but a languid literary exploration of what family means and what home. The novel spans seven decades and is told in multiple viewpoints from members of the Cassar family. I found some of the voices more engaging than others and some of the chapters dragged for me, but all share a literary quality and a gift for evocative description. Sometimes the descriptions are too elaborate in my opinion (do we really need to know every name and background of people attending a party if we never meet them again?) and the large cast of characters was overwhelming, but there are moments of great beauty. The history of colonialism and how personal identity is forged are fascinating topics. This was a slow (okay, at times boring) read for me but I don't regret finishing these 425 pages.

If you love to read about libraries and readers and writers, this book is for you. If you love brilliant, fresh writing, this book is for you. If you love a complex, unreliable narrator, this book is for you. If you worry about privilege, appropriation and who gets to tell whose story, this book is for you. If you want a propulsive, immersive read that simultaneously expands your mind by asking big questions, you need to read this book. If you're in the market for unforgettable, fully-fledged characters, honestly rendered and painfully flawed, I recommend BAD ANIMALS to you. For everyone else: Read BAD ANIMALS. It'll be worth your time.

I savored every single one of the ten amazing stories that make up this slim collection -- limiting myself to one story a day -- and still, it was over too fast. I felt slightly bereft when finished. What connects these stories that explore common enough tropes such as coming-of-age, addiction, the transient nature of art, loneliness, and grief, is their heart and utter originality. Vara's voice is so perceptive that it's easy to immerse yourself in the various lives of her characters to the point where you feel their anguish and shame, joy, and confusion as your own and come up with your cheeks burning. Given the stunning writing at every level, I rate this one a perfect FIVE.

A fascinating debut novel, told from a place way out of my comfort zone. As someone who doesn't much care for gossip or celebrity, I didn't expect to be drawn so deeply into the life of a B-actress turned gossip columnist covering Hollywood's golden years. But I was, mostly due to the well-drawn, complex characters. There's a lot to learn here about the power studios yielded over their stars pre-World War II and the power established columnists had to make or break fortunes. The aptly (re-named) Edie O'Dare discovers the secrets beyond the glamour and turns them into her own pot of gold.

From the first, I was impressed with Edie's choice to look out for herself. She isn't a lovable character for the most part. While she tries to get justice for a teenage girl raped at a Hollywood party, she is not going to risk her reputation for the sake of the wronged girl. She has to take care of herself and her vulnerable writer brother if they are to thrive.

Are the choices Edie and others make to further their careers sensible, understandable, or morally repugnant? Only you, dear reader, can decide. Do tell.

Thomas Grey is a renowned spy in Britain's Secret Service at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is a daring hero with impeccable ethics, a thousand talents, and charm to boot. It's up to him to prevent Spain from allying with France and declaring war on Britain, and over the course of a little over two hundred fast-paced and often exhilarating pages, he delivers. The writing is great and the historical facts are meticulously researched; knowing nothing about nineteenth-century naval warfare I was nevertheless impressed by the writer's extensive knowledge of historic vessels, munitions, and general seafaring logistics.
If this novel wasn't for me, it's because I spent much of my youth following the exploits of white, male saviors, and now that (finally!) different, previously marginalized perspectives are available, (from the wives of the heroes; the victims of colonization; lowly pirates pressed into service, etc.) I prefer catching up with those. Not this perfectly fine book's fault. Just a reminder that the expansion of the big tent of literature doesn't mean the obliteration of old forms. In a perfect world, we can all co-exist together.

This story pulled me in from beginning to end. Like many poor kids in ramshackle towns with ramshackle families, Bucky dreams of escape by way of a college football scholarship. As setbacks, misfortunes, and misunderstandings pile up, he finds himself deported from the US to the country of his birth parents (Korea), a place as alien to him as the language. Often heartbreaking, more often heart-pounding and hilarious, this overcoming-the-odds tale of family, friendship, identity, perseverance, and belonging is a wild and deeply satisfying ride. All thumbs.

