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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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American Dirt: A Novel
by Jeanine Cummins

A Suspenseful and Terrifying Thriller That Doubles as Current Events (4/18/2023)

This is a quick-to-read, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thriller by Jeanine Cummins that tracks in often gruesome detail the path of a mother and son as they migrate from Mexico to the United States to escape a brutal drug cartel that wants them both dead. While most …more thrillers are sheer fiction, this one is not. Oh sure, the characters are fictional, but this is no fantasy. It is all too real, and as a good novel will do, it powerfully depicts what is happening over and over and over again every day in Mexico and on the border of the United States. This is fiction doubling as current events.

Lydia and Sebastian lead a charmed and somewhat affluent life in beautiful Acapulco. He is a top journalist, she owns a successful bookstore, and together they have a precocious 8-year-old boy, Luca. But when Sebastian publishes an exposé on the kingpin of the local drug cartel, he and 15 members of his family are brutally executed in Lydia's mother's backyard during a quinceañera celebration. Lydia and Luca miraculously escape, and now they must flee because this cartel is still out for revenge—and will stop at nothing. This book is the story of their trek to the United States, and the suspense and action never let up. (Advice: Don't read this before you go to sleep. It will haunt your dreams—and not in a good way.)

While this is not great literature—it's a straight-up thriller and nothing more—it does waken the typical American reader to better understand the dangerous and terrifying plight of many Mexican migrants, and for this I applaud Jeanine Cummins.

About the bruhaha over "American Dirt": I have read a lot about the objections some Latinos have to a white woman writing this story—one who now lives in New York City and grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Yes, not many authors—of any ethnic descent—will get the star publishing treatment Cummins has received. And I do appreciate that inequity. Still, Cummins did extensive, years' long research for this book to make her characters and plot as authentic as possible. Many (many!) novelists write outside their lifestyle, and that is perfectly acceptable provided the research is done. To say that only a Latino/Latina can write a book like this is just not reasonable or even advisable. That said, this controversy has made me want to read more books by Latino/Latina authors, especially Luis Alberto Urrea. (less)

The Guest Book
by Sarah Blake

This Is a Really, Really Good Story That You Won't Be Able to Stop Reading! (4/18/2023)

What a book! This engrossing and ingeniously plotted three-generation family saga will take you back to a time and place of incredible wealth, gracious manners, and deeply-guarded secrets.

It's 1936. While the rest of the country is in the depths of the Great Depression, …more

Shipping News: A Novel
by Annie Proulx

An Intelligent Novel with Exquisite Writing. This Is a Book to Be Savored and Treasured (4/18/2023)

Oh, the writing! This book by E. Annie Proulx takes place primarily in Newfoundland. Even in the summer it's cold. And windy. I don't know how she did it, but Proulx's exquisite writing mirrors the iciness of the barren land. If ice and snow had a writing style, this would …more

Washington Black
by Esi Edugyan

An Adventure Story Like No Other! (4/18/2023)

Magnificently written by Esi Edugyan, this is an adventure story, albeit a highly unlikely one. Just suspend your sense of reality, and go along for the magical ride. And what a ride it is!

George Washington Black (nicknamed Wash), age 10 or 11 (he doesn't really know), is …more

Little Gods
by Meng Jin

This Is a Strange Story with a Cumbersome Structure, But It's Also Beautiful and Compelling (4/18/2023)

Oh, this is a strange little book. It's also strangely beautiful and strangely compelling.

Who ARE you…really? Ask that question of anyone who is close to you, and you'll probably get different answers. That's because we are perceived differently by different people. And …more

Such a Fun Age
by Kiley Reid

An Important Message About Prejudice and Forgiveness Wrapped Up in a Fabulous, Intriguing Story (4/18/2023)

This book grabbed me on page one and never let go. It's a riveting page-turner not because it's a thriller or a whodunit but because it's a compelling story about people…people who are acting up, while trying to do the right thing for all the wrong reasons—and utterly …more failing.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, this is billed on the cover as a social satire about privilege in America. It's the story of two women—one White, one Black. One is the employer; the other is the employee. Alix Chamberlin is a privileged, wealthy, slightly dishonest mother of two adorable girls, who is used to getting her own way and always coming out on top. Her husband, Peter, is a local TV news anchor. So Peter can get a better job, they move out of New York City to Alix's childhood hometown of Philadelphia, and Alix mourns the loss of the big city. They live in a huge home in a prestigious neighborhood. Alix has a book contract, so she hires Elmira Tucker as a part-time babysitter for the girls to give her time to write. Elmira is Black, and even though she is a Temple University college graduate she is 25 and hasn't figured out what she wants to do with her life. She has no money and is about to lose her health insurance when she turns 26 in a few months.

The novel opens when Elmira receives a frantic call from Alix very late one night to immediately come get Briar, the two-year-old, and take her to the nearby grocery store for about an hour. Why? Peter (we find out later) said something very stupid on air, and their house got egged, causing one of the windows to break. Peter and Alix are calling the police, and they don't want their little girl to witness this. Elmira is all dressed up and out having a grand time at a friend's birthday party, but drops what she's doing to go get Briar, a precocious child whom Elmira dearly loves. While they are in the grocery store, the security guard confronts Elmira, accusing her of kidnapping Briar. A crowd gathers, and a witness named Kelley Copeland, captures the scene on his phone. It is this video that guides the rest of the story in ways that are hilarious, profound, degrading, shocking, and (finally) liberating.

