Each of these novels considers a shattered state of being, whether the devastation plays out through the cycle of addiction or societal breakdown or international conflicts. The characters employ a variety of coping mechanisms and the authors' styles are diverse; Elizabeth Renzetti's Based on a True Story, Edan Lepucki's California and Audrey
You might be tempted to call eight-year-old Egg Murakami enchanting or winsome. Even plucky or spirited. Goose Lane Editions, 2014 Each of these terms does reflect Egg in some sense. But such descriptions suggest something young-Oprah-heroine-esque about her. Egg’s character is too fully rounded to simply select the
Do you hear it when you look at the cover of Nancy Lee’s debut novel? Cue the music: “This is the dawning of….” The Age. It is an unusual title which manages to feel both like a fragment and an expansive concept. If readers do think of the song from
With the publication of Crimes Against My Brother this month, I’m reminded of how little I have read of David Adams Richards’ work, only Nights Below Station Street (and the opening pages of about six other novels). Every time I pick up one of his books, I tell myself that
“We crave narrative,” Joe tells us. And the Reader who picks up Arjun Basu’s Waiting for the Man nods: a narrative craver. ECW Press, 2014 “We believe we are uninteresting without a compelling story.” But Joe himself no longer finds his story compelling. The Reader meets Joe when
