The Orphan Master’s Son is a 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winning novel by American Adam Johnson. It is a fictional journey into the North Korean dictatorial Communist world. The main character, Jun Do, is raised harshly in an orphanage by his father when his mother abandons him. He becomes a soldier, then a kidnapper, […]
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
The Nest is an insight into one family’s dysfunction, after the oldest brother, a selfish and charismatic married man, gets into a car accident with a nineteen year old undocumented girl as his passenger, with her hands where they are not supposed to be. The accident results in him going to rehab and “losing everything” […]
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Underground Railroad, published in 2016, is a critically acclaimed novel by Colson Whitehead. It won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction, the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. The Underground Railroad tells the story of Cora, an […]
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi
Nadia Hashimi is an Afghan-American paediatrician who in this her début novel tells the story of two young Afghan women, Rahima and her great-great grandmother Shekiba, a century apart (2007 – 1900), united by gender, who at some point in their lives have each become a bacha posh, a girl who dresses as a boy […]
All That Is by James Salter
Another book by a man written for men it seems. All That Is starts near the end of World War II where Philip Bowman is a junior naval officer en route to Japan suffering kamikaze assaults. We follow him as he returns a hero to the United States, enrolls at Harvard University, and becomes a […]
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
The Buddha in the Attic is a novel about Japanese picture brides who came to the United States of America in the early 20th century. This novel by Julie Otsuka is beautifully written, lyrical, and was a National Book Award finalist (2011) and a PEN/Faulkner Award winner (2012). Multiple stories told in the first person […]
The Expats by Chris Pavone
The Expats is the debut novel of Chris Pavone told by a former CIA assassin, Kate, who leaves her job to be a stay-at-home wife and mother when her husband, Dexter, accepts a computer-security job in Luxembourg. Just that, apparently her husband never knew what she did before. As she tries to settle into the […]
Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
After forcing myself to read 1984 because it is the book of 2017, it was a breath of fresh air to read Isabel Allende‘s Island Beneath the Sea, which is essentially my kind of book. It is one of those historical multi-generational family epics. It tells the story of Zarité (Tété), a mulatto woman born […]
1984 by George Orwell
So, Donald Trump wins the US Presidency, and I along with millions of others pick up 1984 by George Orwell to read. Sigh. I downloaded an audiobook from my local library’s Overdrive and over the course of a week soberingly listened to it. Published in 1949, the futuristic 1984 novel portrays London as a city […]
The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle
The Tortilla Curtain is an American novel by T.C. Boyle that tells the story of two families from two different socioeconomic classes intertwined by faith. We have Candido Rincon, a 30-ish year old man and America, his 17 year old common-law wife, on one hand, undocumented immigrants from Mexico who are squatting in the wild in Topanga Canyon. […]
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.