Fiction Reviews, August 2011
Aug 15, 2011| In this Article |
| Reviewer of the Year |
Abramson, Neil. Unsaid. Center Street: Hachette. Aug. 2011. c.368p. ISBN 9781599954103. $23.99. F
In Abramson’s debut, lawyer and animal rights advocate Helena has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Fearful of passing on to the next stage, she watches how her husband, friends, and pets cope with her death. A young veterinarian, Helena had a multitude of animals that David, her lawyer husband, now cares for as he goes through the grieving process. Joshua, her business partner, is overwhelmed with work in her absence. Her friend and colleague Jaycee can no longer prove to other researchers and government officials that a chimpanzee named Cindy responded in American Sign Language to her and Helena. Because of this, Jaycee’s funding is pulled, and a legal fight begins as she enlists David’s help to try and keep Cindy from being used for other scientific experiments that could possibly harm the chimp. VERDICT Abramson delivers a touching and dramatic story that is sure to please animal lovers. Though the heavy emphasis on animal rights becomes repetitive, overall this is a solid story of loss and love.—Joy Gunn, Henderson Libs., NV
Abu-Jaber, Diana. Birds of Paradise. Norton. Sept. 2011. c.368p. ISBN 9780393064612. $25.95. F
Stunningly beautiful Felice Muir spends her 18th birthday getting wasted at the beach with her homeless friends. Her pastry-chef mother, Avis, bakes her a cake but ends up crumbling it into the ocean as a potion-savvy Haitian neighbor looks on. Felice’s father, Brian, and her brother, Stanley, simply try to ignore the day. Having run away from home at 13 to exorcise her guilt over a teenage prank gone wrong, Felice has spent the intervening years on the streets of Miami, occasionally earning money by modeling. The family deals with Felice’s disappearance—and occasional reappearance—by immersing themselves in their work: Avis in her pastry business, Brian as an attorney in a development firm, and Stanley in his organic market. VERDICT Whether it’s the creation of evanescent confections or the drug-ridden life of the streets, award-winning writer Abu-Jaber (Origin) impressively describes vastly different worlds with equal expertise. Particularly notable in this exceptionally written novel is Miami itself, portrayed as vividly as any of the characters. A literary family drama with extra appeal to foodies. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]—Joy Humphrey, Pepperdine Univ. Law Lib., Malibu, CA
Ahmad, Jamil. The Wandering Falcon. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Oct. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9781594488276. $25.95. F
This is an accomplished and important debut novel by an 80-year-old former civil servant from Pakistan. It provides a rare and sympathetic glimpse into a world that most Westerners know only through news reports related to military operations. Ahmad takes as his subject the vanishing way of life among the tribes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) shared by Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, opening his story with a young couple who have fled there to avoid punishment for having violated tribal strictures. (Their son becomes the “wandering falcon” of the title.) The FATA is a remote and desolate area where centuries-old cultures have resisted modern influence almost completely. This is changing, however, and Ahmad—who knows the area well—depicts the clash between ancient rhythms of life in the FATA and the new political realities. VERDICT A fascinating journey; essential reading. [See Prepub Alert, 4/11/11.]—Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT
Appelfeld, Aharon. Until the Dawn’s Light. Schocken. Oct. 2011. c.240p. tr. from Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green. ISBN 9780805241792. $26. F
Celebrated Israeli author Appelfeld (Blooms of Darkness) offers a tale of repression, brutality, and the quest for survival among rural Austria’s Jewish population in the early 1900s. Successful in school, intelligent young Blanca dreams of studying mathematics at the university. Her Jewish parents no longer practice their faith, whereas her grandmother is a believer in strict religious tradition. In school, Blanca is drawn to a physically large and mentally deficient young man named Adolf Hammer and gives up her plans for further study to marry him. Since he is a Christian and anti-Semitic, she renounces her faith, as many others did at this time in the history of European Jewish assimilation. Soon, however, Adolf establishes a pattern of drinking and physical and verbal abuse. When Blanca gives birth to a son, Otto, who is sick and weak, Adolf and his family blame his poor health on his Jewish lineage, and Adolf’s brutality increases. Finally, Blanca must take matters into her own hands. VERDICT A worthy addition to the oeuvre of an acknowledged master of the plight of Europe’s Jews before and during the Holocaust; Appelfeld makes every word count as he hauntingly depicts the tragedy of the human condition. For all readers of literary fiction.—Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta
Archer, Jeffrey. Only Time Will Tell. St. Martin’s. (Clifton Chronicles, Vol. 1). Sept. 2011. c.400p. ISBN 9780312539559. $27.99. F
Internationally best-selling British storyteller Archer (A Prisoner of Birth) launches his most daunting literary project—a five-volume, semiautobiographical, multigenerational epic. In 20-year segments sweeping through the 20th century and into the 21st, Archer’s creative page-turner features the precocious Harry Clifton, an intellectually gifted youth from the Bristol dockyards mingling in the grand estate of a millionaire shipping magnate and challenged by secrets, mysteries, growing pains, and life-changing decisions regarding his own paternity and destiny. In this first volume, the memorable cast of heroes and villains takes readers from 1920 to the outbreak of World War II—the first 20 years of Harry’s life. The second volume, Tempered by War (coming in 2012), will span the next two decades, and so forth with the remaining three volumes in the series.
VERDICT General readers as well as Archer fans will enjoy this unforgettable tale, which abounds with cliff-hangers that propel its intriguing and intricate plot (in the style of his Kane and Abel). Order multiples. Readers will eagerly anticipate the upcoming volumes.[250,000-copy first printing; major marketing campaign.]—Jerry P. Miller, Cambridge, MA
Bainbridge, Beryl. The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress. Europa, dist. by Penguin. Aug. 2011. c.208p. ISBN 9781609450564. pap. $15. F
In this posthumous novel, British author Bainbridge paints a hypothetical picture of what might have been happening in 1968 America amid the turmoil of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Through young English Rose and her unlikely companion, known to her as Washington Harold, the reader is taken on a cross-country trip in search of the elusive Dr. Wheeler, an acquaintance of both. Along the way, the pair always seem one step behind their mysterious quarry and meet a host of interesting characters who all have a link to this man. Rose wants to find Dr. Wheeler because he is the one stable and bright spot from her troubled childhood. Washington’s reasons for finding Dr. Wheeler do not become clear until a surprise ending. All aspects of this novel come together in an exciting and curious encounter with presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. VERDICT Both vivid and dark, this page-turner is sure to be sought after by both historical fiction and mystery lovers. Highly recommended.—Leann Restaino, Girard, OH
Beauman, Ned. Boxer, Beetle. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9781608196807. pap. $16. F
Kevin “Fishy” Broom, so nicknamed because he smells like rotting fish, deals online in Nazi memorabilia. He finds his job a bit more dangerous than he’d anticipated when he’s kidnapped to help find the remains of a World War II–era Jewish, homosexual, nine-toed boxer. In the process, he uncovers a treasure trove of history and its artifacts and personages, including entomologist Philip Erskine, who hopes to breed a superbeetle in tribute to Reich Chancellor Hitler. Erskine, who has a darker interest in eugenics, became interested in the hapless boxer. First novelist Beauman has created a romp across the decades, with quirky characters and a complex, darkly humorous story. The one drawback: explicit sex scenes that seem gratuitous, not contributing much to moving the story to its conclusion. VERDICT Shortlisted for both the 2010 Guardian First Book Award and the 2011 Desmond Elliott Prize, this book will appeal to readers of offbeat fiction, especially those with an interest in the World War II era.—Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Benaron, Naomi. Running the Rift. Algonquin. Jan. 2012. c.384p. ISBN 9781616200428. $24.95. F
We first meet Jean Patrick Nkuba in 1984 Rwanda as he and his family mourn the death of Jean Patrick’s father in a car accident. In the decade to come, we follow Jean Patrick through secondary school, where he becomes both a scholar and a gifted middle-distance runner. His dreams of achieving Olympic glory seem assured, but he is Tutsi, and Rwanda’s Hutu-Tutsi tensions are steadily increasing. In the violent explosion of 1994 what happens to Jean Patrick and his family reflects the collective experience of Rwanda’s 800,000-plus genocide victims. First novelist Benaron, who has actively worked with refugee groups, won the 2010 Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction for this unflinching and beautifully crafted account of a people and their survival. In addition, she compellingly details the growth and rigorous training of a young athlete. VERDICT Readers who do not shy away from depictions of violence will find this tale of social justice a memorable read, and those interested in coming-of-age stories set in wartime will want it as well. Highly recommended; readers who loved Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner will appreciate.—Jenn B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll.–Northeast, TX
