Harbor Me is a timely intermediate novel about the importance of stories, of empathy, and of understanding. It’s about how the things that make us different can bind us together and make us all better–if only we’re willing to connect with each other. Six kids of varied backgrounds are put in a room together one … More Why Stories Matter: Harbor Me, by Jacqueline Woodson
“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
“As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right, a dilemma none of us who wanted participate in history could escape.” The Sympathizer boldly promises to redefine the way you think about the Vietnam War. A lot of that simply comes down to its narrator, a Communist spy … More The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen: Book Review
“Because we were not in our country, we could not use our own languages, and so when we spoke our voices came out bruised.” Having a stamp of approval from Junot Díaz is not a small deal to me. In my mind he is one of the most authentic–not to mention best–authors working today. He … More Book Review: We Need New Names, by NoViolet Bulawayo
“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
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
Teju Cole has a novelistic style unlike many other fiction writers out there today. I guess whether or not you enjoy his work comes down to how you respond to that style. Because here’s the thing: nothing happens in terms of plot. That is true of both of Cole’s novels so far: Open City and … More Book Review: Every Day Is for the Thief, by Teju Cole
“They themselves mocked Africa, trading stories of absurdity, of stupidity, and they felt safe to mock, because it was a mockery born of longing, and of the heartbroken desire to see a place made whole again.” An assertion is made in Americanah that it is impossible to write an honest novel about race in this … More Book Review: Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Nobody ever knows anyone.” Jim and Bob Burgess couldn’t be more different. Bob is sensitive, not very confident, casually self destructive, and dangerously toying with alcoholism. Jim is a brash high-powered attorney with a fancy townhouse in a trendy part of Brooklyn. He’s also a huge jerk, but people are very forgiving of this quality … More Book Review: The Burgess Boys, by Elizabeth Strout
“It was possible to change your own destiny, but you had to be vigilant and you could never look back.” In this novel, billed as an examination of the complexities of modern love and marriage, Amina Mazid, a Bangladeshi woman, moves to Rochester, NY to get married to George Stillman, the American businessman she met … More Book Review: The Newlyweds, by Nell Freudenberger
Supposedly Fun 