was left at birth…
Waiting by Ha Jin is a novel set in the New China of the Cultural Revolution, following one man for two decades while he tries to divorce his wife in his home village each year so he can marry his girlfriend in the city. Not much happens in this novel, except a lot of waiting as the title suggests. Jin has the rare ability to capture the details of everyday life and the emotions hidden under the surface. He taps…
Keeping the House by Ellen Barker is a novel spanning the first half of the twentieth century and three generations of a family settled in Pine Rapids, Wisconsin. Barker explores what it means to be the perfect wife, at the turn of the twentieth century, through two World Wars, and into the 1950’s. My favorite parts of the novel are the quotes from Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping at the beginning of each chapter. The novel jumps back in…
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a deeply moving novel whose protagonist is Victoria, a damaged eighteen year old who has just been released from the foster-care system and left to navigate the world alone with no friends, family, home or job prospects. All she has is her knowledge of the Language of Flowers, taught to her by a former foster mother a decade ago. This novel was so heartbreaking, at times it was hard to read, yet…
Pack Up the Moon, by Irish writer Anna McPartlin is a deeply honest, funny, tender novel, full of friendship, grief and one too many drinks. The story centers around Emma, in her late 20’s dealing with a terrible tragedy, and her close knit friends who circle around her, while dealing with their own struggles. McPartlin was a stand-up comic before becoming a writer, and it shows in her writing. She’s funny and doesn’t hold anything back. Although somewhat predictable, I…
Breadfruit by Celestine Vaite is the first novel I’ve read by a Tahitian writer. It is the first in a trilogy where we meet Materena Mahi, a Tahitian woman who brings to mind Precious Ramotswe of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Through Vaite’s deceptively simple writing, her characters come alive, and we are given a peek into true Tahitian culture. I found this book funny and thoroughly enjoyable.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a novel by Carol Rifka Brunt set in the 80’s when AIDS was just being named and feared by all. It is a coming of age story about 14 year old June Elbus and her sister Greta. June is an awkward teenager who is more comfortable pretending she is living in the middle ages, than hanging out with kids her own age. Her best friend is her Uncle and Godfather, Finn, who is a…
Love and Other Games of Chance by Lee Siegel started out really good, but soon got tiresome. We meet Issac Schlossberg, son of a famed sideshow performer. His life is that of an entertainer, magician, circus performer, conjurer; he is in love with an Angel. His travels take him across America, to India, England and beyond, in a giant game of snakes and ladders. At first I found the story very funny and very interesting. But the sustained frenetic pace…