Blaedel, Sara. Call Me Princess. Pegasus Crime. Sept. 2011. c.320p. ISBN 9781605982519. $25. F
Blaedel is the newest figure in the growing body of Scandinavian crime fiction writers who reach American readers. This is the Danish author’s first book to be published in English but the second in her detective inspector Louise Rick series (the first won the Danish Crime Academy’s Debutant Award). Rick works for the Copenhagen Police Homicide Squad and is investigating a brutal case of date rape. When she discovers that the rapist is using a popular Internet dating site to select his victims, she goes after him by creating an online profile. Meanwhile, her best friend, a crime journalist, is pressuring her to discuss the case, and Rick must tread the fine line between being a good friend and keeping police information from an aggressive reporter. She is also contending with serious relationship issues with her long-term boyfriend. VERDICT Blaedel has created an original, fast-paced plot featuring a strong female character and the timely topic of what can go wrong when one looks for love online. This will be popular among fans of Scandinavian writers such as Håkan Nesser, Kjell Eriksson, and Camilla Läckberg as well as readers who enjoy police procedurals set in foreign countries.—Jean King, West Hempstead P.L., NY
Brown, Jeremy. Suckerpunch. Medallion. Aug. 2011. c.234p. ISBN 9781605422251. pap. $14.95. F
This tightly paced, action-packed debut thriller revolves around Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and, in particular, cage fighting, probably the most brutal, least forgiving of all the martial arts. Heavyweight Aaron “Woody” Wallace is a big man, and his life is all about the training. He is an admirable mixture of determination, subtle humor, and loyalty. His adversaries, a full deck of gamblers and other lowlifes, are out to profit from everything Woody has, including his life. In spite of his brutal profession, Woody’s essentially noble and romantic character enables him to pursue extraordinary danger as he seeks to survive his opponents. MMA aficionados will recognize the expertise in the author’s detailed descriptions of training and the techniques and terrors of the cage. VERDICT This superb thriller stands a bloody head above other titles in this genre. Fans of MMA and readers who enjoy sports fiction will want a ringside seat for this one.—Jonathan Pearce, California State Univ. at Stanislaus, Stockton
Browner, Jesse. Everything Happens Today. Europa, dist. by Penguin. Oct. 2011. c.224p. ISBN 9781609450519. pap. $15. F
Sixteen-year-old Wes, the protagonist of this literary experience of teenage angst, attends Manhattan’s elite Dalton School but lives downtown in the Village. A modern Holden Caulfield with an iPhone (though he’s both smarter and more interesting than Salinger’s antihero), Wes tolerates a mentally absent father, cares for a slowly dying mother, and protects his younger sister. The narrative proceeds organically through Wes’s turmoil about losing his virginity to the “wrong” person. As he comes to grips with his fears, the unexpected happens; he is pleasantly surprised by life and rediscovers the authenticity of a real human relationship. In the midst of this tumultuous awakening, we experience his closeness with real people. This is magic. This is hope. In addition, we learn how to cook sweetbreads! VERDICT Browner (The Uncertain Hour) has crafted a stupendous, thought-provoking, devilishly delicious novel that reads like Zen koan meets Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with some modern “english” that sets the plate spinning. Highly recommended.—Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos P.L., CA
Burke, James Lee. Feast Day of Fools. S. & S. Sept. 2011. c.448p. ISBN 9781451643114. $26.99. F
Burke’s fifth entry featuring Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland (after Rain Gods) further cements his status as one of America’s greatest contemporary novelists. Hackberry and his deputy, Pam Tibbs, to whom Hack acts as both romantic interest and concerned parent, are forced to unravel a mystery involving dead bodies in the desert, a missing American scientist, and the government agencies and criminal groups searching for him. As with any Burke novel, however, the story is secondary to the characters. From a Chinese woman helping illegal immigrants cross the Texas-Mexico border, to a dying government agent with torn allegiances, to criminals of various stripes, Burke weaves a tapestry of unique characters whose widely differing motivations enrich his tale. Also playing a large role is serial killer Preacher Jack Collins, who returns to bring fear and craziness into Hackberry’s life. Fittingly, a novel filled with violence concludes in a similar manner. VERDICT Though not as well known as Dave Robicheaux, Hackberry is a compelling character. This rich novel will satisfy Burke’s fans and should draw new ones who have not yet had the privilege of reading his works. [See Prepub Alert, 2/28/11.]—Craig Shufelt, Fort McMurray P.L., Alta.
Carver, Tania. The Surrogate. Pegasus Crime. Sept. 2011. c.448p. ISBN 9781605982564. $25.95. F
A serial killer is on the loose in Colchester, England, where pregnant women are being brutally slain, their babies ripped from their wombs. Veteran officer Phil Brennan is desperate to solve the mystery. After the third such murder occurs, this time with the baby almost certainly taken alive, Phil and his team call upon their colleague, psychologist Marina Esposito, to assist in profiling and capturing the killer. Pregnant, Marina is drawn deeper and deeper into the hunt for a monster. As the web of violence grows, Marina finds herself the target of unspeakable evil. Will she and Phil stop this killer before yet another woman loses her life?� VERDICT This well-written debut novel grips the reader from the start, with plenty of violence, gore, and psychological suspense. Fans of psychological thrillers on the gritty side will find this title appealing. Recommended.—Amy M. Davis, Kent State Univ. Lib., Columbus, OH
Castellanos Moya, Horacio. Tyrant Memory. New Directions, dist. by Norton. 2011. 330p. tr. from Spanish by Katherine Silver. ISBN 9780811219174. pap. $15.95. F
This page-turner by Castellanos Moya (Senselessness) follows the fictional diary of Dona Haydée Baldoni, whose husband, Pericles, and son, Clemente, risk reprisals after an unsuccessful coup against Salvadoran strongman Maximiliano Hernández Martínez. To justify his brutality, this “Nazi warlock,” who ruled El Salvador from 1931 to 1944, dabbled in the occult, famously claiming that it’s better to kill a man than an ant, for when a man dies he is reincarnated, while an ant dies forever. At first the military-minded Pericles is recruited by the new regime as ambassador to Belgium, where in the heady decade of the Spanish civil war he converts to communism. Once Pericles runs afoul of the regime back home, his wife watches as furor wells up against Martínez and evolves her own breed of heroism that helps topple him. Despite an occasional reference to World War II, the narrative does not bog down in historical details and could easily take place in the present. More analytical than violent and not devoid of humor, the novel sheds light on a tragic aspect of Latin American life. VERDICT For politically minded saga lovers, but also for those who relish a well-told story.—Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland
Cooper, Dennis. The Marbled Swarm. HarperPerennial: HarperCollins. Nov. 2011. c.208p. ISBN 9780061715631. pap. $14.99. F
“My marbled swarm is more of an atonal, fussy bleat,” explains the narrator. He’s not to be trusted in this mystery of dominance, submission, and bizarre allegiances. Author, editor, and playwright Cooper (e.g., the five-novel “George Miles Cycle”) continues his literary transgressions with this tale of fathers, sons, and numerous depravities set in Paris and the French countryside. The story starts with a suicide and quickly runs even further amok in a male homosexual “emasculation of reality,” told in a style that’s a grandiloquent come-on, the unabashed subject matter following the more outré passages of Jean Genet and William S. Burroughs. Early on we’re warned, “You’ll notice I tell stories in a high-strung, flighty, tonally unstable rant, no sooner flashing you a secret entrance than pretending no such route exists, twittering when there’s bad news, and polishing my outbursts.” Well, yes. What results is palpable and dizzying, but will the reader make it through the snarky, comma-enjambed passages? VERDICT Decadent readers bored with de Sade’s imaginings can use Cooper’s book to fill the modern void.—Travis Fristoe, Alachua Cty. Lib. Dist., FL
Cussler, Clive & Justin Scott. The Race. Putnam. (Isaac Bell Adventure, Bk. 4). Sept. 2011. c.416p. ISBN 9780399157813. $27.95. F
Isaac Bell returns for his fourth adventure (after The Chase, The Wrecker, and The Spy) in another exciting and lively period piece. It’s 1910, and the public has grown accustomed to seeing this newfangled piece of technology called the airplane. Newspaper publisher Preston Whiteway offers $50,000 to the first person to fly across the United States from New York to San Francisco in fewer than 50 days. Bell and the team from the Van Dorn Detective Agency are assigned to make sure the race is legit and keep the frontrunner, Josephine Frost, from meeting an untimely end at the hands of her estranged husband. The agency has encountered Harry Frost before, and they know that taking him down will not be easy. VERDICT Cussler and Scott deliver another outstanding adventure that skillfully invokes the time period. All the women are gorgeous, all the men are dashing, and all the airplanes and other new machinery are lovingly described. Fans of this series and of Cussler in general will want to add this to their collections. [See Prepub Alert, 3/7/11.]—Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.
