The Strangler Vine was long listed for the 2014 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and the description — historical fiction set in early 19th-century India featuring a green soldier, a wizened political operative and Thuggees — made it sound too good to pass up. Images of Indiana Jones came to mind, but Carter offers her readers so much more than that pulpy comic-booky fare. Trained as a journalist, she delivers a meticulously researched political novel that reminded me of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and […]
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman with Asperger Syndrome
The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is a novel about a young and talented filmmaker whose life ended too soon but who left an indelible mark on those few people who knew her and/or her work. The story is told through the various perspectives of these people: actress/lover Allison, brother Robbie, producer George, husband/musician Jacob, college obsession Daniel, journalist Benjamin. Each person seems to have been frustrated by their inability to really know or understand Sophie, expressing irritation and annoyance along with love and […]
Live Until You Die
You told me, once, to just remember to breathe. As long as you can do that, you’re doing something Good, you said. Getting rid of the old, and letting in the new. And, therefore, moving forward. Making progress. That’s all you have to do to move forward, sometimes, you said, just breathe. Have you ever had a friend so close that you could finish each other’s sentences? How about so close you could finish each other’s lives? Etta and Otto and Russell and James is […]
On Reinvention, or Lying
Unbecoming is a novel featuring a possibly unreliable and rather unlikeable narrator named Grace. The story alternates between 24-year-old Grace in present-day Paris and Grace several years ago in Garland, Tennessee, where she grew up. A crime has been committed and a couple of Grace’s friends have gone to jail. What responsibility does Grace have for what happened? What is it that Grace really wants? It seems that Grace has always wanted something else, something other than what life has given her, and she has […]
A Feminist Fairy Tale
I recently saw a review of this novel on NPR’s web site which compared it to Beauty and the Beast. Frankly, I don’t see it, but that’s okay because it’s so much better than a retelling of any known fairy tale. Novik combines elements of Slavic fairy tales, magic, and even some Tolkienesque flourishes (she admits to being a fan and it comes through in the work) to create a complex story about powerful women and friendship, the merits and difficulties of collaboration, and finding […]
Feminism, Communism and Friendship
First, I’m thrilled to report that this third installment in the Neapolitan Novels series is not the last! The fourth is due later this year, and it’s a good thing because this novel, like the previous, like every good soap opera, leaves us hanging. How have these stories not been turned into a televised series? In book three, Ferrante takes us further into the loves and lives of Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo. Friends since childhood in working class Naples, they have become somewhat estranged […]
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