FullReviews Index
The Garden of Last Days
'The Garden of Last Days' is the best novel of the year. Instantly interesting and engaging, it grabs one's attention and holds it to the last page. It is compelling, thought-provoking reading that requires the reader to bring a "willing suspension of disbelief" for full appreciation. Strippers are human, too. Hijackers are human also. It is this last characterization that causes the most dis-ease as we read, but the effort is well worth the journey.
Divisadero
Michael Ondaatje's novel, 'Divisadero,' is sensuous, languid, filled with images, both sublime and earthy. It is a story of separation, division, that feeling of not belonging quite any place or to any relationship. Every character seems to be alone, abandoned, fading in and out of the movie of Life. Concurrently, each character seems to be seeking a place to be, a partner to be with.
Merde Happens
'Merde Happens' is the third installation of Paul West's hilarious mis-adventures in merde. After failing to translate the menu of his English-style tearoom into proper French, the Ministry of Culture levies him with a substantial fine, which he must pay within 6 weeks or risk losing his business. So, he sets off to America, with his French girlfriend in tow, to take part in an international competition to promote Britain as a tourism destination.
Wolf Totem
In November of 2007, 'Wolf Totem' by Jiang Rong, won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize. The prize is intended to bring exciting new Asian authors to the attention of the world literary community - in this case, welcoming English speakers to an experience that the Chinese have already overwhelmingly embraced.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is rooted in the despotic dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, "the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated, the man who was Mobutu before Mobutu was Mobutu," against whom Oscar de Leon's family ran afoul in the 1940s. Reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's depiction of the Buendia family in One Hundred Years of Solitude, Oscar Wao traces Oscar's family history from Trujillo's 1940s Dominican Republic to the 1980s Patterson, New Jersey of Oscar's nerd youth.
My Revolutions
Hari Kunzru's "My Revolutions" is a thrilling novel with a plot that readers will find more than relevant in today's political climate. Idealism, anger, and social ambition fuel the fictional Michael Frame's involvement with a group of radical activists who protest the Vietnam War in 1960s London. The main character's turn to terrorism runs a recognizable course and offers striking insight into the modern tensions between individual and family, nation and state.
The Age of Shiva
Following his spectacular debut novel, "The Death of Vishnu," Manil Suri returns with a mesmerizing story of modern India, richly layered with themes from Hindu mythology. "The Age of Shiva" is at once a powerful story of a country in turmoil and an extraordinary portrait of maternal love. It is among the most compelling novels to emerge from contemporary India.
Homecoming
The first novel by Bernhard Schlink since his international best seller "The Reader," Homecoming is the story of one man's odyssey and another man's pursuit. Homecoming is a story of fathers and sons, men and women, war and peace. It reveals the humanity that survives the trauma of war and the ongoing possibility for redemption.
People of the Book
In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding, she begins to unlock the book's mysteries.
Design Flaws of the Human Condition
Through a hilarious series of events, two strangers find themselves railroaded into an anger-management class, where they soon become fast friends. Iris is there because of an eminently justifiable meltdown on a crowded flight, whereas Ken got caught defacing library books with rude (but true!) messages about his former boyfriend. The boyfriend that he caught in bed with another man on the same night he got fired from his night job proofreading in a law firm.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Lamb is Christopher Moore's irreverent, iconoclastic, and hilarious tale of the early life of Jesus Christ as witnessed by his boyhood pal Levi bar Alphaeus (a.k.a. Biff).
Fluke or I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings
Nathan Quinn's obsession with the meaning of humpback whale song has gotten him into trouble in the past, but never like this. A chance encounter with a whale with disturbingly peculiar markings on its flukes begins a bizarre adventure that can only culminate in a showdown with the origins of life itself.
The Stupidest Angel
It is the return of America's favorite chronicler of absurdity, Christopher Moore, with his eighth book "The Stupidest Angel" complete with shovel-wielding murderesses, stoned officers of the law, one half-witted agent of The Lord, a flock of undead zombies fed up with the living, and oh, don't forget the illustrious reemergence of Roberto The Fruit Bat.
A Dirty Job
Charlie Asher is a beta male, one of the countless guys who survive in the gene pool by doggie paddling in the shallow end. A little neurotic, a bit of a hypochondriac, and a whole lot fearful, he doesn't take risks and he seriously hates change. But Charlie's safe life is about to take a really weird detour. On the day his daughter, Sophie, is born, he catches a tall black man in mint-green golf wear at the bedside of his wife -- minutes before she dies of a freak medical condition.
The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner is Afghanistani-American novelist, Khaled Hosseini's best-selling debut novel, a tale of betrayal and redemption that rises above time and place while simultaneously remaining firmly anchored against the tumultuous backdrop of modern Afghanistan.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The history of Afghanistan is marked by death, loss and unimaginable grief. And, yet, people find a way to survive, to go on. Ultimately, this is more than a story of survival in the face of what seem to be insurmountable odds. It is a story of the unconquerable spirit of a people seen through the eyes of two indomitable women. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, is a must read for those who wish to understand the modern history (1964 - 2003) of Afghanistan.
Run
"Run" is at its very center, a novel about what truly defines family and the lengths we will go to protect our children. As she did in her bestselling novel "Bel Canto," Patchett weaves together seemingly disparate lives to show how intimately humans can connect. Stunning and powerful, "Run" is sure to engage any Patchett fan and bring her even more admirers.
The Almost Moon
In "The Almost Moon," Alice Sebold's new novel. A woman steps over the line into the unthinkable in this unforgettable work by the author of "The Lovely Bones" and "Lucky." For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and now grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined.
Company
"At Zephyr Holdings, no one has ever seen the CEO. The beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else, but does no work. One of the sales reps uses relationship books as sales manuals, and another is on the warpath because somebody stole his donut." "In other words, it's an ordinary big company. Or at least, that's what everyone thinks. Until fresh-faced employee Jones - too new to understand that you just don't ask some questions at Zephyr - starts investigating."
Then We Came to the End
I knew after reading the first paragraph in "Then We Came to the End" that Joshua Ferris had nailed it. He utterly nails the boredom, the cynicism, and the resignation that is work in the corporate cubicle culture. What The Office brought to television, what Office Space brought to the movies, and what Dilbert brought to comics, Then We Came to the End brings to literature.
At First Sight
Nicholas Sparks brings back two characters from his bestseller, True Believer. New Yorker, Jeremy Marsh is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, married to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the birth of their daughter. But, just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, an unsettling and mysterious message reopens old wounds and sets off a chain of events that will forever change the course of this young couple's marriage.
The Choice
Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life - boating, swimming , and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies -- he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door.
Engleby
Something about Mike Engleby is not quite right. When he becomes fixated on a classmate and she goes missing, we are left with the looming question: Is Mike Engleby involved? Mike becomes more and more detached from those around him in an almost anti-coming-of-age. His inability to relate to others and his undependable memory lead the reader down an unclear and often darkly humorous path where one is never completely comfortable or confident about what is true.
The Entitled
In The Entitled, six-time National Sportswriter of the Year and NPR commentator Frank Deford takes the reader deep inside the game of baseball and evokes the roles of the players as well as the one man who can make or break a team and a season.
Free Food for Millionaires
Casey Han's four years at Princeton gave her many things, "But no job and a number of bad habits." Casey's parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold on to their culture and their identity. Their daughter however has entered into rarified American society via scholarships. But after graduation, Casey sees the reality of having expensive habits without the means to sustain them.