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A Novel
by Laura McBride
Book Reviewed by:Three lives are bound together by a split-second mistake, and a child's fate hangs in the balance.
What happens next will test—and restore—your faith in humanity.
"We never know how high we are / Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan, / Our statures touch the skies—"
(Emily Dickinson)
Beyond Las Vegas's casinos lies a boomtown where four lives can be brought together by one split-second choice.
In the predawn hours, a woman's marriage crumbles with a single confession. Across town, an immigrant family struggles to fit in and get by in the land of opportunity. Three thousand miles away, a soldier wakes up in Walter Reed hospital with the vague feeling that he's done something awful. In a single moment, these disparate lives intersect. Faced with seemingly insurmountable loss, each person must decide whether to give in to despair, or to find the courage and resilience to rise.
We Are Called to Rise is a story about a child's fate. It is a story about families—the ones we have and the ones we make. It challenges us to think about our responsibilities to each other and reminds us that compassion and charity can rescue us, even in our darkest moment. It is a book that will break your heart and then put it back together.
One of McBride's chief skills is creating distinct voices. The narrative reveals each character's age, class, and experiences. Unfortunately, I found the ways in which the characters connect and recover to be somewhat predictable, and at times tedious in the telling. For the most part, though, I was able to put my cynicism aside and appreciate the way the author finds meaning in misfortune...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).
The story of Las Vegas's meteoric rise from desert backwater to world-class city provides the backdrop to Laura McBride's debut novel, We Are Called to Rise, in which four city residents' lives intersect in unpredictable ways. The characters have a wide range of opinions about their hometown. While Roberta and Bashkim love the bleak beauty of the Nevada desert and its wildlife, Avis and her friends often decry the disadvantages of living "in a town nicknamed Sin City, in a place most American families wouldn't dream of bringing their children, in a state where prostitution is legal and gambling is sacrosanct."
The city of Las Vegas has only existed for a little over a century, since 1905, when 110 acres next to the Union Pacific ...
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Eleanor Brown, author of The Weird Sisters
Both tense and touching, intimate and global, Laura McBride's debut is a genuinely affecting story of innocence, resilience, and the surprising ties that connect us all. The characters' voices are so real, so raw and human, you will find yourself thinking of them long after you have turned the last page.
