I grew up in Cincinnati, as did author Curtis Sittenfeld. In fact, the Sittenfelds lived next door to us on Menlo Avenue when I was a teenager, and I babysat Curtis and her older sister when they were quite small. They were only there for a few years and Curtis was young enough that she probably wouldn’t remember me, but I have followed her career from afar over the past decade and have always been thrilled and impressed that a fellow Cincinnatian has become a […]
I Believe in the Power of Creation (which is female)
To be something abnormal meant you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you …and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them. Who Fears Death is the story of a young woman who, in the face of formidable obstacles, must change the world. Onyesonwu, whose name means “who fears death,” possesses mystical powers. While this makes her unusual in her town, it is not what sets her apart from others, at least not at first. The novel […]
Different, Not Less
Nalo Hopkinson is becoming one of my favorite writers. Her novels are creative and humorous, informative and provocative. Sister Mine, like Brown Girl in the Ring, is set in Toronto and revolves around a family with formidable spiritual powers. As with BGITR, celestial beings or gods are characters in the story, and these gods are rooted in Caribbean religion/spirituality. While the search for lost mojo is a big part of this novel, and that part is fascinating and fun, the dominant theme that runs through […]
Keys and Locks
This collection of short stories by Helen Oyeyemi is a mix of fairy tale and the modern world, of the fanciful and the dark, with a generous portion of sexuality thrown in. In some ways, it reminds me of Angela Carter’s work, but Oyeyemi’s stories, while dealing with heavy themes such as betrayal, abandonment and disappointment, maintain a lightness. Her characters demonstrate a quality that’s not exactly optimism, but a willingness to carry on, a good natured fatalism that tempers the darkness. The nine stories […]
An Embarrassment of Riches in a Debut Novel
I’m not sure there could be a better time than now for this impressive debut novel from Kaitlyn Greenidge. She addresses racism, white privilege, female relationships, family strife, and loneliness in a novel that centers around a scientific experiment spanning some 60 years. Greenidge’s narrators are four African American girls and women who are intelligent but alone and lonely. Each is searching for a missing connection, for a love that has been missing and might even be considered forbidden or unnatural; each has felt alienation […]
“Reader, I murdered him,”or what if Jane Eyre got a shiv and wasn’t afraid to use it?
A while ago, I read a review of this new book by Lyndsay Faye which indicated that it was about a murderous governess who was a bit like Jane Eyre. While I am not a huge fan of Jane Eyre or the work of the Brontes in general (honestly, Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights are both tremendous jerks and their women were well shot of them), I already knew from Gods Of Gotham that Lyndsay Faye was a wonderful writer […]
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