Cannonball Read 9

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

Great Expectations

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

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In Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee, Casey Han, a Korean American immigrant in New York City, struggles with being an Americanized daughter in a traditional Korean household.  Unlike her younger sister, Tina, Casey fights against her parents’ expectations of her. For example, her parents, especially her mother, are devout Christians, but Casey enjoys casual sex and has even had an abortion.  And although Casey graduated from Princeton because it was what her parents wanted/expected, she still hasn’t decided what she wants to do when she grows up. This causes turmoil between Casey and her father that culminates […]

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4/19/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:15 |

“We are all migrants through time”

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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I’ve been meaning to read Mohsin Hamid for years now so when I found it right after it was added to my library’s collection, I took it as a sign. Sidenote: Can we talk about how beautiful this cover is? I can’t stop staring at it. The cover designer for the US version should be given a raise. I knew Exit West had something to do with immigrants, but that was the extent of my knowledge going in. Turns out I was in for much, much more and to be honest, no plot summary is going to prepare you for […]

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3/26/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:20 |

And you’re stuck to this corner like a streetlight…

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

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 Esperanza Cordero lives on Mango street in a house that is not her house. The real house is out there waiting for her and it has beautiful windows and white polished bannisters. But for now Esperanza lives in this house, on Mango Street. I’m not sure what to say about this book. It does not lend itself to direct proclamations. Oh this is a tale of coming of age! Oh this is how [insert riveting plotpoint where the main character battles dragons]! Rather the main character is translucent, presented only in her own narration of her neighborhood. “I make a […]

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3/20/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:8 |

I’m a fountain of blood in the shape of a girl…

The Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel

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Patricia Engel has published two other books, the short story collection Vida and the novel It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris. Even though I haven’t read either of those books, I felt that I needed to read her new novel, The Veins of the Ocean. Not only because the reviews were intriguing (and very positive) but also because I don’t remember ever reading anything by a Colombian American novelist. The Veins of the Ocean is the story of Reina Castillo. When we first meet Reina she seems to be living in a sort of limbo. Her whole life revolves around […]

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2/11/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:7 |

Premise of US orphan history: awesome. Book: less awesome.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

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This was the first selection of the new year for my book club, chosen somewhat for length, something short to start off the year, and because there were book club questions in the back of the book. I have picked books to read for worse reasons, so away we went.  Though fiction, this book is the fictionally telling of what to me was an unknown part of American history From 1854 to 1929, orphan children in New York were placed on trains by a group called the “Children’s Aid Society” and sent to various parts of the Midwest to find […]

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1/30/2016 | 's CBR8 Review No:2 |

Read it because it will make you sad and angry

The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel by Cristina Henriquez

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This is a short novel that reads very quickly, but at a certain point, when you realize a tragedy is in the offing, it might slow you down. I dreaded finding out what was going to happen to characters whom I liked so much. The Book of Unknown Americans focuses on immigrant families living in the same apartment complex in Wilmington, Delaware. Henriquez allows each family or individual to speak for themselves in each chapter, and so the reader learns about the diversity within. They come from places like Panama, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico; they are former builders, dancers, boxers; […]

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1/31/2015 | 's CBR7 Review No:7 |

Giving Rebirth is Not For the Weak

Jasmine: A Novel by Bharati Mukherjee

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There are no harmless, compassionate ways to remake oneself. We murder who we were so we can rebirth ourselves in the images of dreams. Even 25 years after it was first published, the themes of this novel remain relevant: the immigrant experience of trying to assimilate into US culture and the particular experience of a young Hindu woman who chooses to defy traditional expectations and dares to remake herself. Violence, including murder, is a part not just of Jasmine’s personal story but of other women, other immigrants and other Americans she knows. Often this violence is a side effect of […]

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11/9/2014 | 's CBR6 Review No:51 |

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