Rules of Civility takes place in post-Depression, pre-WWI Manhattan, among New York’s elite, those who wish to be New York’s elite and the clubs, parties and restaurants they frequented. The majority of the novel takes place in 1938 and is told from the point of view of Katey (born Katya) Kontent, described by her friend, Eve, as “the hottest bookworm you’ll ever meet.” Katey is the well-read, orphaned daughter of Russian emigrants, Eve (born Evelyn) is the naturally blonde, (naturally?) ambitious transplant from Indiana, and Tinker […]
“Stop the logging, stop the lies. Save the monarch butterflies.”
For years (and years) my favorite Barbara Kingsolver book was The Poisonwood Bible, followed by Prodigal Summer. And then I read Flight Behavior and I believe that I have a new favorite. I have enjoyed everything I’ve ever read by Kingsolver, but there is a timeliness to Flight Behavior that makes it extra special. The story features Dellarobia Turnbow, a slight-statured, red-haired farmwife in rural, western Tennessee. Dellarobia has no family outside the family she’s made with her gentle giant of a husband, Cub, and […]
A Young Man, a Castle & a Very Deep Hole
Let me first just say that I am very much a fan of Patrick DeWitt. His previous book, The Sisters Brothers, delighted me with its quirky weirdness. And Undermajordomo Minor does the same. It’s definitely quirky, definitely weird and, like The Sisters Brothers, quite funny. Especially if you have a sort of weird sense of humor. Undermajordomo Minor tells the story of Lucien (Lucy) Minor who leaves his home village of Bury because he doesn’t feel he has any reason to stay. His father has passed away, […]
This is the book
This is the book I read. This is me giving the book 2.5 stars. This is the style of writing in the book that caused me to award only 2.5 stars. This is the sentence structure the author felt would be engaging but was, for me, enraging. This is an actual paragraph from the book: This is your brother with the gun in his mouth. This is your brother forming a cauliflower head on the carpet with his blood. This is his wife, hearing the shot downstairs in […]
You Say Love Story, I Say Are You Sure?
“The Newlyweds” tells the story of Amina and George. Amina is living in Bangladesh and George in Rochester, NY, when they “meet” on a (dating?) site called AsianEuro.com. After several months of communication over email and the phone, George travels to Bangladesh to meet Amina and her family properly. During that visit, Amina and George become engaged and she eventually moves from Dhaka to Rochester, where they are married. Although the book is called “The Newlyweds” it’s not really about George and Amina as a […]
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