Sibling rivalry Archives - Page 3 of 8

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick [in Booklist]

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

So you’re gonna find some conventional tropes here: mousy librarian, selfless sister/selfish sister, domineering father/submissive mother, free-spirited granny, mysterious guardian angel. But before your rolling eyeballs get stuck, two words on why you need to listen: Imogen Church! Perhaps best known for voicing clever thrillers...

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami [in Booklist]

20 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Arab American, Audio, Fiction, Moroccan American, Repost

Laila Lalami’s stupendous fourth title showcases a chorus of nine Rashomon-esque characters dealing with the hit-and-run death of a Moroccan immigrant diner owner in a California Mojave Desert town. That the novel gets a nine-member full cast (with who’s-who credits at recording’s end!), including some...

Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman [in Booklist]

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

Perhaps because her single mother was an adamantly independent, relentlessly peripatetic news photographer, Nina Hill prefers to stay still. Mostly raised in L.A. by a wonderful nanny, by high school she was better read than all of her teachers. She finished a UCLA Art History...

Older Brother by Mahir Guven, translated by Tina Kover [in Shelf Awareness]

18 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, French, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Syrian, Translation

Two brothers. Two narrators. Two type fonts: serif for "The Older Brother" chapters; sans serif for "The Younger Brother." Their family has shrunk as Mahir Guven's debut, Older Brother, begins: "...

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian [in Booklist]

17 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Persian American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW It’s 1989 and AIDS is a death warrant, but first love knows no limits. Despite a teeny little blip when Lauren Ambrose mispronounces “Audre Lorde,” the cast of Abdi Nazemian’s latest presents in near-perfect pitch. Ambrose is fashion-forward creative genius Judy (named after Garland),...

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal [in Booklist]

04 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, British Asian, Fiction, Indian, Repost, South Asian

Sita Kaur Shergill is dying of cancer. She has “had enough of this ghastly life,” but before she goes, she leaves epistolary final wishes that her three British-born daughters journey together to India “on [her] behalf.” Her detailed itinerary is exacting, from serving others to...

Famous Adopted People by Alice Stephens [in Booklist]

17 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, North Korean, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW “Everyone, it seems, is telling our story but us,” observes Lisa Pearl, the Korean-born, Bethesda, Maryland-raised transracial adoptee protagonist in Alice Stephens’ debut novel. The author, who describes herself as being “among the first generation of transnational, interracial adoptees,” takes charge with a tale...

The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea [in Library Journal]

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

*STARRED REVIEW Despite the title, the Angels here are more damaged than broken, with even a promise of salvation – more than less – by title's end. Narrated by Luis Alberto Urrea (The Water Museum), who has magnificently recorded most of his audio adaptations, this House...

Shadow Child by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto [in Library Journal]

24 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Japanese, Japanese American, Repost

Dreading her twin sister Keiko's visit from Hawai'i, Hanako deliberately delays returning to her Manhattan apartment, but when she does, she finds Kei in the shower, unconscious from a mysterious attack. While Kei lies comatose in the hospital, Hana recalls their inseparable, even interchangeable childhoods...

What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan [in Christian Science Monitor]

13 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

'What We Were Promised' depicts post-Mao China in a deft debut novel set in Shanghai Beyond divisions of class, culture, and background, a single African ivory bracelet connects a Chinese American ex-pat family, their staff who enable their (over)privileged lives, and their left-behind Chinese families in...

The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong, translated by Chi-Young Kim [in Booklist]

26 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

The opening sentence – “The smell of blood woke me” – gives way to a young man discovering his mother’s freshly murdered corpse. He’s gone off his epilepsy medications again, and has trouble remembering, but he’s determined to figure out what happened. Initially, the whodunit and...

When the World Was Steady by Claire Messud [in Library Journal]

30 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Following the collapse of her marriage, not-quite-50-year-old Emmy arrives in Bali from Sydney, Australia, where she's built her life after leaving her native England almost three decades prior. Now unfettered, she finds herself in the hostel-like home of local guide (and lothario) Buddy, all the...

Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li [in Booklist]

10 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

When Chinese American immigrant Bobby Han died, entrusting his Beijing Duck House restaurant to the next generation, he couldn’t have fathomed how quickly his 30-year-old legacy would go up in flames. His younger son, Jimmy – dubbed “little boss” by the restaurant staff, many of whom...

Dunbar [Hogarth Shakespeare] by Edward St. Aubyn [in Library Journal]

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

*STARRED REVIEW Narrator Henry Goodman self-righteously sputters, resignedly accepts, viciously plots, frantically searches, and plays especially well the Fool – all in the service of expertly, effortlessly voicing the latest in the Bard-updated-by-famous-contemporary-authors "Hogarth Shakespeare" series. In Edward St. Aubyn's (Patrick Melrose series) wickedly compelling, guiltily provocative...

In the Shadow of the Sun by Anne Sibley O’Brien [in School Library Journal]

03 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Korean, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, North Korean, Repost, Young Adult Readers

"Who in their right mind tries to bond with their kids by taking them on a tour of North Korea?'" American aid worker Mark Andrews does when he arrives in Pyongyang with 16-year-old son Simon and 12-year-old daughter Mia. He's convinced "the trip would be...

The Heirs by Susan Rieger [in Library Journal]

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

Susan Rieger (The Divorce Papers) shows how a wealthy Manhattan family's marital dysfunctions break, prune, and graft the branches of their family tree. Rupert Falkes, a British orphan-turned-New York elite, is dead. As far as the world knows, he's survived by his blue-blooded wife, Eleanor, their...

Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo [in Library Journal]

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

*STARRED REVIEW Against a tumultuous backdrop of political, military, and economic turmoil in modern Nigeria comes a portrait of a marriage that begins with idealistic devotion and ardent promise. For Yejide and Akin, love should have been enough, but after four years without children, “even love...

Three Floors Up by Eshkol Nevo, translated by Sondra Silverston [in Booklist]

11 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Uncategorized

Three residents of a three-floor Tel Aviv apartment building reveal what really goes on behind closed doors. First-floor-domiciled Arnon tells an old army buddy that his young daughter was abused by their neighbor, his marriage is suffering, and the neighbor’s teenage Parisian granddaughter is about...

Nine Continents: A Memoir In and Out of China by Xiaolu Guo [in Christian Science Monitor]

06 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British Asian, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

'Nine Continents' is Chinese author Xiaolu Guo’s resonant memoir about leaving her past Audiences familiar with Chinese-born, British-transplanted Xiaolu Guo’s prolific output know she’s alchemized elements of her own life to produce her fiction and films. Her remote village upbringing and Beijing education inspired Twenty Fragments...

Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout [in Library Journal]

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW Kimberly Farr, who gracefully, achingly gave voice to the eponymous protagonist in Elizabeth Strout’s My Name Is Lucy Barton, returns here as Lucy but adds to her repertoire Lucy’s family, neighbors, and long-ago acquaintances who call Amgash, IL, home. When Lucy’s mother unexpectedly arrived...

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