Cutter, Kimberly. The Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc. Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2011. c.304p. ISBN 9780547427522. $26. F
Jehanne d’Arc, patron saint of France, is the central character in this historical novel about war, betrayal, and faith in God. Debut novelist Cutter depicts the heroine’s life story from the first time the peasant girl hears voices from God until her death, motivated by jealousy and revenge. At the heart of the story is the girl’s seemingly impossible mission and unwavering effort to lead thousands of men to liberate France from its English invaders. The power of faith triumphs as Jehanne and her army turn the tide in the Hundred Years’ War. At times, the novel reads like a biography, and Cutter does adhere closely to fact, though she takes some creative liberties. VERDICT Historical fiction fans, particularly those interested in French history, will delight in Cutter’s take on this legendary character. Readers of Christian fiction will also find it enticing. [See Prepub Alert, 4/18/11.]—Andrea Brooks, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Marriage Plot. Farrar. Oct. 2011. c.416p. ISBN 9780374203054. $28. F
“The way of true love never works out, except at the end of an English novel.” So says Trollope in Barchester Towers, one of those English novels where “the marriage plot” thrived until it was swept aside by 20th-century reality. Now Roland Barthes’s contention that “the lover’s discourse is today of an extreme solitude” better sums up the situation. Or so English literature–besotted Madeleine, 1980s Brown graduating senior, comes to discover. Giving in to the zeitgeist, Madeleine takes a course on semiotics and meets Leonard, who’s brilliant, charismatic, and unstable. They’ve broken up, which makes moody spiritual seeker Mitchell Grammaticus happy, since he pines for Madeleine. But on graduation day, Madeleine discovers that Leonard is in the hospital—in fact, he is a manic depressive with an on-again, off-again relationship with his medications—and leaps to his side. So begins the story of their love (but does it work out?), as Mitchell heads to Europe and beyond for his own epiphanies. VERDICT Your standard love triangle? Absolutely not. This extraordinary, liquidly written evocation of love’s mad rush and inevitable failures will feed your mind as you rapidly turn the pages. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 4/11/11.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Everett, Percival. Assumption. Graywolf. Nov. 2011. c.272p. ISBN 9781555975982. pap. $15. F
Ogden Walker is a deputy sheriff in a sleepy New Mexico town where little ever seems to happen. That begins to change when an old woman he has just visited is murdered and a young woman is later found dead in a remote cabin. Walker finds himself traveling from Denver to Dallas and throughout New Mexico to investigate a baffling and bloody series of crimes involving drugs, guns, and a mysterious box of money. His task is complicated because he’s African American, and this provokes suspicion even from townsfolk who have known him for some time. The novel is ultimately a loosely linked group of three stories unified by a central character, with the title referring as much to the reader’s expectations as to the process of investigating a crime. Pen/Dos Passos award winner Everett (I Am Not Sidney Poitier) is making a major point about overturning assumptions, taking a genre novel—a fairly conventional murder mystery—and forcing readers to question their own expectations regarding character, plot, and fictional conventions. VERDICT A work of metafiction that targets the literary rather than the genre reader but may not fully satisfy either. [See Prepub Alert, 6/6/11.]—Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, North Andover, MA
Farah, Nuruddin. Crossbones. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2011. c.400p. ISBN 9781594488160. $27.95. F
Accompanied by his son-in-law Malik, Jeebleh arrives in Mogadishu, Somalia, from New York to visit ailing friend Bile, like him a former political prisoner. Jeebleh had left his homeland for the United States, while Bile stayed on with his companion, Cambara, valiantly hoping to effect change from within. Through their connections, journalist Malik sets up interviews, intending to report on pirating in Somalia’s coastal waters. Malik’s brother Ahl is also in Somalia, seeking to rescue his son, a naive, malleable teen who’s been recruited for jihad by an imam in Minneapolis. As the brothers try to navigate a complex network of alliances, readers gain insight into a once beautiful land devastated by civil war, invasions, and the plundering of its natural resources by foreign nations. Secularists, warlords, and fundamentalists vie for control as ordinary citizens suffer from living where life is cheap and death waits around every corner. VERDICT Internationally acclaimed author Farah has written a heartbreaking yet clear-eyed novel of the Somalian Diaspora. Part of the “Past Imperfect” trilogy, which includes Links and Knots, it can stand alone, but avid readers will feel compelled to check out the previous works. Especially recommended for those who prefer to absorb history through fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 3/7/11.]—Sally Bissell, Lee Cty. Lib., Ft. Myers, FL
Geda, Fabio. In the Sea There Are Crocodiles. Doubleday. Aug. 2011. c.176p. tr. from Italian by Howard Curtis. ISBN 9780385534734. $22.95. F
The night before young Enaiat’s mother abandons him in Pakistan, hoping that her sacrifice will take him away from the merciless Taliban, she tells him “if you hold a wish up high, any wish, just in front of your forehead, then life will always be worth living.” Enaiat’s five-year journey, based on the true story of refugee Enaiatollah Akbari, takes him from his remote village in Afghanistan to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, and, finally, Italy. As an illegal immigrant being shuttled between countries, Enaiat sees the best and the worst of humanity but never lets the ugliness of life deter him from his dream of a better future. In his first book to be translated into English, Italian novelist Geda occasionally inserts himself into the narrative in the form of conversations with his subject. The interjections, coupled with the first-person perspective, capture Enaiat’s story with deceptively simple language laden with meaning, making the Afghani’s tale not just a fascinating account of one man’s trials but also a compelling epic full of insight into human nature. VERDICT Geda has crafted a deeply compelling novel about the cruelty and kindness of strangers and the strength of one man’s will to survive even when the world seems bent against his success. [See Prepub Alert, 2/7/11.]—Chelsey Philpot, School Library Journal
Gregory, Philippa. The Lady of the Rivers. Touchstone: S. & S. Oct. 2011. c.448p. ISBN 9781416563709. $27.99. F
The best writers of historical fiction imbue the past with the rich tapestry of life and depth, and Gregory is surely counted among their number. Her third offering in the “Cousins’ War” series (after The White Queen and The Red Queen) is the story of Jacquetta, mother of the White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Given first to a husband who desires only the magical powers she might possess, Jacquetta marries second for love, much below her station. Still, she manages to keep her family in the good graces of the ineffectual King Henry VI, placing them ultimately on the losing side of the Wars of the Roses. She and her husband hold on, however, finally settling in the country to raise their large brood and await the ascendancy of their daughter Elizabeth, who will bring the family to prominence again. VERDICT A worthy addition to this fascinating series, once again distinguished by excellent characterization, thorough research, and a deft touch with the written word. [With fellow historians David Baldwin and Michael Jones, Gregory is publishing in September a nonfiction account, The Women of the Cousins’ War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King’s Mother.—Ed.]—Pam O’Sullivan, SUNY Coll. at Brockport
Hamilton, Denise. Damage Control. Scribner. Sept. 2011. c.384p. ISBN 9780743296748. $27. F
