The House on Mango Street is a short novel about a year in the life of a Mexican American adolescent named Esperanza. She and her family (parents, two older brothers and a younger sister named Nenny) have moved into a house of their own in Chicago for the first time. In a series of vignettes, Cisneros paints a deeply moving picture, or series of pictures, of life on Mango Street and of Esperanza’s hopes and fears. Cisneros’ background as a poet comes through in her […]
Portrait of an Ordinary Woman
Olive Kitteridge is a book about folks in Crosby, Maine, basically a collection of short stories that amount to a (light) novel. Each story is about someone in Crosby, Maine–sometimes Olive is the main character, and sometimes she makes an appearance as a supporting character or even in someone’s memory. Olive is a sourpuss middle-aged lady, big-boned and no-nonsense. She’s described by different characters as scary, large, imposing, and she knows these things about herself with a kind of partial self-awareness that felt extremely familiar. […]
Goodnight, Room.
I think this is one of those times where if you mistake the subject of a story for its purpose, you might come away disliking it. Also, your patience with highly unreliable and stylistically experimental narrators may have a lot do with it as well. Spoilers for the first third or so of the book to follow, because what I have to say can’t be said without spoiling stuff (for what it’s worth, I had this bit spoiled for me as well and it didn’t […]
Sappy pulp fiction
Twenty-seventh book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. A one line review for this book would be – He could have done so much better! Shashi Tharoor is a seasoned diplomat and is very well-known for his astute observations about India. Especially his for his deep insight into the politics of religion in India and the complex web of cultures, mythology and traditions that make India. So, it is natural to assume that when someone like him, who doesn’t hold back while talking about something, […]
Ruby Ruby Do You Know What You’re Doing To Me
An amazon freebie you say? Don’t mind if I do…That was the only motivation I had in reading Killing Ruby Rose by Jessie Humphries. As a Prime member, it was available for free download, the cover was attention grabbing and the description seemed interesting. Nuf said? To finish reading my review, head over to my blog!
Leaps In the Dust
One day. 500 pages and it all happens in one long day. There are two short chapters covering the final weeks at the very end of Patricia Cornwell’s Dust, but almost the entire book is one day. Kay Scarpetta wakes early one morning shortly before Christmas to her pager calling her to a murder scene. The picture of the victim is oddly reminiscent of three murders her husband is currently out of town investigating. They work for different organizations though and can’t really share info (nevermind […]
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