Betrayal Archives - Page 8 of 47

Lovesickness by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen [in Booklist]

21 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories, Translation, Young Adult Readers

In the almost-quarter-century since his manga debut, Junji Ito has undoubtedly ascended to world-renown for his prolific tales of horror. Translated into English by Jocelyne Allen, who also translated his Eisner-winning Frankenstein, Ito’s latest imported collection opens with the five-part titular “Lovesickness.” In relentlessly foggy Nazumi,...

Author Interview: Silvia Moreno-Garcia [in Shelf Awareness]

20 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Canadian, Fiction, Latin American, Mexican, Repost

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: On Publishing, Racism, and a "Real Horror Story" Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a literary chameleon, successfully writing across genres, including speculative short fiction (This Strange Way of Dying), historical fantasy (The Beautiful Ones), magical realism (Gods of Jade and Snow) and horror (Mexican Gothic). She's also edited several anthologies, is the publisher of micro-indie...

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [in Shelf Awareness]

19 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Latin American, Mexican, Repost

Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) opens Velvet Was the Night with an epigraph quoting a June 1971 U.S. Department of State telegram about the Hawks, a murderous Mexican government-trained "shock group" supported by the CIA. She ends with this final sentence in her afterword: "My novel is noir,...

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo [in Shelf Awareness]

13 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American

Everyone and every place remain assuredly familiar here: Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, Myrtle and George drink, dance, manipulate and die throughout East Egg, West Egg, Nick's cottage, Gatsby's mansion, the Plaza suite, and the green-lit dock. But Nghi Vo's first novel (after novellas The...

Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić [in Booklist]

12 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Bosnian, Eastern European, European, Fiction, Repost, Translation

Once upon a time, two Bosnian girls arrived at kindergarten with paper-doll selfies. Sara’s mother made hers, garbed in pink and glittery. Lejla’s was blank. “[I]t’s not like I wear the same clothes every day,” she insisted, as if already aware that future incarnations –...

Monkey Boy by Francisco Goldman [in Shelf Awareness]

11 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Jewish, Latin American, Latina/o/x, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW That the protagonist's name is Francisco Goldberg – an amalgam of maternal Guatemalan immigrant and paternal Jewish parentage – presents an irresistible invitation to explore autobiographical overlaps with award-winning creator Francisco Goldman. The parallels are immediate: both are peripatetic journalist/writers with connections to Boston,...

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi [in Booklist]

05 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Veteran narrator Mozhan Marnò has one of those gratifyingly recognizable, sigh-inducing audiobook voices that immediately immerses readers. Here, for 12 hours, she commands Afghan American pediatrician-turned-novelist Nadia Hashimi’s (A House without Windows, 2018) latest, ciphering the multi-pronged epic over decades and across continents, cultures, and...

What Could Be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz [in Booklist]

27 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Here’s where veteran narrator Lisa Flanagan excels: unflaggingly individualizing myriad varied characters. Here’s where she disappoints: stumbling over non-English words and using a grating French accent. Quibbles aside, Flanagan consistently, remarkably maintains distinct voices for the peripatetic Preston family in Liese O'Halloran Schwarz’s (The Possible...

Here We Are by Graham Swift [in Booklist]

23 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

British actor Phil Davis makes his solo narrating debut, his voice controlled and resonant, softened just slightly for the single female among Swift’s elusive trio. Here We Are, the title proclaims, and yet – well, the threesome is more fleeting illusion than solid presence. In 1959...

City of a Thousand Gates by Rebecca Sacks [in Booklist]

22 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Israeli, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Palestinian, Repost

Lameece Issaq reads languidly, her voice an ongoing invitation to Rebecca Sacks’ debut in which so much happens, but by book’s end might feel narratively stagnant – not because of Sacks’ writing, but because Israel and Palestine remain relentlessly enshrouded in conflict. The opening credits wisely...

Nancy by Bruno Lloret, translated by Ellen Jones [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chilean, Fiction, Repost, South American, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In Chilean author Bruno Lloret's inventively sly debut novel, Nancy, the narrative might seem relatively transparent: titular Nancy approaches death by cancer and recalls her happy childhood, her dangerous adolescence, her brother's disappearance, her mother's abandonment, her father's Mormon conversion, her husband's gruesome death....

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez [in Booklist]

16 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost

“Respected professor emeritus, writer, widow of a beloved doctor,” Antonia is trying to make the best of what should have been a pastoral Vermont retirement had her kind, grounding Sam not suddenly died. To her three sisters – “the Dominican Greek chorus,” she calls them...

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood [in Booklist]

12 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Pakistani, Pakistani American, Repost

YA novelist Syed M. Masood (More than Just a Pretty Face, 2019) makes his adult debut with a seemingly disparate dual narrative headed for collision. Self-described “lapsed lawyer” Anvar is drifting – he’s lost his love-of-his-life-since-childhood Zuha; he consistently embarrasses his devout Muslim Pakistani American family;...

The Secret Talker by Geling Yan, translated by Jeremy Tiang [in Booklist]

11 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Translation

Conflate “secret” and “talker” and you’ll land on “stalker” – which is what “this stranger on the internet” proves to be in author and screenwriter Geling Yan’s latest Anglophoned novel, English-enabled by award-winning Singaporean writer and translator Jeremy Tiang. Originally published in Chinese in 2004...

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell [in Booklist]

10 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

At 25-plus hours, we’re talking serious commitment – and enthusiastic accomplishment – for veteran narrator Ralph Lister, whose energetic performance never, ever lags. That said, clear distinctions between characters aren’t always reliable – the women, especially, sound too affectedly similar, the musical clips between sections...

First Person Singular: Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Christian Science Monitor]

07 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami offers a collection of imaginative short stories with skewed elements that his many fans are sure to applaud. The announcement of a new Haruki Murakami title inspires gleeful anticipation: Will there be music (classical, jazz, Beatles – yes), baseball (certainly), local watering...

One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite [in Booklist]

06 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Ma likes to think her family is like Job’s, so much so that she and Dad named their daughters accordingly: Jemima Genesis, Keziah Leah, Keren Happuch. Generations on both sides have known tortuous tragedy, but no one is prepared when Kezi – a YouTube activist...

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters [in Booklist]

31 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

As the anointed February 2021 title of literary überstar Roxane Gay’s “Audacious Book Club,” Peters’ debut novel is surely facing demand in multiple formats. Renata Friedman, with just over a dozen solo credits, immediately embodies the provocative narrative, effortlessly adapting her flexible voice to a...

Amphibians by Lara Tupper [in Shelf Awareness]

24 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

Mobility, adaptability, and colorful changes are confronted by the girls and women in Lara Tupper's nimble interlinked collection, aptly titled Amphibians. Although each memorable story easily stands alone, to seek and recognize the deft connections intensifies the reading experience. Unnamed narrators bookend the collection, requiring...

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge [in Shelf Awareness]

22 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Kaitlyn Greenidge wowed the literary world with her disturbingly delightful debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman; her follow-up, Libertie, shows no hints of sophomore slump. Inspired by Susan Smith McKinney Steward, New York's first Black female doctor (and the third U.S. Black woman...

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