Virginia KressSee All Reviews |
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The Edge of the Earth
Christina Schwartz, highly recognized author Drowning Ruth, has created, in my humble opinion, another masterpiece. While definitely dark and at times fairly disturbing, Scwartz has crafted a tense story with clearly defined characters. Her ability to capture a sense of place is unsurpassed. Set shortly before the turn of the 20th century, The Edge of the Earth entices the reader to explore the haunting existence of life at a lighthouse off the Northern California coast. Trudy, a well-educated young Milwaukee woman accustomed to the finer things in life is preordained to marry the stable but boring Ernst. Naturally she is undeniably drawn to his ne’er do well, idealistic cousin Oskar and is soon married to him and being whisked off to the wilds of the forbidding island. Upon their arrival at St. Lucia, which is nothing more than an isolated mass of jagged rocks separated from the main land by miles of ocean; Trudy and Oscar find themselves essentially at the mercy of the formidable and secretive Crawley family. Trudy first begins to realize that this island holds many secrets and that these buried histories when finally uncovered, lead certain characters to bizarre and unpredictable behavior. |
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The Winter Witch
The Winter Witch is another beautiful work of magical realism by Paula Brackston set in early 19th century Wales. It is a harsh story of good versus evil centering on Morgana, the mysterious new wife of Cai Jenkins, head drover and master of FFynnon Las. Despite Morgana’s truly good nature, her affinity for hard work and the great outdoors, and obvious affection for her new husband there are those in town who are greatly suspicious of her quiet nature and ‘special gifts’. There are characters in this book you will love and others you shall despise, but despite the depths of evil people are capable of; a light of hope is continually shining through in this story. For all is not as it appears and there are sometimes hidden, driving forces behind individuals’ behaviors and undefined threats. This is a brutal book. The hardships these characters face will break your heart. Despite the tendency human beings have to turn on each other when they are scared and threatened. In the end we have an amazing capability to accept good people exactly as they are. |
Craig JonesSee All Reviews |
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The Fourth Assassin
This is the fourth in the series of mysteries that takes place in the Palestinian occupied territories, and features Omar Yussef, an aging teacher in a UN school. The Fourth Assassin, however, takes place in New York City, and deals as much with the Palestinian immigrant experience as it does with internal Palestinian politics. Yussef is in NYC to attend a UN conference, but takes the opportunity to visit his youngest son Ala, who lives with several roommates in a largely Palestinian neighborhood in Brooklyn. When he first arrives at the apartment, he discovers a headless corpse. Ala is subsequently arrested for the murder, prompting Yussef to try to unravel the threads of the story involving illegal drugs, politics, and the difficulties of immigrants from a traditional Arab culture in adapting to a modern Western metropolis. Matt Beynon Rees, having been a journalist in the Middle East for over a decade, has an intimate knowledge of his subject, and no illusions about the major players. This is a highly readable addition to this series which has taught its readers much about what it’s like to be an ordinary Palestinian, a perspective that has been in short supply in the West. |
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Doc
John Henry “Doc” Holliday is an historical figure around whom much mythology has gathered. Mary Doria Russell has applied her considerable research skills to discover the true figure, and she has brought to life a remarkably well-bred and educated character. That he appears complex and sometimes mysterious is a tribute to her skill as a writer. He was a skilled dental surgeon raised among Georgia aristocracy, who contracted tuberculosis at a young age thus compelling him to relocate to the Southwest, among the brawling miners and cattlemen of the mostly lawless western frontier. Russell chooses to omit the famous gunfight at the OK Corral from her narrative, presumably because it is already well documented. She refers to it obliquely several times, but her story essentially ends before it takes place. The author is clearly more interested in portraying the dying man as a gentleman among frontiersmen, and her portrayal of the Earp brothers and other historical figures gives sharp contrast to her portrait of Holliday. I am not especially fond of this period of American history or its icons, but I have admired her writing for a long time, and was not disappointed. Doc is as absorbing and well written as any of her previous novels, and adds considerable depth to the stereotypes that are often applied to these well-known names. |
Amy MazzarielloSee All Reviews |
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The Obituary Writer
The Obituary Writer is a novel that looks at two women who are both at odds with the voice inside that speaks quietly of greater possibility. Two women, two separate eras; one is an accidental obituary writer living in the California Bay area in 1919, while the second is a young mother living in New England during the Kennedy campaign and election. The obituary writer was my favorite character because of her independence as a woman living in a time when the expectations of women were neatly defined. She, however, chose to follow her heart and search for her lover who went missing after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. As a result of her search, Vivien stumbles upon the arduous task of writing obituaries for the loved ones of the newly grieving who find their way to her door. Her calm spirit and gentle hospitality allows for her guests to let their grief flow out of them, find its way to her writing table, and into the newspaper as a beautiful and noble commemoration, rather than a list of facts. It is through these brief relationships that Vivien is able to understand her own longing and grief for a man she believes is not dead but instead lost somewhere in the world, with no memory of his former life. Claire is a mother and homemaker living in a loveless marriage. She is obsessed with Jackie O. and spends her days chasing her daughter, chatting with the neighborhood wives and attending dinner parties with her cold and assuming husband. Clearly, Claire needs more. When a new couple moves into town and into a house that holds its own dark past, Claire finds the spark that has been missing. Vivien and Claire's lives do finally intersect, but Ann Hood's look at time, place and the human condition is the what drives this story. |