In Hamilton’s (The Last Embrace) latest, Maggie Silver is a rising star in a high-profile PR firm. Her current client is Senator Henry Paxton, a popular local politician and the father of Annabelle, Maggie’s best friend from high school. Paxton’s young female aide has been strangled, and it is up to Maggie to prevent a scandal that could thwart his vice presidential run. When Maggie is thrust into the turbulent Paxton family, memories of her wild and tragic teenage years with Annabelle rush back and threaten to blur her focus. As the Hollywood drama plays out, the senator’s brother admits an affair with the murdered aide, his son lurks in the shadows trying to rekindle a teenage romance, and Annabelle’s husband is murdered in her driveway: a real PR nightmare. Meanwhile, the feds are questioning the ethics of Maggie’s employer, and her loyalties are stretched to their limit. VERDICT This is another highly suspenseful and enjoyable read from Hamilton, whose acclaimed Eve Diamond series established her as a master of L.A. noir. Her characters are believable, her plots draw on conflicts of class and identity, and her portrayal of the less-than-glamorous side of Southern California is compelling. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 2/28/11.]—Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA
Harrison, Jim. The Great Leader. Grove. Oct. 2011. c.336p. ISBN 9780802119704. $24. F
Perhaps best known for his film-adapted collection of novellas, Legends of the Fall, Harrison is one of the most prolific writers of recent times, with an expansive body of work ranging from poetry (Letters to Yesenin) to children’s literature (The Boy Who Ran to the Woods). Set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Harrison’s favorite location, this book does not offer the continuing story line of familial heartbreak and reconciliation explored in True North and Returning to Earth, but common themes of alcoholism and loneliness in the Upper Peninsula. Divorced, alcoholic, and recently retired detective Sunderson journeys from Michigan to Nebraska as he tracks a cult and its charismatic leader, whose commitment to evading capture is as strong as Sunderson’s commitment to finding him. This cat-and-mouse game between the two main characters is used effectively to explore the intrinsic tensions between the universal truths of justice, religion, and mortality. VERDICT A classic Harrison novel, complete with humorous and introspective characters. [See Prepub Alert, 4/4/11.]—Joshua Finnell, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH
Jin, Ha. Nanjing Requiem. Pantheon. Oct. 2011. c.320p. ISBN 9780307379764. $26.95. F
In an introductory galley letter, National Book Award winner Jin (Waiting, 1999) announces his intent to reclaim American missionary Minnie Vautrin’s heroism during the 1937 Nanjing massacre: “She suffered and ruined herself helping others, but she became a legend. At least her story has moved me to write a novel about her. If I succeed, my book might put her soul at peace.” While many were fleeing the city as it came under Japanese attack, Vautrin opened Jinling Women’s College to 10,000 mostly women and children and repeatedly risked her life to save refugees from the atrocities the Japanese military inflicted on Chinese civilians during the Sino-Japanese War. Vautrin’s experiences are filtered through the perspective of her fictional Chinese assistant, who records both Vautrin’s courage and her agonizing demise over the victims she couldn’t save. VERDICT Requiem is necessary testimony, but as with Iris Chang’s groundbreaking The Rape of Nanking, readers should be aware of the book’s relentless, graphic horror. Jin’s loyal readers will notice a bluntness—jarringly effective here—different from his previous works, as if Jin, too, must guard himself against the horror, the horror. [See Prepub Alert, 4/25/11.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
Jones, Lloyd. Hand Me Down World. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Oct. 2011. c.320p. ISBN 9781608196999. $25. F
A mother’s love propels this latest work from the award-winning author of Mister Pip. In Tunisia, a young woman who works as a hotel maid falls in love and has a baby, but the baby’s father steals him, and the penniless mother makes a harrowing trip to Berlin to find her child. What’s most original about this novel is the structure. More than half of it is narrated by individuals encountered by the main character (whom we come to know as Ines) during her journey and her time in Berlin. These people are mostly kind but sometimes cruel, and their narratives read almost like short stories as they reveal glimpses not only of Ines but also of themselves and their loneliness. The injustice of Ines’s situation is heartbreaking, and the cruelty and selfishness of the child’s father is maddening—perhaps the novel’s one shortcoming, for he is a more important but less realized character than others. Ines finally tells her own story, and we get a slightly different take on some of those she met on her way—a pleasure of multiple viewpoints. VERDICT An absorbing work recommended for fans of Peter Carey, whose novels (such as Oscar and Lucinda) have a similar dreamy, shifting quality.—Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC
Jordan, Hillary. When She Woke. Algonquin. Oct. 2011. c.352p. ISBN 9781565126299. $24.95. F
A young woman’s life goes from heavenly to hellish is this dystopian vision of The Scarlet Letter from Jordan, who won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction for Mudbound, a searing portrait of racism. Jordan now proposes a further, more insidious form of discrimination. She imagines a society in which convicted criminals are chromed—their entire bodies dyed to a bright color—and sent into the world to face a sentence of public hatred and abuse. The victim in this story is Hannah Payne, an obedient daughter of a morally righteous family who senses a spark of sexual attraction with Rev. Aidan Dale, pastor of a powerful megachurch. Quickly, Hannah’s life takes a turn toward abortion, conviction, incarceration, chroming, and government-sanctioned torture. Summoning up a newfound inner strength, Hannah goes on the run and follows an Underground Railroad–like path, where she learns to live by her wits and to trust no one. VERDICT Jordan offers no middle ground: she insists that readers question their own assumptions regarding freedom, religion, and risk. Christian fundamentalists may shun this novel, but book clubs will devour it, and savvy educators will pair it with Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. Essential.—Susanne Wells, MLS, Indianapolis
Kelby, N.M. White Truffles in Winter. Norton. Nov. 2011. c.352p. ISBN 9780393079999. $24.95. F
In this imagined life story, Kelby (Whale Season) delves into the fascinating career and personal relationships of Georges Auguste Escoffier, the French chef who revolutionized the world of culinary arts. Kelby’s layers of detailed description allow the reader to experience the richness of Escoffier’s world in terms of both food and love. His passion for great food is matched by the fervor of his relationships with the women in his life. The novel proceeds at a leisurely pace, shifting between Escoffier’s final days and the lustrous excitement of his early career. Throughout, Escoffier mixes and mingles with the stars of politics, theater, and high society, a beloved figure whose passion, creativity, and intuitive understanding of food transform the culinary world. How does a former army cook become the most sought-after chef in Europe? The answer may lie in the words Kelby fashions for his character, “A chef without mystery is merely a cook.” VERDICT Through rich description based on careful research, Kelby offers intriguing possibilities regarding the life of the great Escoffier and gives us a novel well worth reading. [See Prepub Alert 5/2/11.]—Catherine Tingelstad, Pitt Community Coll., Greenville, NC
Liss, David. The Twelfth Enchantment. Random. Aug. 2011. c.444p. ISBN 9781400068968. $26. F
In many ways, Liss’s seventh novel (after The Devil’s Company) represents a significant departure for the best-selling author (A Conspiracy of Paper; The Whiskey Rebels). Readers accustomed to his stories of financial intrigue may be surprised to discover that he here delves into witchcraft and sorcery. As always, though, he has an eye out for the broader economic story, such as the rise of the factory system in early 19th-century England and its impact on his characters. The tale follows the life of Lucy Derrick, who is taken in by her uncle after her father’s death. When her uncle tires of supporting her and arranges a marriage for Lucy, against her will, to Olson, a mill owner, she seems powerless to stop the marriage and gain control over her life. On the day of her first meeting with Olson, though, events take a fantastic turn: as Lucy is introduced to the power of witchcraft, she discovers a possible avenue of escape. VERDICT This book won’t have the broad appeal of some of Liss’s other novels, but it should attract fans of the supernatural.—Douglas Southard, Sharon, MA
Mina, Denise. The End of the Wasp Season. Reagan Arthur: Little, Brown. Sept. 2011. c.352p. ISBN 9780316069335. $25.99. F
