FullReviews Index - page 2
The Bible Salesman
In Clyde Edgerton's 'The Bible Salesman,' Preston Clearwater, a criminal, picks up hitch-hiking Henry Dampier, an innocent nineteen-year-old Bible salesman. Clearwater immediately recognizes Henry as just the associate he needs--one who will believe Clearwater is working as an F.B.I. spy; one who will drive the cars Clearwater steals as Clearwater follows along in another car at a safe distance. Henry joyfully sees a chance to lead a dual life as Bible salesman and a G-man.
The Butt
In 'The Butt,' Will Self's main character, Tom Brodzinski, is vacationing in a tropical, sunbaked land with his family when he sets off an absurd and horrible chain of events by carelessly flicking a cigarette butt from his hotel terrace.
The Brooklyn Follies
A retired insurance salesman, estranged from his family and diagnosed with lung cancer, returns to Brooklyn to die. Instead, he reacquaints himself with his long-lost nephew, a spiritual seeker working in a used bookstore. Despair is swept away in favor of discovery, in Brooklynite, Paul Auster's "hymn to the glories and mysteries of ordinary human life."
Oracle Night
Paul Auster is one author who likes to write novels about novelists, and continues to be consistently entertaining and provocative in doing so. Auster's latest novel, Oracle Night, is another exploration on why we write, and what kind of power that writing actually holds.
Man in the Dark
Paul Auster's newest book, 'Man in the Dark,' creates an alternate universe in which the twin towers never toppled, the war in Iraq never began, and instead the United States wages against itself, divided in civil war. More than a compelling what-if, Auster's book confronts the most important questions of our times in a way that is gut-wrenchingly real.
God Is Dead
God has inhabited the body of a young Dinka woman in the Sudan. When she is killed in the Darfur desert, he dies along with her, and word of his death soon begins to spread. Faced with the hard proof that there is no supreme being in charge, the world is irrevocably transformed, yet remains oddly recognizable.
Out Backward
"Out Backward" is a riveting debut from English author, Ross Raisin. Expelled from the school in town after having been accused of attempted rape, Sam Marsdyke keeps to his parents' Yorkshire sheep farm and steers clear of the outside world, that is until she moves in. What follows is a tale of obsession with a dark turn, as told through Sam's own Yorkshire dialect and disturbed inner life.
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.
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."