Books that captivate with their exquisite prose and unforgettable storytelling. Perfect for readers who appreciate the art of language.
The Yellow Birds
Kevin Powers, 2012
226 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
December, 2012
"The war tried to kill us," reports the narrator in the opening lines of this powerful book on the Iraq war. For 21-year-old John Bartle, the events of that war prove so searing he cannot escape the memories.
Bartle is trapped, like coal mine canaries who, when set free, fly right back to their cages. Cages are all the birds know—they're held back by the memory of their only existence. So it is with Bartle.
The Innocents
Francesca Segal
288 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
November 2012
Francesca Segal's smart update of The Age of Innocence is pitch perfect—from the homonym of the titles to the satirical gaze leveled at social conformity. Even character names are parallel—Adam Newman for Newland Archer, and Ellie for Ellen.
Segal, though, offers a more nuanced judgment of community than Edith Wharton does. The Innocents' tight-knit Jewish enclave in 21st-century North London is far more benign, if still benighted, than the upper-crust of Manhattan's late 19th century. And the conformity Adam Newman struggles against is as much in his mind as imposed from without.
The Age of Desire
Jennie Fields
368 pp.
November, 2012
Edith has sex (yes, Edith Wharton!), even though one would be hard-pressed to find the words "sex" and "Wharton" in the same sentence. It's hard to think of her—with the jutting chin and high-necked gowns—as a sexual being; indeed, Wharton never thought of herself as such. Yet this very juxtaposition forms the crux of Jennie Fields's fictional biography.
Edith is trapped in, what is for her, a loveless marriage, although one can't help but pity her aggrieved husband. Teddy Wharton, a kind if simple man, loves his wife with a desperate intensity, yet sex between the two is nonexistant. Having attempted it once in the marriage, a traumatized Edith told Teddy, "never again."
A Partial History of Lost Causes
Jennifer duBois, 2012
400 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
October, 2012
Jennifer duBois is simply too young to have written such a remarkable book—that's the buzz, what everyone's saying. And I'm saying it, too. A Partial History is sophisticated and brainy—yet packs a huge emotional wallop. All in all, it's a stunning piece of writing.
This is a modern quest story: a young woman, knowing she has a limited time left, sets out to find the secret to life, her life anyway—but also, as it turns out, the life of a famed Russian chess champion.
The World Without You
Joshua Henkin
336 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
September 2012
Joshua Henkin writes novels with such stunning realism that his characters fairly jump off the page and lodge themselves in your consciousness. They're rich, complex, and remain with you long after you've closed the cover.
In The World Without You the author has created a family whose members, each in their peculiar way, remember and grieve for one of their own. This is a beautiful, poignant, and at times even funny read.