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Reviews by Alison F. (Clearwater, FL)

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Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra: A Novel
by Costanza Casati
Her Own Voice (12/22/2022)
Finally an author takes on Agamemnon's "vengeful" wife and her life story in this modern feminist retelling of the Greek stories of Troy. I was late jumping on board with the retellings but Casati's contribution here is fantastic and presents dimension, intelligence and …more
Our Missing Hearts
Our Missing Hearts: A Novel
by Celeste Ng
The Power of Words (9/30/2022)
Celeste Ang's Our Missing Hearts is a near dystopian novel that seems not far from our own current reality. In this case Asian but more specifically those with Chinese heritage are blamed for all troubles. The book though is about the power of words that are intended, …more
Metropolis
Metropolis: A Novel
by B. A. Shapiro
Snapshots of Life Struggles (5/9/2022)
B.A. Shapiro has crafted a clever story of lives that have converged because of a storage facility in Cambridge, MA. We have good lawyers and bad, an artist, immigration and domestic violence trauma, people trying to make the best of their lives and protect their family and …more
The Northern Reach
The Northern Reach
by W.S. Winslow
Sweeping Family Saga (12/8/2020)
I thoroughly enjoyed this family saga set in coastal Maine. It reminded me of Louise Erdrich's Live Medicine in its scope and the interweaving of various families over many years. It also beautifully written and evokes a sense of place that makes this book even more …more
Small Days and Nights
Small Days and Nights: A Novel
by Tishani Doshi
Sense of belonging (11/19/2019)
Small Days and Nights is a gorgeously written novel of a part Indian part Italian young woman who finds she has inherited an older sibling she did not know existed who has Down's Syndrome. Gracia does struggle with her return to India, off kilter as an outsider surrounded …more
Nothing to See Here
Nothing to See Here
by Kevin Wilson
Burning Love (6/19/2019)
I am so happy to have read Kevin Wilson's most recent novel, Nothing to See Here. As you can imagine, a book with children who spontaneously combust will have some excitement for sure but mostly this story is about parental live, good and bad. It's also about class and fear …more
French Exit
French Exit
by Patrick deWitt
French Exit (2/25/2018)
Like Wes Anderson's Royal Tennenbaums, this novel is filled with quirky, privileged eccentrics that may have a layer of dust on their old shimmering life. Likeable and detestable at the same time, the story is compelling.
All Is Not Forgotten
All Is Not Forgotten
by Wendy Walker
All is Not Forgotten (11/9/2015)
Wendy Walker's psychological thriller is very compelling with its various narrators, characters and their baggage. Since memory loss, intentional and otherwise, is a major issue in the plot, the reader is left with some questions about what is true and what is being …more
Everybody Rise
Everybody Rise
by Stephanie Clifford
Everybody Rise But Evelyn (3/21/2015)
This book was entertaining and reminded me of Bonfire of the Vanities in a less satirical way. While I know these old money ways exist things are changing and I found the characters a bit like caricatures then people you would want to join. They seemed a little "dated." I …more
All the Old Knives
All the Old Knives
by Olen Steinhauer
Dinner for old times' sake (12/12/2014)
Olen Steinhauer's All the Old Knives turns a spy thriller into a study of the characters of two spies, one active and one now retired. They are also former lovers and purportedly are getting together to catch up and rehash theories regarding a terrorist incident in Vienna. …more
The Quick
The Quick
by Lauren Owen
Victorian London with twists and turns (5/7/2014)
Lauren Owen's The Quick is a well written and carefully plotted novel that pushes the edge of a couple of genres-historical fiction and supernatural. It starts out as almost a coming of age story of a poet/playwright and takes a sudden about face and leads you on an …more
The Drowning Guard
The Drowning Guard: A Novel of the Ottoman Empire
by Linda Lafferty
The Drowning Guard by Linda Lafferty (9/2/2013)
Linda Lafferty's The Drowning Guard offers a interesting perspective of the struggles of power in Istanbul in 1826. This historical novel gave insight into the history of the Ottoman Empire and particularly that of the rule in Turkey, the relationship with the Janissaries …more
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