Scottish crime vet Mina brings back prickly Detective Superintendent Alex Morrow for a second downbeat thriller (after Still Midnight). Now pregnant with twins, Morrow is called to a dilapidated manor on the outskirts of Glasgow where a young woman has been stomped to death. Perplexingly, an untouched fortune in cash waits hidden nearby. After learning that her childhood friend Kay recently worked in the home, Morrow grows suspicious (albeit reluctantly) of Kay’s teen sons. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Kent, disgraced financier Lars Anderson hangs himself, leaving behind an emotionally ruined boy of his own. As Mina gradually reveals the connection between the deaths, she also explores how psychological brutality, particularly toward children, is a horrific crime of its own. VERDICT Mina exhibits her usual thoughtful flair for tough female protagonists and morally complex suspects and victims. Fans of Scottish crime fiction are probably hooked already, but introduce this author to readers of George Pelecanos and Henning Mankell. [Five-city tour.]—Annabelle Mortensen, Skokie P.L., IL
Morris, Mary McGarry. Light from a Distant Star. Crown. Sept. 2011. c.336p. ISBN 9780307451866. $25. F
Best-selling author Morris’s latest work (after The Last Secret) is intended as a multilayered family narrative complicated by murder, but it fails to deliver. Suffering a financial crisis, the Pecks are forced to sell the family hardware store and are also having problems with their tenant, Dolly Bedelia, a pole dancer at the local strip club. The first half of the book sets up the family drama but is overstuffed with secondary characters and plots. Add to that the not very believable 13-year-old protagonist, Nellie Peck, who witnesses something she shouldn’t. The tension in the second half hinges on Nellie’s keeping a secret that is so implausible it’s like watching a contemporary horror film in which none of the characters owns a cell phone. VERDICT This is a bloated and unbelievable work, lacking in both depth and suspense. It is a tribute to Morris’s writing that despite these flaws the novel moves at a brisk pace, and most readers, even those who will be frustrated by it, will finish it. Recommended with reservations for Morris’s fans. [See Prepub Alert, 3/14/11.]—Pamela Mann, St. Mary’s Coll. of Maryland, St. Mary’s City
Nádas, Péter. Parallel Stories. Farrar. Oct. 2011. c.1152p. tr. from Hungarian by Imre Goldstein. ISBN 9780374229764. $40. F
Make no mistake, this is a magnum opus, with the operative word being magnum. Nádas (A Book of Memories) is said to have spent 15 years in the writing, and his sweep is both grand and minute. He describes a simple sex act in excruciating detail for endless pages, then plunges without transition into different historical eras. His purview is Europe from mid-20th century forward, with much attention to the carnage and destruction visited upon his native Hungary during World War II and the revolution of 1956 against communist rule and Soviet control. But while detailing this, he’s likely to cut to a conversation among friends in a Budapest apartment, and his prose here can be as repetitive and banal as it is revealing. Apparently a principal aim is to show how the stories of his various characters are related even if they don’t intersect. Curiously, there is not a single question mark in this probing work. VERDICT The author’s broad tapestry will likely hook literary addicts but may leave others behind because of its dense prose and sudden, unexplained shifts of time and place. This colossal book would be perfect for a reading group led by the late Susan Sontag. [See Prepub Alert, 5/9/11.]—Edward Cone, New York
Nunez, Elizabeth. Boundaries. Akashic. Oct. 2011. c.275p. ISBN 9781617750335. $22.95. F
Nunez offers a quiet, sensitive portrait of Anna Sinclair, a 39-year-old Caribbean American working her dream job as head of a publishing imprint specializing in writers of color. Just as Anna travels to the Caribbean to see her mother through chemotherapy and bring her to the United States for surgery, there are major changes at work. She returns to New York to find that the cover art and advertising campaign for an important forthcoming novel are built around a sex scene that hardly represents the story. What’s more, a corporate merger has left a smaller role for Anna at the firm; higher-ups think an outsider like her can’t really know what fiction appeals to African Americans. She laments the current trend that pigeonholes writers and readers. Even as Anna fights for a literature by writers of color that nevertheless speaks to a universal audience, she’s playing the dutiful daughter to the immensely private mother Nunez’s readers know from Anna In-Between. VERDICT This work covers a lot of ground, from mother-daughter and male-female relationships to the tensions between immigrants and the American born. It should have the wide appeal Anna would want for the books she champions.—Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Tech. & Community Coll., OH
Otsuka, Julie. The Buddha in the Attic. Knopf. Sept. 2011. c.144p. ISBN 9780307700001. $22. F
In her acclaimed When the Emperor Was Divine, Otsuka wrought third-person narratives of a northern California Japanese family facing internment and alienation during World War II. Now she gives us a luminous second novel, setting off from the early 20th century on a ship of “picture brides” headed from Japan to San Francisco to meet Japanese workers who have arranged to marry them. Otsuka works an enchantment upon her readers—no Sturm und Drang here—and leaves us haunted and astonished at the powers of her subtlety and charms. This time she employs a choral-like narrative expressed in the third-person plural, with a gentle use of repetitive phrasing (“One of us…”; “Some of us…”) punctuated by small, italicized utterances representing individual voices. The results are cumulatively overwhelming, as we become embedded in the hope, disenchantment, courage, labor, and resignation of these nameless women and their families across four decades. Did they think all their compromises, their search for community, meant that they had found a place here in America? Or, just as they had been upon their arrival in California, were they mistaken about what this land had to offer them? VERDICT Unforgettable and essential both for readers and writers. [See Prepub Alert, 2/14/11.]—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal
Palahniuk, Chuck. Damned. Doubleday. Oct. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9780385533027. $24.95. F
Smart but awkward, chubby Madison gets fried on marijuana and dies the night her Brangelina-like parents are accepting Oscars. She finds herself as one-fifth (the Ally Sheedy) of a new Breakfast Club, this one trapped in Hell rather than detention. Alongside the cheerleader, jock, nerd, and punk, Madison gains confidence battling history’s villains and mythology’s demons, wandering the bad candy-strewn landscape in search of Satan, whom she has decided is not such a bad guy. She also works as a telemarketer, enticing the diseased to join her in an afterworld that she likes better than life. VERDICT As in Tell-All, Palahniuk takes a high concept and kills it with a meandering plot and an unsatisfying conclusion. His humor occasionally scores, but the best jokes are repeated until they become more annoying than funny. Thirteen-year-old Madison reads like a snarky grad student, while other characters barely register. The oceans of bodily fluids in this Hell could serve as a symbol for Palahniuk’s wasted talent. Longtime fans will be left wishing for his return from limbo. [Seven-city tour; see Prepub Alert, 4/11/11.]—Neil Hollands, Williamsburg Regional Lib., VA
Patton, Lisa. Yankee Doodle Dixie. Thomas Dunne: St. Martin’s. Sept. 2011. c.320p. ISBN 9780312556938. $24.99. F
Leelee Satterfield is back in this follow-up to Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter. The action picks up right where the previous book left off, with Leelee on her way back to Memphis—missing the man she left in Vermont, but happy to be returning to her best friends and her hometown. With the help of those friends and the motherly care of Kissie, the woman who raised her, Leelee meets the challenge of single motherhood head on. She quickly makes a home for herself and her two daughters and finds work at a local radio station. It isn’t long before Leelee gets involved with a famous rock star who turns out to be a narcissist just like her ex-husband. Can she break out of her pattern of living to please others and find a way to move her Yankee boyfriend down to Dixie? VERDICT Filled with Southern charm and eccentric characters, this eagerly awaited sequel is sure to please fans of the author’s first novel as well as fans of women’s fiction writers like Adriana Trigiani and Fannie Flagg. [Four-city tour; see Prepub Alert, 2/21/11.]—Karen Core, Detroit P.L.