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The Middlesteins
The Middlesteins are a 21st century Jewish family of adults (with a pair of teen-aged grandchildren) living in and around Chicago. At the center of the story is the matriarch of the family Edie, who is eating herself to death. Edie was born to a young Jewish couple living on the 4th floor of an elevatorless apartment in Chicago, and grew into a rotund and opinionated child who would not be denied the food shel loved. Food was community, food was conversation, food was comfort and food was love. Edie’s father, originally from Kiev, became the perpetual host to a group of men from the synagogue, the University, and to those he’d adopted fresh from Russia. Their discussions rotated around a table filled with “whitefish and herring, bagels, the lox, the various spreads of sometimes indeterminate meat”, and focused on a mutual obsession with Golda Meir and a strong devotion to Israel. Meanwhile, Edie’s mother kept busy at the kitchen counter smoking cigarettes and slicing vegetables. Edie listened and ate. Moving forward, we meet Edie's husband Richard, a self made pharmacy owner who – after 30 years of marriage - has chosen to leave Edie in the depths of her struggle with diabetes, and just prior to another life saving medical procedure. Edie must have a second stent inserted into the vein of her other leg in order to keep the blood flowing properly. As a result of his choice to leave, Richard becomes ostracized by the family (the female members, anyway), and begins to feel the absence of a type of love he has grown to live without. The pharmacy reflects the cobwebs, dusty shelves and meager choices Richard has grown accustomed to, yet he will not close the doors. Edie and Richard have two children Benny and Robin. Benny is a bit ambivalent regarding concern for his mother’s health and his father’s personal welfare, but his wife Rachelle is not. Rachelle is intent on saving her mother-in-law while in the midst of planning the perfect b’nai mitzvah party for their twins. She also insists on healthy, tasteless meals for them all. After all, Edie is dying from food. Rachelle's final declarition comes in a bannishment of Richard. What kind of man leaves his dying wife of 30 years? Robin has spent the past 13 years rejecting all things Jewish. She has grown into a scornful schoolteacher, living in an apartment in the city, and seeking a spirit scented solace in the bar across the street, sitting side-by-side with her upstairs neighbor Daniel. Robin is angry at the past. She is angry at the food that replaced the love she desired from her parents. She is angry that her father has left her and Benny with the daunting task of trying to keep their mother alive, let alone on a path to restored health. And, on top of all of that, she is beginning to have –oh, wait a minute – feelings for her drinking partner/upstairs neighbor, who is also Jewish and determined (despite his overall meekness) to have her join him to celebrate Seder with his family. Jami Attenberg has created a branch of a family who came of age in the shadow of its former hunger-struck and impoverished self seeking freedom and comfort in the cradle of America. She remains sympathetic to the characters she’s created, despite the most negative or resentful emotion, feeling or statement that any one of these newly complex characters has to offer. The level of wit and humor is just right, and her attention to the character food plays in the story is what makes the whole thing work. Though there were times when I felt disdain for some of the characters, in the end I found an appreciation for who they -beneath the weight, the facade, the cloud of perfection or anger - were as individual parts of a whole family. |
Morgan TuffSee All Reviews |
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The Emerald Atlas
Ages: 8 to 13. Review:One night ten years ago Kate, Michael, and Emma were taken away from their parents in order that they be protected from a force of unimaginable evil. After being tossed from orphanage to orphanage, they arrive in Cambridge Falls. Cambridge Falls is a completely downtrodden and very eerie town. The orphanage itself mirrors the rest of the town; it is a huge old mansion with no other children and run by a strange old man. Before meeting this man, they explore the house until they come upon a mysteriously appearing door through which the three enter into a room that seems to have no walls. On the desk they find an old leather bound emerald book that appears to have all blank pages. Right as they are about to leave, Michael accidentally drops a picture into the book’s pages and suddenly they are transported into the past of Cambridge Falls. This Cambridge Falls is a place where humans live alongside magical creatures. However, it is also a town in trouble. An evil Countess rules with violence and the children of the town are under attack. Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma realize that the fate of this town depends on them. The Emerald Atlas, the first of three novels, is full to the brim with magic, suspense, and adventure. John Stephens weaves a tale that will make people of every age crave more. |
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The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Told from multiple perspectives, this jewel of a novel examines what it is like to grow up biracial in America. Rachel, the sole survivor of a violent family tragedy, is sent to live with her grandmother in a predominantly black community in Portland, Oregon. After growing up in Europe, the blue eyed daughter of a Danish citizen and an African American G.I., she had never seen herself as anything other than a loving daughter. This all is challenged as she faces growing up without her parents and being perceived as black for the first time. Spanning over ten years of Rachel’s life, in this book the reader can feel her bewilderment and frustration as she deals with boys, school, memories of her family, and stereotypes forced upon her by the outside world. As questions are slowly answered about her past, the reader begins to look up to Rachel for dealing with the problems of her past and the questions of her future with immense wisdom and patience. The thoroughly deserving winner of the Belafonte Prize for fiction, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky will haunt readers for months after they finish absorbing it. Through agonizingly beautiful prose, Durrow’s novel is not only a modern coming-of-age tale but also becomes significant social commentary. |
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