A castaway tale with a narrative that runs between Paris and a remote polynesian island interspersed with a glimpse of the disenchanted Manhattan life.

Both Barry and Sophie find themselves thrown together and the story matured poignantly to it's very emotional ending...

For me this story is really relevant as I'm headed to Paris to see my mom who I haven't seen in 7 years...

Oh yes and Pere Lachaise, you've got to see where Oscar Wilde is buried...

Loved this book.
Thank you bookbrowse for this engrossing advance reader copy :)

So very grateful to have received this advance reader copy from BookBrowse.

A very satisfying philosophical book with simple truths about existence; life/death and the protagonists development from a college freshman to a lawyer who joins a non-profit that advocates for those on death row.

The story follows Leo, who having lost the love of his life staggers through the devastation, and finally comes to terms with this loss. The theme of eternal recurrence is often mentioned.

The protagonist's Jewish heritage and various ecclesiastical discussions of the Abrahamic religion and finding your Aolam Haba (the world to come) was very interesting ... I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it, to both believers and the non-believers.

What an ambitious debut novel. Thanks to bookbrowse for this first impressions book to read and review.

I have to say this read has been a crazy trip between music (rock) and science. Ambitious, re configuring of lives by time travel, not through a capsule or a machine, but through worm-holes.

Underlying the love story that spins around the time-space continum, there is this insidious degradation of environment that is unavoidable with modern human life. The survival of the species with its adaptive, evolutionary resilience is pretty awesome.

Not necessarily a big literature high, but definitely a more pop sort of gratification with a pretty good dose of physics and relativism thrown in!

if you love science, indie rock, and beer... go on grab this book!

Having read Ms. Munaweera's debut novel, Island of a Thousand mirrors, I was very excited to receive this first impression book of hers.
What lies between us, is a very raw read. Without divulging too much, I have to say, Nayomi Munaweera is a brutally passionate writer.
Half way through the book, I realize that the protagonist, whose life we read about in minute detail hasn't been given a 'name'. Only on the last paragraph, does her name get announced.
The story spans across two worlds, Sri Lanka and the US. It has the usual Immigrant fiction flavor with a deeply disturbing psychological twist. The book examines motherhood and the various expectations that surround it, both social and cultural. Relationships plagued by taboo happenings and the grand finale where the protagonist "gives' it all up in search of a home, even if it means getting institutionalized.
Brilliant and disturbing, with a side of infanticide!

Vastly grateful to have received this book as an advance reader copy.
Once I started this read, I couldn't put it down. This is a deeply engaging and thought provoking book.

The protagonist gets obfuscated often by her emotions, her unmet needs, and her thirst for belonging. Her trust is betrayed and the larger societal issues of deprivation due to the drought, religious fanaticism, and dependence on nature are nicely woven together to tell a story that is captivating and heartfelt.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to find an intelligent and satisfying read.

I received this book as a club read from Bookbrowse.

It was page turner, but not necessarily a satisfying read...
That being said, the book explores body alteration, voluntary and otherwise very expertly. It questions one's perception of 'normal'.
The marketing aspect of the Wonders was a brilliant portrayal, but somehow, the full package lacked heart, (no pun intended).

The circus angle was very well depicted, including the allusions to abuse of animals and performers. On the one hand, this story has so much potential and yet, I was left wanting more details...

Having read quite a few immigrant fiction about the diaspora South Asian and others, I wasn't expecting much. Island of a thousand mirrors is a story about the Sri Lankan civil war and refreshingly enough all the major protagonists are women. I have vivid memories of Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi being assassinated by the LTTE female suicide bombers. Having been very aware of India's failed peace keeping efforts in Lanka, I remember wondering about the Buddhist ahimsa going awry in that part of the world where monks were the killers and where the Buddhist majority went on a carnage against the Tamil (hindu) minority, thanks to colonial England's segregate and rule policy. Later the cry for an independent Eelam by the Tamil tigers led that country into 20 plus years of the worst kind of atrocities.

Munaweera's book captures the gore, & the human element of war without machismo, glamour, or pontifications. Her story is judgment free and poignantly beautiful. It brings the gorgeous Island of Sri Lanka to life and paints the life of it's protagonists: Yasodhara, Saraswati, Lanka, Shiva etc...in a very three dimensional way. I absolutely love this book and thank you Book browse for sending me a free copy. I highly recommed this book. It exposes the beauty of Sri Lanka and makes me want to visit. Unwittingly, Munaweera paints a beautiful picture of a verdant island...

Reading Netzer for the first time and I am glad i received this advance copy as a book club read.

A mystery/romance arranged marriage and some unrequitted love. This novel has all these elements woven into a nerdy story with some quirky characters, role playing gamers, interspersed with poetry, super-collider sex, black holes, astronomy, astrology, and tea leaves. Somewhere between science and art appreciation, this story goes from hippie to scientific and back to everyday mundane living.

A satisfying read.

I received this book as a book club read from Bookbrowse.
A painfully human narration of ordinary people living through the ethnic conflict in Chechnya. I found the book to be captivating and painful to read. The purges, the freedom gained, and later the ethnic marginalizing of Chechens (mostly Muslims) sheds light on the complex issues and corruption rampant in the states broken away from the former USSR. Beautiful story telling without judgement that tries to make sense of love, family ties, and human bondage in the times of civil unrest and devastation due to war.

As a genre that I don't naturally veer toward, getting this from Bookbrowse for a club read, mandated that I read it. I am happy that I did, although most of the insights in it are pretty obvious.

All I can say is that after I read the book, I decided to try the author's approach of creating a shrine in my cluttered but favorite area at home.

It worked! I did sacrifice 5 hours of my Sunday to do it, but the end product was worth it.

I would recommend this book to those who need that little extra push to get started.

I got this advance copy from bookbrowse for which I am extremely grateful.
It is a quick read. Ms. Hatvany deftly links hot topic issues of organ transplant, domestic violence, loss of a child to death and women's independence in one artful narrative. She profiles a domestic violence victim with an affluent and influential background, very different from societal perceptions of DV. The story deals with the harsh reality of a child's sudden death and her mom agreeing to organ transplant to benefit other children, thus throwing together two women with entirely different lifestyles. An engrossing read which is also a tear jerker.

I received this book as a book club read and couldn't put it down when I started reading it. The characters gripped me from the beginning and I had to know the outcome. I loved the sense of longing portrayed in the novel and also the feeling of alienation felt by the male protagonist-Thomas Bayber, Most of the people in the novel have major flaws and it's a refreshing feat (of the author) to not white wash them. Alice, Natalie, and the rest of the cast live their lives holding steadfast to whatever keeps them surviving...
I am glad I read this ...Thank you Book Browse for putting this book on my radar. I highly recommend this book as a quick and fulfilling read.