For you DC-area-locals who were wondering, debut novelist A.X. Ahmad is one of us ...
Without intending any disrespect to narrator Robertson Dean (in fact, his deep, rich voice makes for a memorable listen), this is a book you must see on the page. If you only go audible, you'll miss you too much from the very first sentence onward:...
At 15, Faten is uprooted from her village life to become a live-in servant to a wealthy family in Beirut, where violence from the ongoing Lebanese Civil War seems neverending. Her father's decision to pull her out of school, to indenture her away from all...
Before this novel, Khaled Hosseini's third, even hit shelves on May 21, the world had already made it a bestseller; many months – more likely years – will pass before it fades from the international spotlight. Although I had the galley for months before, I kept it...
Allow me to start with the simple end: Ru Freeman's On Sal Mal Lane is stupendous. I'll even embellish that verdict and add that it is actually fan-huththa-tastic...
* STARRED REVIEW Think of Tash Aw's third novel as an ingenious game called "How To Be a Billionaire." A how-to guide is interspersed with 30 rules that also serve as chapters, e.g., "Move to Where the Money Is," "Always Rebound After Each Failure," "Strive To...
For fans of Aravind Adiga's unforgettable 2008 Booker Prized first novel, The White Tiger, who were perhaps not as enthralled with his 2011 follow-up, Last Man in Tower, might I suggest you look backward a few more years to his very first book? Introduced to eager readers just after Adiga's Booker...
Here's the seemingly simple story: When her grandmother falls ill, 13-year-old Hayaat decides that a jarful of her ancestral soil – a mere six miles away – will be the very thing that will make her grandmother well, so Hayaat grabs her best friend and goes off...
I think I was somehow predestined to read Mudbound when I did: just after I finished Barbara Kingsolver's mightily disappointing Flight Behavior, I turned next to Hillary Jordan's 2008 debut novel. While searching for an image of the book cover to load here, I noticed...
Once upon a time, I loved every book Barbara Kingsolver wrote: The Bean Trees grew into me, then Homeland and Other Stories, Animal Dreams (still my favorite), Pigs in Heaven. Heresy, I know, but Poisonwood Bible was not a favorite, but after surviving Animal, Vegetable,...
Let's work ourselves from the outside in ...
I realize it's only March, but I'm pretty convinced Mohsin Hamid's latest will be one of my top three favorites for 2013. True, such a pronouncement might seem rash in a year that will see new titles from Nadeem Aslam (The Blind Man's Garden next month), Khaled Hosseini...
The day I stuck Hunger Games into my ears, Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress Oscar, albeit for her role in a different film, Silver Livings Playbook. I took that as a sign that I should finish the almost 35 hours (every bit admirably read by...
This recent novel-in-translation by the 2012 Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, originally published in China in 2004, embodies a labyrinthine web of changing alliances and terrifying vengeance. Set during the Boxer Rebellion, the turn-of-the-20th-century Chinese uprising against Western imperialism, it features pivotal figure Sun Meiniang, who...
When Pancho Sanchez arrives at St. Anthony's Home, his 17-year-old self has already survived too much death, and yet he's planning on more. The last of his family – his mentally challenged 20-year-old sister – was found dead in a motel room. While the police insist what...
Please allow me to share a so-called North Korean political joke: “Kim Jong Il and Vladimir Putin ...
Although Vincent Lam's first novel hit shelves months ago, I waited (and waited) to read it because I was afraid – seems to be my modus operandi for follow-up titles to books I've cherished, unable to move on for fear of grave disappointment. Lam's interconnected story...
Given the latest headlines in the Middle East, this seems to be the perfect time for another Deborah Ellis title. Best known for her Breadwinner Trilogy (The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey, and Mud City) which became a tetralogy this fall with My Name is Parvana, Ellis is an...
Yan Lianke’s latest (Dream of Ding Village, Serve the People!) arrives superbly translated by Duke professor Carlos Rojas and auspiciously stamped with China’s Lao She Literary Award. Welcome to Liven, a mountainous haven populated by the disabled who enjoy bountiful lives, so remote as to have avoided governmental...
Not to confuse anyone, but I have to start with p. 177 because that's where you'll find a reference to "that cool new show Sesame Street" (which debuted 1969), because first-time novelist Sonia Manzano has been playing Sesame Street's Maria for the last 30+ years! While the title...
