“Every immigrant is the person he might have been and the person he is” Charles Wang left China for the American dream and made it big. He’s been living it up ever since and he has the vain, empty, emotionally distant family to prove it. But now he’s lost everything in the financial crisis of … More Rising China and the Dashed American Dream: The Wangs vs. the World
“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story … More Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi: Book Review
“Nothing was more terrifying than what families could do to each other.” I’ve had a problem with a certain type of novel for a few years now: I’ve found that I have this enormous struggle reading books about white dudes who can’t get their shit together. Why? Because these white guys who can’t grow up … More Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, by Ramona Ausubel: Book Review
“Getting blown up happened in an instant; getting put together took the rest of your life.” Louise Erdrich has made a career out of writing novels about Native American people, usually hinging on a crime of some sort, and with just a sprinkle of magical realism (although Erdrich herself objects to that term). It’s a … More LaRose, by Louise Erdrich: Book Review
“Humans haunt more houses than ghosts do.” On the surface it would be easy to read and digest (perhaps even to dismiss) The Turner House as a simple family saga. To do so would be to miss the point entirely, and to miss an incredibly layered portrait of America, Detroit, racial politics, and more. The Turners … More The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy: Book Review
“Nothing happens in my life. Nothing has to happen, she said, for it to be life.” By all rights, All My Puny Sorrows should be a bleak, miserable read. Thanks to Toews, it isn’t. This book made me laugh out loud many times. That hasn’t happened in a great long while–I can’t even remember the last … More Book Review: All My Puny Sorrows, by Miriam Toews
“All we can do is play our parts and keep each other company.” Something funny occasionally happens when you finish a book and let some time pass before you write a review of it. As I was reading Bill Clegg’s Did You Ever Have a Family I loved it. The only thing that bothered me was … More Book Review: Did You Ever Have a Family, by Bill Clegg