Set in a border town between northern and southern Sudan at the center of the looming civil war, this astounding debut is told by a cast of five incredibly well-crafted protagonists. At an NGO compound, Sudanese-American documentarian Dena is filming scenes from daily life, and her keen eye contributes to the cinematic quality -- reading this novel often feels like watching a powerful movie. We have time to get to know twelve-year-old Mustafa, the entrepreneurial houseboy; William, the affable translator who has fallen in love with Layla, the nomad cook; and impatient Alex, the white American sent to the region to create a map of the fast-changing landscape. Then all hell breaks loose, and what lives are not lost are forever reconfigured.

In addition to the many lessons to be learned about the geopolitical power structure of Sudan in 2002, the novel is at heart a love story about families forged and found.

After losing myself in this extraordinary debut for a solid week (at over four hundred and sixty pages the novel is hefty) I'm very curious how THE GOD OF ENDINGS will be shelved in bookstores: Will it be considered literary fiction given the gorgeous prose and universal themes of love and loss? Will it be filed under speculative fiction or fantasy because its protagonist is one of the undead? Maybe the prevailing atmosphere of mystery and dread makes this a gothic novel… The tale starts in the 1830s and ends in the early 1980s, so could it be…. historical fiction….with magical elements?

Wherever this book will be placed, book groups will gobble it up: So many questions to discuss! Would you rather die and be forgotten or live forever, feeding on the living? Should you stay away from loving mortals to avoid grief? Or pass on the curse of eternal life so you can keep loving them?

I love this book so much I'd marry it if I weren't already married. As things stand, my rushed affair with Millet's novel left me feeling bereft when it was over. At 230 pages, the book is slim and easy to gobble up in two sittings. Take your time, reader, to savor this compulsive story so it may last you a while longer. There's much to relish: the relatable characters all but one of whom I wish could be my friends; the themes of love, loss, privilege, and purpose; the spare and elegant prose that manages to highlight just the right kind of detail. A novel for anyone hoping for a bit of light and enlightenment in what too often feels like dark times.

Reading a Jean Thompson novel is like catching up with a friend you've loved for decades because she is witty and kind and endlessly curious about the human condition. She's unbothered by fads and writerly pretenses, and after spending time with her books I always feel refreshed and more hopeful about the human race.

The Poet's House follows a twenty-something landscaper with a reading disability who discovers the power poems can hold and is consequently smitten with an elderly poet and her eccentric entourage. Her (very nice) boyfriend is less than thrilled by this development.

Readers who like reading about writing will gobble this novel up in no time (we get to attend a writers' conference! For free!)-- but so will anyone else who enjoys fine, honest fiction.

As much as I wanted to love this sprawling, inventive, and ambitious novel, it wasn't for me. It reads like five books rolled into one, and I found the frequent scene/time/story-line hopping exhausting to follow. By the time I got into the groove (and just went with it), the book ended.
There is so much brilliance and profound knowledge in this tale, but I wish the author had saved some of her ideas and characters for another book instead of cramming them all into this one.

The story follows Meilin and her son, Renshu, for a span of almost seventy years, as they make the perilous journey from war-torn, mainland China in 1938 to temporary safety in Taiwan to living different lives on different continents. I was inspired by Meilin's resilience, her love for her son, and the deep bond between them, and I was heartbroken by the many losses and setbacks the two of them must suffer. Yet the suffering is never without hope (Renshu, renamed 'Henry', makes a middle-class life for himself in the US and fathers a daughter who symbolizes the melting pot in all its questioning glory).

The novel covers more emotional ground than any I've read in a long while, the characters are utterly relatable, and Fu's prose is never less than evocative and stunning. All thumbs.

Thank you to this book and its brilliant author for transporting me out of my boring, pandemic seclusion. I didn't expect to get so caught up in an American poet's quest to find answers to old family mysteries and issues of identity and belonging in a tale set in 1995s Jordan, but I was hooked from beginning to end. If, as Rebecca Solnit wrote, (quoting loosely) the point of reading is to transcend your gender/ race/ class/ nationality/ moment in history/ age/ ability/ to experience being the other, Abu-Jaber has done her job beautifully.
The writing is skilled, intimate, and evocative, and book clubs will enjoy discussing the power of family ties, religion, materialistic versus transcendent goals, and more...Immensely Powerful.