Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About jeverett15

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39 years old. New Jersey resident. Fan of mystery novels, classic literature, and non-fiction about movies, television, sports, and American history.

jeverett15's Reviews:

Living, Loving Maid

The Maid by Nita Prose

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Do we need to go over the rules again? The Maid is billed and sold as a mystery novel. I suppose that’s because a body is discovered early on and the plot concerns itself with figuring out the who, what, how, and why of the man’s death. But in most other respects it really bears little resemblance to the genre. Our main character is Molly, a young woman reeling from the death of her beloved Gran, who raised her after her mother’s abandonment. Gran understood […]

Now I Know What Prison Mike Was Talking About

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

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Their third year at Hogwarts is no less eventful for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with many changes. There is yet another new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts, as the kind but sickly Professor Lupin joins the faculty. Also joining the teaching staff is none other than gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid, commissioned to instruct the students in the Care of Magical Creatures. The only black cloud hanging over the new school year is the recent escape of Sirius Black from the titular Azkaban prison, long […]

I’ve Got a Name

James by Percival Everett

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“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn,” wrote Ernest Hemingway. Percival Everett’s response is getting similarly rave reviews, and is being heralded by some as the literary event of the year. Does it, can it, live up to the hype? The titular James is, of course, the enslaved Jim from Twain’s classic, who joins with Huck on a journey down the Mississippi River during which they grew close and run into a series of adventures. The character has […]

Bored to Death

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

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Some murder mysteries are obsessed with darkness, with the depths of depravity the soul can sink to. Others, are more light-hearted affairs. Sure, there’s a dead body or two, but that’s no reason not to sit down for a spot of tea or curl up with a blanket and your pet cat while you work out which of your eccentric neighbors committed the oh-so quaint murder. Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone goes for something a little different. It’s a self-referential, comedic […]

Breezy, Sleazy, Cheesy

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

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Are women (novelists) okay? This is my second novel in a row, following Emma Cline’s The Guest, in which a female novelist seems to revel in writing a completely irredeemable female protagonist. If a man had written a woman so despicable, so gross, so selfish and stupid and cruel, I feel like cancellation wouldn’t even begin to cover it. People would be calling for jail time. The protagonist of Big Swiss is Greta Work, a 45-year-old woman who has just moved to smalltown Hudson, NY […]

Summertime Blues

The Guest by Emma Cline

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Alex is a 22-year-old woman who seems to make her living, such as it is, as an escort of some kind. When we first meet her, she has stumbled into a more lucrative role as the much-younger girlfriend of a middle-aged businessman named Simon. Alex has been summering at Simon’s place in the Hamptons, which is great because her roommates back in the city have finally gotten sick of her owing rent and forced her out of her apartment. There’s also the little matter of […]



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