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Reviews by Davida Chazan

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Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell
Net or Let (8/14/2020)
For those who don’t know, Hamnet was the name of William Shakespeare’s only son, who died at the age of 11. In O’Farrell’s latest novel, she takes up the scholarly presumption that there was a direct connection between his son’s death and his play “Hamlet.” To do this, O’more
Code Name Hélène
by Ariel Lawhon
Resistance in Red Lipstick (5/7/2020)
Nancy Wake was an ex-pat Australian, working as a freelance journalist in France sending stories to the Hearst papers in the US, when she fell in love with the wealthy businessman, Henri Fiocca. That was in 1936, and Nancy had already witnessed the beginnings of the rise ofmore
Lady Clementine
by Marie Benedict
More Daring than Darling (1/3/2020)
Benedict uses her straightforward and uncompromising literary style to focus this novel mostly on Clementine’s life starting from when she met Winston in 1904, through 1945. That means the book encompasses both world wars. Think about it… to put 41 (very eventful) yearsmore
The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt: A Novel
by Andrea Bobotis
A Family Inventory (7/9/2019)
First and foremost, oh… my… goodness! Bobotis is an absolutely amazing writer! The language here is so stunning, that I’m having a hard time describing it to you all. Bobotis’ voice is very unique, which is something that is probably the hardest thing to achieve for anymore
Warlight
by Michael Ondaatje
The consequences of peace (6/22/2018)
"It is 1945, and London is still reeling from the Blitz and years of war. 14-year-old Nathaniel and his sister, Rachel, are apparently abandoned by their parents, left in the care of an enigmatic figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and both grow moremore
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
by Kathleen Rooney
A Life in Steps (4/8/2018)
This book made it to my "top 5 of 2017" list, and is certainly my favorite type of fiction (although usually this happens more with historical fiction, and less with contemporary fiction - of which this is essentially both), shining a light on real people about whom we knowmore
The Music Shop: A Novel
by Rachel Joyce
Hallelujah for Vinyl (3/1/2018)
Rachel Joyce's newest novel begins with this simple line, "There once was a music shop." No, this isn't a fairy tale; instead, what follows is a complex journey of two people on the backdrop of a soundtrack that’s equally as eclectic as they are. It’s the 1980s and Frankmore
Young Jane Young
by Gabrielle Zevin
The Choices We Make (8/24/2017)
The more I think about this book, the more I realize how ingeniously Zevin constructed it. First, each section has a different narrating character, telling one part of the story from their perspective. Like other books that use this mechanic, the sum of all these sectionsmore
See What I Have Done
by Sarah Schmidt
The clock on the mantle ticked ticked (6/16/2017)
Although a jury of her peers found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the murders of her father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden, the court of public opinion found her guilty as charged. The mystery behind these brutal murders continues to this day, almost a full 125 yearsmore
The Atomic Weight of Love
by Elizabeth Church
Devotion en masse (2/10/2017)
Meridian is very smart, and she wants to become an ornithologist, something very unusual for a girl growing up in post-WWI in America. With the support of her mother, and knowing she has the blessing of her late father she begins that journey. However, when she meets themore
Flight of Dreams
by Ariel Lawhon
Titanic Flight (12/30/2016)
The Hindenburg was the famous Nazi zeppelin that blew up just as it was about to land in New Jersey in 1937. Built to be a modern aviation miracle, and the last word in luxury travel, this incident was not only tragic, but like the 1936 Olympics, it was quickly a black spotmore
Britt-Marie Was Here
by Fredrik Backman
Baking Soda and Soccer (5/31/2016)
Every so often, a writer comes along who can write a story with characters that touch you to your very core. Fredrik Backman is one of those writers - he did it with his first novel A Man Called Ove, repeated this with his second novel My Grandmother Sends Her Regrets andmore
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos: A Novel
by Dominic Smith
Landscapes of Deception (4/29/2016)
In reality, none of Sarah van Baalbergen's works survived, but Dominic Smith decided to turn the few known facts about her into fiction by renaming her as Sara de Vos and resurrecting her work. Smith grabs your attention from the very first moments, with the scenes of Saramore
Invisible City: A Rebekah Roberts Novel
by Julia Dahl
The darkness beneath the black hats and wigs (3/18/2015)
To tell the truth, crime dramas aren't really my thing. But being Jewish, I found the connection to the ultra-orthodox or Hassidic world was what drew me to this book. Their world is famous (or perhaps I should say infamous) for being insular and separatist to the extreme,more
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BookBrowse Book Club

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    The Bluest Eye
    by Toni Morrison
    The story of a black girl in America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others. First published 1970; won the 1993 Nobel Prize.

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