When I first picked up Adam, I confess I was simultaneously intrigued and repulsed by its premise. You see, Adam has the audacious idea to take the standard rom-com premise where someone pretends to be someone/something they’re not, and throw in gender norms and sexuality as a twist. It all starts when 17 year-old Adam goes to … More Book Review: Adam, by Ariel Schrag
“So much of life was the peeling away of illusions.” I had been very much looking forward to reading this book, but unfortunately it has been quite a disappointment. The first hundred pages, about the childhood and teen years of Eileen Tumulty, fly by and are quite promising. But something curious happens as she becomes … More Book Review: We Are Not Ourselves, by Matthew Thomas
Lilian Shang has been haunted by her father for many years. A Map of Betrayal is both of their stories, and in typical style for Ha Jin, it’s an elegant, restrained exploration of family, loyalty, and patriotism. Lilian’s father Gary immigrated to the US as a translator with the CIA, where he earned a stellar … More Book Review: A Map of Betrayal, by Ha Jin
“You could know the what of something forever and never discover the why.” Well this was disappointing. Seriously disappointing. The Southern Reach trilogy started out promisingly enough in Annhilation, but there were signs of trouble even then. Jeff Vandermeer began spinning a wickedly creative story about an expedition into the heart of a mysterious, possibly … More Book Review: Acceptance, by Jeff Vandermeer
“A circle looks at a square and sees a badly made circle.” In my last review, I compared Annihilation (the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy) to the first season of Lost in that it sets up a strange mythology and throws a lot of questions at you without providing anything in the way … More Book Review: Authority, by Jeff Vandermeer
“When you are too close to the center of a mystery there is no way to pull back and see the shape of it entire.” When Annihilation opens, a lot has already happened. Approximately thirty years prior, in an undisclosed location, a mysterious event occurred that separated a portion of the coastline from the rest … More Book Review: Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer
I am instantly suspicious when dust jackets or book blurbs declare someone “the next …” The comparison rarely ever works, and usually only does the new author a disservice–establishing a comparison they just can’t hope to live up to. So you can imagine how my senses started twitching when I saw blurbs describing this book … More Book Review: The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing, by Mira Jacob
Not Your Typical Immigration Saga This is not your typical immigration saga. Stories of families relocating to another country, dealing with cultural displacement, and (hopefully) making a go of it have become increasingly commonplace. Yelena Akhtiorskaya would like to turn those conventions on their head. To be fair, she succeeds at that goal quite well–and … More Book Review: Panic in a Suitcase, by Yelena Akhtiorskaya
#WhiteBoyProblems As I said in my most recent review (of Fourth of July Creek), I’ve developed a serious impatience for novels that essentially come down to white boys who can’t get their act together. As such, Arts & Entertainments was another big struggle for me. You see, it centers on “Handsome” Eddie Hartley, a high … More Book Review: Arts & Entertainments, by Christopher Beha
“The world is a blade and dread is hope cut open and spread inside out.” I was really excited to read this book for a couple of reasons. First, it has a fantastic jacket description. Second, I’ve lived in Missoula, Montana for a year now, so I loved the idea of reading a novel set … More Book Review: Fourth of July Creek, by Smith Henderson
Supposedly Fun 