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 […]
A Tale of Supernatural Burn Out
This novel, which could be classified as fantasy, folk tale or fairy tale, is, according to one review, based on a Senegalese folk tale and set in Barbados/the Caribbean. Our unnamed storyteller describes a world featuring deserts, pastures, villages and towns, and most importantly, djombi. Djombi are undying spirits, capable of taking on different forms — human, insect, animal — influencing events, and changing memories. Redemption in Indigo is the story of a djombi suffering from burn out and a human who must teach him […]
For the ones who like books and believe in true love.
Just, so, damn, quaint. I really needed a book. A happy book. A quick book. The kind where you know they’ll kiss at the end and everything is all better. And I discovered this book through this really great review, seriously I’m not even going to try and top that. Click the link to read a great review. Keep reading here to find my random ramblings about the book. This is a book you make tea for. And you settle down with no great expectations. […]
Our Shame and Dishonor
Sometimes things disappear and there’s no getting them back. This first novel from Julie Otsuka deals with the period of time that follows her second novel. The Buddha in the Attic told the story of the Japanese American experience from arrival in California at the turn of the century until the forced deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII. When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of one family, from the days just preceding their departure from California to a camp in […]
Pointillism in the Form of a Novel
Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic is extraordinary. I’ve read nothing quite like it. It’s a novel that reads like a short history (130 pages) and a free-form poem. The characters are not particular individuals, but rather the Japanese American community and white America. The time frame is from the turn of the century until 1943, when Japanese Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps. In all my years as a reader, I can think of only two novels made me truly […]
Dissection of Dysfunction
Paula Fox’s 1976 novel examines one family’s intense and contentious relations with each other. While the hurt, anger and divisions have been years in the making, all it takes is one dinner together and its aftermath for the reader to gather the depth of the discord and the underlying reasons for the dysfunction. The Maldonada family, as one might guess from the name, is both Spanish and “given toward evil” — a very poor translation of what I think that name means. Evil is too […]
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