This book is a goddamned delight, and everyone should read it. The end. No, just kidding. But I am really glad I picked it up (on the recommendation of basically the entire CBR community, amirite?), even though lately I’ve been trying hard to balance my male protagonists and authors with the underrepresented lady brains that are at large and largely ignored (axe grinding alert!). I’m glad I picked it up because it’s incredibly sensitive, and thoughtful, and nuanced. It’s also a little bit self-conscious and […]
Cannonball: “What are our stories if not the mirrors we hold up to our fears?”
Many, many years ago, I read Wally Lamb’s first book She’s Come Undone. I can honestly say that the only thing I remember about that book is that the main character’s mother is killed when a tractor trailer crashes in to her tollbooth. Consequently, I think about that every time I drive through a toll booth. Anyway, when I read it, I happened to live with two other girls, one of whom had had the pleasure of knowing Wally Lamb as a teacher in her […]
“Having kids sent a tornado through your marriage, then made you happy at the devastation.”
Prior to joining CBR, I had never heard of Rainbow Rowell. She’s the kind of author I never would’ve encountered out in the cold and barren landscape of the real world. I don’t typically read romance novels or the young adult genre (though this book doesn’t fit into the latter category). Which is weird, because some of my favorite, most beloved movies, are romantic comedies: When Harry Met Sally, Notting Hill, Love Actually (yes, I’m one of THOSE people)…. And I love Disney and Pixar movies, which may […]
A Beautiful Debut
This is a slow, quiet novel that captures readers at the start with its intensity. The stakes are high for everyone, even before we discover the tragedy that has befallen Kyung’s family. In the beginning, Kyung is already faced with the necessity of swallowing his pride and moving back in with his parents. But when Kyung’s mother shows up in his backyard, beaten and battered, Kyung knows who is to blame before the accusatory words escape her mouth. He suspects that his father, who has […]
Oh, Baby….
Paula Bomer spoke at my MFA last August and I’ve wanted to read some of her work for a while after listening to her presentation. Since her work is ridiculously funny while also being incredibly deep, I thought this would be a nice follow-up to Rachel Cusk’s memoir on motherhood, and it did not disappoint! Bomer is as funny and deep in her writing as she was in person. This short story collection focuses on the many facets of dysfunction that can (and often do) […]
“Light and dark, light and dark, like a door opening and closing”
Lucy Wood’s 2015 debut novel Weathering is stunning and homely; it simultaneously feels like a chilly walk in the rain and a cup of tea by a fireside. It’s a non-scary story about ghosts, and a scary story about loneliness and memory; it’s a story about rivers and birds and photographs and family. Ada is a single mother with a bright but complicated small daughter called Pepper and an even more difficult relationship with her own mother Pearl, recently deceased but not gone. (This isn’t […]
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