Perrotta, Tom. The Leftovers. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2011. c.368p. ISBN 9780312358341. $25.99. F
October 14 looked like any other day in the leafy New England enclave of Mapleton—until it didn’t. Eighty-seven townspeople and millions more around the world simply disappeared. Cars careened with no one behind the wheel, school kids were without teachers, food went uneaten on dinner tables, and lovers found themselves abandoned. The Rapture? No one knows. What we do know is that the psychological trauma for those left behind is overwhelming, and who better than Perrotta, known for his ability to zero in on the vicissitudes of middle-class America (Little Children; The Abstinence Teacher) to grapple with the impact? Three years after “The Sudden Departure,” Kevin Garvey’s wife has joined a cult, son Tom has ditched college to follow guru Holy Wayne, and lovely daughter Jill has shaved her head and taken up with stoners. Nora Durst’s life is in a holding pattern as she awaits the return of her husband and child, while Reverend Jamison, enraged at being passed over, publishes a newsletter exposing the failings of the missing. VERDICT Perrotta has taken a subject that could easily slip into slapstick and imbued it with gravitas. Like Richard Russo, he softens the sting of satire with deep compassion for his characters in all their confusion, guilt, grief, and humanity. [See Prepub Alert, 2/21/11.]—Sally Bissell, Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Myers, FL
Rector, John. Already Gone. Thomas & Mercer: Amazon. Oct. 2011. c.312p. ISBN 9781612180878. pap. $14.95. F
In Rector’s third novel (after The Grove and The Cold Kiss), newly hired young English professor Jake Reese and his wife, an art buyer, have been married only a month, and there is a great deal they don’t know about each other’s past—to a dangerous extent. When two thugs attack Jake and cut off his ring finger, he is horrified and bewildered, finally seeking help from a foster uncle with apparent mob connections. Further death threats confuse him, and then his wife dies in a car accident. When Jake discovers she had connections to his own imprisoned father, he realizes the threats may have something to do with her. More developments come to light, involving diamonds, hijacking, betrayals, and murder. VERDICT The suspense and plot twists are gripping. While the first-person, present-tense narration and oddly unsatisfying ending give the work a pulp-fiction air, it also has that genre’s appealing raw action, cliff-hanging chapter endings, and graphic, cinematic drama. In spite of its flaws, this one is hard to put down.—Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Reece, Gordon. Mice. Viking. Aug. 2011. c.330p. ISBN 9780670022847. $24.95. F
This debut novel is a lukewarm psychological thriller that tells the story of Shelley, a teenager whose three best friends suddenly turn on her, turning her life into a living nightmare. The girls have been friends since grammar school, but by their senior year in high school, Shelley’s friends have changed; they are no longer interested in school, instead turning to boys, drugs, and rebellion. Rather than going their own way when Shelley loses interest, their verbal harassment soon turns into frightening physical abuse. The title refers to Shelley and her divorced mother, once a formidable lawyer but now a subservient secretary. Shelley laments that they never show their true feelings and that they let people, her absentee father included, bully them. When Shelley and her mother finally crack, the story turns predictable. VERDICT The novel moves along at a fast pace, but the characters are not fully realized. The bullies and the father come off as stereotypes, and victimized Shelley and her mom fail to evoke the reader’s empathy. Still, despite the novel’s weaknesses, it is satisfying to watch Shelley’s personality shift and the “mice” come into their own. Recommended for collections where Sophie Hannah is popular.—Marianne Fitzgerald, Annapolis, MD
Robinson, Randall. Makeda. Open Lens: Akashic. Sept. 2011. c.350p. ISBN 9781617750229. pap. $15.95. F
Gray Marsh is close to his blind grandmother, who entrusts him with stories of past lives she experiences in dreams. Her vivid dreams of a childhood in Africa include many facts that should be unknown to her, including customs, geographical features, and astronomical observations made by the Dogon people. Gray investigates these claims as he grows older and establishes himself in the academic community, and he comes to see himself and his grandmother as exceptionally connected to an African past. A journey to Mali predictably confirms not only the mystical details of his grandmother’s visions but also the narrator’s growing belief that he has been educationally shortchanged by the Western canon. VERDICT Robinson (The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks) attempts to craft a unique coming-of-age novel set in a racially divided America, but his story is flawed by repetitive and didactic passages that veer frequently into polemic. A controversial novel on history and race that may interest readers of African and African American history.—John R. Cecil, Austin, TX
Sallis, James. The Killer Is Dying. Walker. Aug. 2011. c.240p. ISBN 9780802779458. $23. F
The heat is dry and the stories inconclusive in Sallis’s (Lew Griffin novels; “Turner Trilogy”) Phoenix noir. A terminally ill hit man circles his prey, even after that prey is shot by somebody else. A team of detectives circles all three, as the story spirals outward to include indelibly etched portraits of neighbors and mute witnesses. Feeling dizzy yet? The story unfolds like a time-lapse sequence in which a flower (or, in this case, a blood stain) blossoms frame by frame. Sallis is often characterized as a poet, but there are no poesies, rhymes, or reasons here. Rather, he is the poet of blind alleys, blank walls, and the blighted lives of those we blithely pass on our way elsewhere. As with a visit to Phoenix, by the end we need to gulp fresh air. VERDICT Readers who appreciate Jim Thompson and still aren’t aware of Sallis would be well advised to seek him out. His stock could rise on the basis of a recent film adaptation of his 1995 title Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, which was well received at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.—Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO
Shaw, Johnny. Dove Season: A Jimmy Veeder Fiasco. AmazonEncore. Sept. 2011. c.392p. ISBN 9781935597643. pap. $13.95. F
Think of this title as a coming-of-age novel writ noir. Turning 30 hasn’t meant much more for Jimmy Veeder than moving from one low-paying job to another. “I didn’t have a dream. I just was,” is how he describes himself. Then he gets a call from his dad. Big Jack has cancer, the bad kind. He’s dying. Would Jimmy come and stay with him for a few months? So Jimmy returns to Holtville, the hick town where he grew up, deep in the Imperial Valley in Southern California, next to the Mexican border. His dad’s got one request: find him a whore he knew in Mexicali, Yolanda, and bring her to see him. Jimmy does. His father dies. So does Yolanda, violently. Jimmy and his old buddies soon find themselves butting heads with the Mexican underworld. But as his troubles continue, Jimmy learns something about himself. At the end, he’s on his way to growing up—maybe. VERDICT This is Shaw’s first novel, and it’s a good one. (It was a finalist for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.) Aficionados of crime stories will enjoy it thoroughly.—David Keymer, Modesto, CA
Sierra, Javier. The Lost Angel. Atria: S. & S. Oct. 2011. c.380p. ISBN 9781451632798. $25.99. F
In New York Times best-selling author Sierra’s (The Secret Supper.) latest thriller, a young woman seeking to discover the cause of the deterioration of the sculptures in the Spanish Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is approached by a strange monk, drawn into a gunfight, shown a video of her husband’s kidnapping, interrogated by a U.S. Special Agent, and ultimately kidnapped by the terrorist group holding her husband. The clues communicated by her husband in the video lead the woman to find a hidden adamantas stone—one of a pair with powers that, in the right hands, can enable direct communication with God. She is led by the terrorists on a wild chase, with government agents and the Spanish police in close pursuit, up Mount Ararat. Will she get to the top in time to use the stones to save the world and prevent the terrorists from carrying out their plans? VERDICT Sierra has fashioned a spine-tingling apocalyptic thriller set in real-world locations and based on well-researched mythology and scientific facts, with just the right amount of fiction to make for an excellent read. [See Prepub Alert, 4/25/11.]—Cynde Suite, Bartow Cty. P.L., Cartersville, GA
Smith, Ali. There But For The. Pantheon. Sept. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9780375424090. $25. F
