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Reviews by Jill S. (Chicago, IL)

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Shelter
by Jung Yun
A writer with promise (12/2/2015)
This debut novel on family life focuses on a poignant theme: what sacrifices are made by the adult child who never received unconditional love and emotional stability in childhood.

The adult child in question is Kyung Cho, a young father and budding professor who is semi-more
Everybody Rise
by Stephanie Clifford
Social Climbing Revisied (3/3/2015)
I've rarely seen such buzz preceding a book's publication and I do believe it will appeal greatly to a certain audience: those who can't get enough of old-money New York society. Not dissimilar to Messud's Emperor's Children, or Macy's Spoiled, the book read like today'smore
The Last Good Paradise
by Tatjana Soli
Not exactly paradise (11/8/2014)
I absolutely loved Tatjana's Soli's previous books -- The Lotus Eaters and The Forgetting Tree. Both were haunting and I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. Here, Ms. Soli seems to have traded poignancy and insights for slapstick entertainment (think: Gilligan'smore
Accidents of Marriage
by Randy Susan Meyers
Psychologically-astute with real characters (6/15/2014)
So much for expectations: I expected Randy Susan Meyers' latest book to be a run-of-the-bill novel about how an ordinary family is crippled by the father's poor anger management control. In other words, a "lesson" book.

Yes, in the very loosest sense, that's what Accidentsmore
The Headmaster's Wife
by Thomas Christopher Greene
Never felt immersed (12/12/2013)
I tend to gravitate to novels with college settings and this one sounded remarkable: combining a psychological mystery with a close look at a family and events spiraling out of control. However, I found the prose to be somewhat self-conscious and serviceable. I never feltmore
Amy Falls Down
by Jincy Willett
A scathingly funny view of publishing (6/9/2013)
Amy Gallup -- Jincy Willettt's fabulous creation -- would be appalled to hear me describe her as "compelling" or "scathingly funny" or "wickedly good." This laugh-out-loud book captures the bathos of the publishing industry as only an insider could, and along the way, hasmore
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake: A Memoir
by Anna Quindlen
Candid, Insightful and REAL (4/6/2012)
As a Boomer, reading Anne Quindlen’s book reminds me of curling up on the living room couch with a close friend who really “gets” me and listening to her wry observations on life.

And oh wow, DOES Quindlen ever get it! Her essays are insightful, perceptive, poignant and wisemore
A Partial History of Lost Causes: A Novel
by Jennifer duBois
Hard to believe it's a debut! (11/30/2011)
One narrator is living under the shadow of Huntington's, a degenerative disease that killed her father. The other is a former world chess champion who is in a quixotic quest to unseat Vladimir Putin. Both are searching for answers about how to move forward when they'remore
The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel
by Adam Johnson
Vividly original and imaginative (10/17/2011)
Part adventure thriller, part real-life dystopia documentary, part imaginative feat, Adam Johnson searingly paints a portrait of a culture where the individual is erased and the collective is all that matters. Filled with twists and turns and exposure of the dark realitiesmore
The Leftovers: A Novel
by Tom Perrotta
Into Thin Air (6/28/2011)
What if -- whoosh! -- with no explanation, millions of us simply vanished? And what if there were no rhyme or reason to WHO disappears (John Mellencamp and J.Lo, Vladmir Putin and the Pope). What happens in the aftermath to those who are leftovers?

No one knows and Tommore
The Paris Wife: A Novel
by Paula McLain
Mesmerizing Inner Look at Hemingway's First Marriage (11/22/2010)
Before Earnest Hemingway was ERNEST HEMINGWAY -- one of the most revered, studies, analyzed and parodied authors of American literature -- he was a young man with a burning talent, staking his claim to a bright future. And part of this future included Hadley Richardson, hismore
The Ghost of Milagro Creek
by Melanie Sumner
Haunting, Mystical, Riveting (7/1/2010)
I expected this book to be a somewhat light reading about star-crossed lovers in the barrio of Taos. In reality, it is so much more. The reader is immersed in the mysticism of the Jicarilla Apache barrio of Taos, where Native Americans, Hispanics, and whites live together,more
The Swimming Pool
by Holly LeCraw
Diving Into 'The Swimming Pool' (2/21/2010)
Each of the characters in The Swimming Pool are constantly treading water in their search to uncover elusive family secrets. One of the biggest mysteries: what happened years ago when Cecil McClatchey, suspected in his wife's murder, dies in a car accident. Fast forward:more
The Wives of Henry Oades: A Novel
by Johanna Moran
When Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction (11/24/2009)
This is a page-turning debut novel that is based on the true story of Henry Oades, a principled man whose first wife is abducted -- along with their children -- by the Maori. After years of grief, he eventually travels to Berkeley, California, where life gives him a secondmore
The Year of the Flood
by Margaret Atwood
A Roller Coaster Ride Into A Post-Apocalyptic World (7/30/2009)
The Year of the Flood may not be for everyone. It definitely falls into the category of dystopian future lit. But thanks to Margaret Atwood's visionary powers, clever use of words, and inventive plot, the book soars above other books of this nature. The interspersed themesmore
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