Ingeniously plotted with superb pacing, this is a fabulous story with an important message about prejudice and expectations, deception and forgiveness, but one that is wrapped up in an intriguing storyline, brilliant (and sometimes blistering) dialogue, and colorful characters. Read it! (less)

Olive, Again: A Novel
by Elizabeth Strout

What a Treasure! This Is a Book About Life and Death That Is Filled with Wisdom and Grace (4/17/2023)

This is a 10-star book in a five-star world. With an imaginative structure, a riveting storyline, and incredibly vivid characters, this book by author Elizabeth Strout is one to read slowly, fully savor, and treasure.

This is the sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Olive …more

The Ice Queen
by Alice Hoffman

An Imaginative, Spellbinding Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups (4/17/2023)

This is a fairy tale for grown-ups. And quite a tale it is with the suffering heroine, the monster with whom she falls in love, and a desperately unhappy life that happily turns around.

As a little girl, our heroine said something almost every angry child utters at one time …more

Slammerkin
by Emma Donoghue

A Gripping, Historical Saga That Reveals the Underbelly of a Brutal World (4/17/2023)

This is a difficult book to read because it is so very sad. But even though this historical novel by Emma Donoghue is raw and emotionally draining, it tells an important story about the 18th century: the plight of girls and women who were abandoned and the degrading, awful …more

Elevation: A Novel
by Stephen King

Disappointing! A Lesson in Tolerance, But Told Without Nuance or Subtlety (4/17/2023)

If the front cover didn't list Stephen King as the author, I would never have guessed he wrote it. Mind you, I don't read horror novels, so I dance around the edges of King's oeuvre, and this one is definitely on that edge. No horror at all, but also not much of a story.

…more

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak

Innovative, Imaginative, and Inspiring: A Brilliant and Unforgettable Must-Read Novel (4/17/2023)

If someone were to ask me to describe this incredibly creative book in three words, this is it: Innovative. Imaginative. Inspiring. It may take you a few pages to become accustomed to the highly original writing style, but the payoff is so worth it. This is one of those …more

America for Beginners
by Leah Franqui

I Just Want to Hug This Book! A Delightful and Charming Story About Life, Love, and Truly Living (4/17/2023)

When I was about halfway through reading "America for Beginners" by Leah Franqui, I had the (admittedly odd) thought: I just want to hug this book. In addition to being a delightful story—more enchanting than a page-turner—this book is filled with pithy wit and wisdom about …more

Wolf Hall: A Novel
by Hilary Mantel

Old-Fashioned Storytelling at Its Best: The Life and Drama of Thomas Cromwell (4/17/2023)

History comes vitally alive when it's told not with facts and dates and lists but rather through the drama of the people who lived it. And author Hilary Mantel does a magnificent job of bringing to life Thomas Cromwell, a man long cast as a cunning Machiavellian villain but …more

Miller's Valley: A Novel
by Anna Quindlen

If You Grew Up in the 1960s, This Book Will Likely Resonate with You (4/17/2023)

If you grew up in the 1960s, graduating from high school in the early 1970s, this coming-of-age story is likely to resonate with you. While the novel recounts a girl's passage into adulthood during a somewhat turbulent time, it also pays homage to the power of Mother Nature, …more

This Is How It Always Is
by Laurie Frankel

Oh, This Is SO Good! It's Almost a Perfect Book. Bonus: You'll Be a Better Person for Reading It (4/17/2023)

This book grabbed my heart on page one and never let go. Exquisitely written by Laurie Frankel with aplomb, humor, and a rare insightful emotional intelligence, this is a book about a subject that is so difficult—and to some so disgusting—it's easier to ignore it or, worse, …more

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the 1918 Pandemic
by John M. Barry

Prodigiously Researched and Expertly Written, This Book Has Ramifications for Today and Covid-19 (4/17/2023)

History DOES repeat itself. I read this book about the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, and the similarities are chilling—especially the many elected officials who first mocked it and later denied it, not only radically increasing the …more

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
by Trevor Noah

A Book That Alternates Between Shock and Incredulity and Tragedy—But Will Still Make You Laugh (4/17/2023)

You will never again watch Trevor Noah tell a joke or go on a political tirade without asking yourself this question: How did he do it? How did he grow up to become a functioning human being? Even with the fierce, protective love his mother, Noah lived a precarious and …more

The Red Lotus
by Chris Bohjalian

Hold onto Your Reading Chair! This Intelligent Thriller Takes You on an Exhilarating Ride (4/17/2023)

This novel, written long before "Covid-19" or "coronavirus" were in our everyday lexicon, has an eerie ring of verisimilitude. So if the daily headlines aren't scary enough for you, grab this book—but don't plan on getting anything else done for a while because you won't be …more

Purple Hibiscus
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An Unforgettable Tale of the Power of the Human Psyche in That Liminal Space Between Love and Hate (4/17/2023)

This is a heartbreaking book. And while I believe this may very well be great literature, it is not a book one should read lightly. It is absolutely devastating.

Written by the inimitable Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the lyrical, sometimes gritty prose will take you on a …more

The Good Life
by Jay McInerney

This Is the Literary Equivalent of a Bottle of Champagne—Fizzy and Fun but Not Much Substance (4/17/2023)

This book is the literary equivalent of a bottle of Champagne. It opens with a pop, and while it's fizzy and bubbly and fun, there ultimately isn't much substance to it. Still, it's pretty amazing!

Written by Jay McInerney in his witty and intelligent style, this is the …more

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