The Way I Say I by Nancy Tandon
The Way I Say It is an old school feeling story with a modern take. The entire time I was reading I was thinking, “This is so 1980s!” I felt that while the issues being discussed in this book by Nancy Tandon, they were terribly tame by today’s standards. It almost felt like I had read this book back when I was between the ages of 8 and 12. Yet, dealing with a speech issue, brain injury and friendship woes is timeless at the same […]
Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land by N. Scott Momaday
I think Momaday is just not an author for me. I felt similarly ‘meh’ about his Pulitzer prize winning novel, House Made of Dawn, when I read it in graduate school. His stuff just does not resonate with me. This is a book of prose poems centered on Momaday’s contemplation of the natural world, and in specific the American West, where he has lived his entire life. It’s a small book, focused on Momaday’s own feelings toward the earth, and eventually, humanity’s. No surprise, the central […]
D-39: A Robodog’s Journey by Irene Latham
I am not really a dog person, but something about the idea of D-39: A Robodog’s Journey was grabbing. Maybe the androgenous look of the character on the cover or the fact it was a robot dog and as far as I could remember I had never read a book with a robot dog. Maybe because it was free. But what kept me reading this novel by Irene Latham was two main things: first it was done in a poetic prose manner. But it was […]
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Ellen Hopkins is a thoughtful and interesting writer. They have a style with their prose poetry that can be both a pull, drawing you into the story and be a bit confusing as they will shape poems to fit the mood of the theme and/or point of the poem itself. The mayhem of the life, feeling or event Hopkins wants to show you is not easy, yet Hopkins handles it with a respect to the reader and subject. Crank could have had more to it, […]
Worst-Case Collin by Rebecca Caprara
The prose poetry allows Worst-Case Collin by Rebecca Caprara to be a quick read, but without sacrificing the story. In the tone and style of Love that Dog and Hate that Cat, Caprara created a book that is both familiar in the subjects presented (growing up, bullies, the loss of a parent, friendship, mental health issues) and different (the father’s particular mental health issues). While I felt the ending was a bit forced, it also was the only way to do it. The realism of […]
A Girl in the Himalayas by David Jesus Vignolli
Environmental issues and man’s greed, pain, actions, and fear are countered by a young girl, Vijaya, and her new family and new friends of the other realm in this graphic novel. A Girl in the Himalayas has a unique feel. At first you get the feeling of the scene in the animated Disney move, Mulan, when the village was attacked, and the doll of the little girl is found. You then get a feeling of a child who has been orphaned and is raised by […]