Like several recent novels, notably Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, and Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists, this work is a collection of interlocking stories organized around a single theme and featuring multiple characters. Here the tales swirl around an unusual event at an upscale dinner party in Greenwich, England, where guest Miles Garth disappears into an upstairs bedroom at the home of his hosts and refuses to come out for weeks. Smith, whose eight previous works of fiction include the Whitbread Award–winning The Accidental, deftly satirizes our media-saturated environment, using an oddball cast of characters to point out the difficulty we have in making genuine human connections and demonstrating how beautiful and rare it is when we actually succeed. The passage of time is a constant underlying preoccupation as well, as befits the setting—home of the Royal Observatory, which established Greenwich Mean Time. VERDICT Though some of the plot points strain credulity, when read as a fable, this is a delightful, beautifully written, touching novel that will strongly appeal to lovers of language and wordplay. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]—Lauren Gilbert, Sachem P.L., Holbrook, NY
Solomon, Anna. The Little Bride. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2011. c.320p. ISBN 9781594485350. pap. $15. F
Late 1880s Russia offers few choices for 16-year-old Minna Losk. Her mother deserts the family, then her father dies in a mine accident. She wants to be a bookkeeper, but her aunts send her out as a servant to a marriage broker for Jewish men. Soon Minna leaves the hopelessness, the pogroms, and the poverty for a farm in South Dakota, where, as a mail-order bride, she receives an unfriendly welcome from her husband-to-be. Max is a rough man much older than she expected, with two sons her own age. The house is a primitive sod hut carved out of the hillside with no running water. Their cow wanders up on the grass roof, and the house collapses, forcing them to accept charity from their prosperous neighbors. In despair, Minna feels that Max doesn’t want her, that she’s not what he paid for, and now she’s romantically involved with his oldest son. VERDICT Solomon writes unsparingly of the harsh realities that women like Minna faced on the American frontier. Although the concluding chapters seem rushed, most readers will feel compelled to stay with this page-turner to its solemn finish. A strong debut novel, highly recommended for those who appreciate exceptional historical fiction.—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO
Su Tong. The Boat to Redemption. Overlook. Sept. 2011. c.369p. tr. from Chinese by Howard Goldblatt. ISBN 9781590206720. $25.95. F
Recently shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, distinguished Chinese author Su is perhaps best known in the West for Raise the Red Lantern, made into an Academy Award–nominated film. This new work, winner of the 2009 Asian Man Literary Award, is set in China in the 1960s–70s and narrated by Ku Dongliang as a teenager and young adult. Dongliang ends up living for over a decade on a barge with his father, Ku Wenxuan, who has been publicly shunned for unknowingly posing as the son of a martyr. With Wenxuan clinging to his birthright and innocence, Dongliang is relegated to living with the nickname Kongpi (literally, “empty ass”) and must deal with further shame after his father’s near-successful attempt at making himself a eunuch. Life offers up even greater turmoil when Dongliang becomes obsessed with an abandoned girl named Huixian. VERDICT Those familiar with contemporary Chinese literature will not be surprised when reading this angst-filled and sometimes shocking story. Though slightly predictable at the end, this character-driven work, well translated by Goldblatt, is undeniably a story to ponder.—Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
Taseer, Aatish. Noon. Faber & Faber. Sept. 2011. c.304p. ISBN 9780865478589. $25. F
Just as noon is the time when morning changes into afternoon, so this intriguing portrayal of contemporary India and Pakistan is structured by Taseer (The Temple-Goers) to convey changes in the lives of its characters. The first episode involves the main character, Rehan Tabassum, whose divorced mother, successful lawyer Udaya, introduces him to his prospective stepfather, the very wealthy Amit Sethia. The second episode describes Amit and Udaya’s tribulations as they host a dinner party for ten that includes many of the rich and powerful people of Delhi. The third episode deals with a burglary in the house where Rehan now lives with his mother and stepfather; the chief suspects are the servants, whose brutal questioning shows us another part of society. In the last episode, Rehan travels to Port bin Qasim in Parkistan to visit his biological father, Sahil, who’s dealing with ruthless politics at his giant telecommunications company. Riots erupt in this splintered city of 15 million people, and one faction targets Sahil and his conglomerate. Like life itself, the situations that precipitate the action in this novel remain unresolved. VERDICT Highly recommended for its sharp depictions of life in modern India and Pakistan.—Lisa Rohrbaugh, National Coll. Lib., Youngstown, OH
Tucker, Lisa. The Winters in Bloom. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2011. c.288p. ISBN 9781416575405. $24. F
Tucker’s sixth novel (after The Promised World) features Kyra and David Winter, the loving parents of young Michael. Their overprotectiveness seems to stifle their coddled, homeschooled child, who yearns for a glimpse of something outside his home. When the doting Kyra momentarily takes her eyes off Michael, he vanishes from their backyard. As the police question the parents, disturbing secrets from their former lives are slowly revealed. Both parents are convinced the kidnapper is an estranged family member or ex-spouse, and what began as a story of the challenges of modern parenting very quickly becomes a tale of troubled pasts. One fact is certain: the Winters’ comfortable home life will never be the same. VERDICT This fast-paced page-turner may satisfy some readers, but others will want more information about Kyra and David’s complicated histories. Still, Tucker’s suspenseful novels are popular, so this family story is recommended with reservations. Indeed, if the characters had been more fully developed, the novel would have blossomed. [See Prepub Alert, 2/28/11.]—Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA
Vigan, Delphine de. Underground Time. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Dec. 2011. c.272p. tr. from French by George Miller. ISBN 9781608197125. pap. $15. F
Mathilde and Thibault, strangers to each other, experience deep misery as they navigate the soul-sucking crush of daily life in Paris. After a long run as a talented marketing executive, Mathilde, a 40-year-old widow with three young sons, is systematically being destroyed by her boss (and former mentor), whose bullying escalates as the weeks go by. Thibault, a traveling paramedic who has just dumped his emotionless lover, finds no solace as he battles traffic congestion to visit the homes of invisible citizens who have fallen off society’s radar. De Vigan’s gift for unvarnished and beautifully described angst builds unbearably as the two characters cling to hope and sanity, believing that their salvation can only come in the form of a perfect lover. VERDICT De Vigan romanticizes absolutely nothing in this sharply observed study of the suffocating trap of urban hopelessness. She shows no mercy to her readers, who will find themselves gritting their teeth and hoping that Mathilde’s and Thibault’s bottomless suffering will be cured by the too-oft-used magical meet-up and happy ending. Instead, this masterly author, winner of France’s 2008 Prix des Libraires for No and Me, throws a curveball that all sophisticated readers will want to catch. [See Prepub Alert, 5/23/11.]—Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI
Ward, Jesmyn. Salvage the Bones. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2011. c.272p. ISBN 9781608195220. $24. F
It’s summer 2005 in Bois Sauvage, MS. Even as she watches her brother Skeetah’s beloved pit bull, China, give birth, 15-year-old Esch realizes that she herself is pregnant. Like China in the dog ring, Esch’s family is fighting daily just to survive, with her father mostly lost to drink after his wife died giving birth to Junior, and other brother Randall hoping he can win a place at basketball camp and eventually leave their thankless existence in the dust. Now a hurricane is coming, which means boarding up windows as Daddy schemes to make money helping with the inevitable cleanup. But this hurricane is Katrina, and more than cleanup will be needed when it’s over. Working through the 12 days building up to and encompassing the hurricane’s arrival, Ward (Where the Line Bleeds) uses fearless, toughly lyrical language to convey this family’s close-knit tenderness, the sheer bloody-minded difficulty of rural African American life, and what it’s like when those hurricane winds sledge-hammer you and the water rises faster than you can stand up. It’s an eye-opening heartbreaker that ends in hope. VERDICT Highly recommended; you owe it to yourself to read this book. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Whitehead, Colson. Zone One. Doubleday. Oct. 2011. c.272p. ISBN 9780385528078. $25.95. F
