This novel, published in 1996 and winner of the Whitbread Prize (shortlisted for the Booker), is set on the Titanic’s fateful voyage, and it is about loss, but not just the loss of those who set sail. Every Man for Himself is about the loss of love, the passing of an old world, and the painful birth of the new one as exemplified by our 22-year-old narrator. Morgan has known both deprivation and privilege, having had a foot in both worlds. Yet, he is not […]
Jane Austen Meets Harry Potter
Being the Correspondence of two Young Ladies of Quality regarding various Magical Scandals in London and the Country This delightful novel, the first of a series, predates the Harry Potter novels by over 10 years. Wrede and Stevermer wrote and published Sorcery and Cecilia in 1986. I would have been in college at that time, which might explain why I completely missed out on this series, geared toward young readers (early teens-ish). Still, as with HP, a well written story attracts readers of all ages, […]
Lost in Thought
Before reading this novel, I saw two very different reviews of it. One, in Salon, favorably compared Find Me to Station Eleven and The Handmaid’s Tale. The other, from NPR, found it to be lacking and unworthy of such comparison. My opinion is that while the first half of the story does make it seem as if the novel has the potential to rank up there with esteemed dystopian fiction, the second half disappoints. Laura van den Berg is a seasoned and well regarded writer of […]
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World
The Parable of the Sower, by the brilliant Octavia Butler (author of Kindred), is a piece of dystopian fiction set in California in the 2020s. It’s not clear precisely what happened, but rule of law and access to utilities, education, and basic necessities have been severely curtailed. Our narrator is Lauren Olamina, a teenager who lives inside one of the remaining walled communities on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Lauren is a “sharer” or “feeler,” i.e., a person who has a condition called hyper empathy […]
…like a fish needs a bicycle
The Summer House Trilogy was originally published as three separate pieces in 1987, 1988, and 1990. Putting all three together is not just convenient for the reader but a boon for seeing Ellis’s overall picture of her female characters’ friendships, romantic relationships, and independent thinking. Each story is a perspective on the same event: the weeks leading up to the wedding of very young and reserved Margaret to neighbor Syl, who is old enough to be her father. In fact, Syl has known Margaret’s mother […]
44-Year-Old Novel Finally Published, Worth the Wait
Australian writer Elizabeth Harrower published several well received novels in the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Her much anticipated fifth novel, In Certain Circles, was set to be published in 1971 when Harrower abruptly changed her mind and withheld it from publication. She essentially retired from writing shortly afterward. In 2014, Text Publishing was able to get Harrower to agree to the publication of In Certain Circles, a novel of post-war Australia that focuses on social class, trauma, and their impact on friendships and romantic relationships. […]
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