The dead are stirring again! In the latest addition to the undead canon, a plague has decimated the earth and created hordes of suppurating, ravenous zombies. Zone One is Manhattan south of Canal Street, where the military has eradicated most of the dangerous zombies, but stragglers remain—lumbering living dead caught up in the mundane tasks of their former lives. Protagonist Mark Spitz is working with other volunteers to purge the stragglers from the city, and the narrative follows him over three harrowing days as he struggles with the aftereffects of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder (PASD), his own loneliness, and the end of the world as he knows it. Things can’t possibly get worse. Then, of course, they do. VERDICT MacArthur fellow Whitehead, known for his literary paeans to New York city and environs (The Colossus of New York; Sag Harbor), has fashioned a relentlessly bleak and decaying Big Apple made palatable by his biting wit and dark humor. Both gruesome and intelligent, this satiric take on the postapocalyptic horror genre offers the most literary nod to zombie-ism since Mary Shelley. [Twelve-city tour; see Prepub Alert, 4/11/11.]—Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY
SHORT STORIES
Beach, Lou. 420 Characters: Stories. Houghton Harcourt. Dec. 2011. c.176p. illus. ISBN 9780547617930. $22. F
There are some books you like, others that you don’t, and that rare book that you like in spite of yourself. This book fits into the latter category. Originally posted as a series of status updates on Beach’s Facebook page (which limits each entry to no more than 420 characters), these stories might easily be read as little more than a novelty, the first cousin of the Twitter novel or those books that appropriate the abbreviated language of texting. But it takes the reader only a few pages to realize that Beach’s book is more than simple experimentation. The language is sharp and driven by a droll wit that attracts and repels, with results both endearing and estranging. Given Beach’s background as an illustrator, it should come as no surprise that many of these pieces have an almost cinematic immediacy to them, and the unexpected, almost surrealistic twists make this a sharp and wonderfully funny debut. VERDICT Like a tasting menu, these stories add up to something wonderful. Readers of short fiction will love this one.—Chris Pusateri, Jefferson Cty. P.L., Lakewood, CO
Bingham, Sallie. Mending: New and Selected Stories. Sarabande, dist. by Consortium. Oct. 2011. c.248p. ISBN 9781936747009. $23; pap. ISBN 9781936747016. $16.95. F
This collection of new and selected stories spans work from 1967 to the present by an important writer who is too little known. These stories are remarkable for their economy of language and for the author’s ability, within a small frame, to allow the undefined but intense emotion of a central character (male or female, young or old) to sharpen in focus to the point at which both reader and character share the surprise of insight. In “August Ninth at Natural Bridge,” from Bingham’s 1972 collection, The Way It Is Now, a family’s traditional birthday outing becomes the setting for a girl’s seemingly typical teenage surliness to open out gradually into a terrifying understanding of sexual gamesmanship. These stories end with a stunning metaphoric resonance. In the more recent “Apricots,” for instance, a 63-year-old teacher allows herself to be seduced by a student helping her can apricots. Toward the end of the story, Bingham moves from action to recollection with the following sentence: “Later, Caroline remembered the flesh of the apricots, their slight graininess, the moisture that was not dripping like the sweetness of peaches but absorbed, contained.” VERDICT Like the fruit in “Apricots,” the stories in this rich collection are characterized by a ripeness of language and the graininess of surprising truths.—Sue Russell, Bryn Mawr, PA
Fonda, Nick. Principals and Other Schoolyard Bullies: Short Stories. Baraka, dist. by IPG. Oct. 2011. c.200p. ISBN 9781926824079. pap. $19.95. F
Fonda’s (Roads to Richmond: Portraits of Quebec’s Eastern Townships) 11 short stories are united thematically by encounters with bullies. These intimidators are not limited by age or gender and, as the title indicates, even principals play the part. Fonda explores different perspectives in each story, lacing his straightforward and accessible prose with a sense of foreboding. In “The Last Day of School,” a homeschooled child tries to adapt to public school. “Failure Written All Over Him” portrays a school administrator discouraging a teacher about a student because of his background file. “The Sour Taste of Revenge” presents the opportunity for payback, while “My Lunch with Andrea” discusses the problems with bilingual education in Canada. The author has been a teacher in Canada and the UK, and his experience lends authenticity to the collection. VERDICT This quick, engaging read highlights the “sudden visceral reaction” that warns students as they meet a bully. Clearly written, these stories will help teachers, parents, and students to recognize the bullying experience but can be appreciated by all and should attract a general audience. Recommended.—Barb Kundanis, Longmont P.L., CO
Gilb, Dagoberto. Before the End, After the Beginning. Grove. Nov. 2011. c.192p. ISBN 9780802120007. $24. F
The ten stories this collection comprises represent the latest output from an increasingly recognized Latino author. The most noteworthy piece by far is the first one, “please, thank you,” written in lowercase because the narrator, suffering from the paralyzing effects of a stroke, cannot use the shift key. Writing while he was recovering from a stroke himself, Gilb here captures the frustration and helplessness of a patient capable of understanding but humiliated by his incapacitation. Except for “Uncle Rock” and “Willows Village,” the remaining stories, which rely on the open if not ambiguous endings found in Gilb’s earlier The Flowers, lack the vibrant originality of the opening story. Most of these stories fall into the category of narrative realism, drawing on the recognizable lives of working-class Latinos as well as the author’s personal experience. VERDICT A heterogeneous assortment of true-to-life experiences focusing on Latinos in the American Southwest, but with enough relevance and literary merit to be of interest to the general public elsewhere, as well as to academia. [See Prepub Alert, 5/9/11.]—Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., OH
Murray, Sabina. Tales of the New World. Black Cat: Grove. Nov. 2011. c.272p. ISBN 9780802170835. pap. $14.95. F
This collection of short stories shares the common thread of geographical exploration, seen through the lives and travels of familiar names like Balboa and Magellan. Also included are more unfamiliar figures like Mary Kingsley, who despite a thwarted Victorian upbringing became a noted expert on Africa, and Edward John Eyre, an explorer of interior Australia who later sullied his reputation quelling a slave uprising in Jamaica. Given the real dangers of early travel, and with journey as an overarching metaphor, these stories become extended disquisitions on death. Even Eyre’s native guide confuses expiration for exploration. In a bit of a stretch, one story focuses on cult leader Jim Jones, although he did end up in a strange place—and not just Guyana. Murray doesn’t exactly put us inside the heads of these explorers, but rather sets them on their way and then speculates on their motives from a jaded, postmodern distance. VERDICT Plenty of historical facts for those who love travel writing, but primarily readers of literary fiction will want to jump on board. [See Prepub Alert, 5/9/11.]—Reba Melinda Leiding, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA
Schappell, Elissa. Blueprints for Building Better Girls. S. & S. Sept. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9780743276702. $24. F
In this collection of linked short stories by the author of Use Me, one of the characters finds an old advice book called Blueprints for Building Better Girls. Ironically, the young women in these unsettling stories could really benefit from some advice along these lines, as could their clueless parents. In these eight stories spanning four decades, impulsive women dash headlong into self-destruction of various kinds, often bringing someone down with them. The most poignant story reveals a damaged college student attempting to entertain her senile grandfather on a day out from his assisted living facility. VERDICT At first glance, Schappell appears to be mining the ever-popular theme of girls behaving badly (the guys are even worse), but her mordant humor and sharp powers of observation lift these stories above the lurid to a sympathetic portrayal of women whose lives have gone awry. [See Prepub Alert, 2/28/11.]—Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA
Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Library, NY
A reviewer of popular fiction since since 2007, Jeanne Bogino, director of the New Lebanon Library, New Lebanon, NY, has demonstrated in just four short years her versatility and wit as a writer. No matter what I throw at her—women’s fiction, zombie fiction, suspense, and yes, Jane Austen erotica—she is unfazed in distilling the essence of a title under review and sharing her judgment in succinct but lively prose. Her reviews are not only a pleasure to edit, they are entertaining and enlightening to read.—Wilda Williams
