Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Richard Powers’ first book was published in 1985. His twelfth novel, The Overstory, released in 2018, won the Pulitzer Prize and was a #1 New York Times best seller. Bewilderment is his thirteenth book.
Category: Book Review
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This book’s title is taken from a 1950s top-20 hit song. It has been re-recorded many times, and a 1963 version by Bobby Vinton reached number one. It is a love song of a jilted lover who sings, “But when she left, gone was the glow of blue velvet … I can still see blue velvet through my tears.”
The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
Based upon the characters, this historical fiction might be seen as a coming-of-age story. But the many themes, including social pragmaticism, hopeful dreams, defending ourselves, getting a fresh start, betrayal, virtue, guilt, indignation, atonement, and forgiveness go well beyond the transition of youth into adulthood. Over almost 600 pages, all of the above come into play and are intermingled.
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
The Bastard of Istanbul, by Elif Shafak, is a complicated novel which, through the lens of historical hostilities between Turks and Armenians, tells the story of people conflicted by the burden of reconciling the past with the present.
An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie
Book Review by Michael Attard The title of the book An African in Greenland sparked my curiosity. How did he go? When did he visit? What did he do there? … Read More
The Teacher of Warsaw by Mario Escobar
This historical fiction is centered upon a diary of a few months written in 1942 in Warsaw, Poland. The memoir belonged to Henryk Goldszmit, a writer, radio host, columnist, and director of two children’s orphanages. The novel by Mario Escobar revolves around this short but shameful time in history. It was Goldszmit’s life of dedication to children that inspired the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations in November 1959.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Can you relate to black radical lesbian feminism? If you can, or even if you cannot, this novel is for you.
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson: “A Ripping Yarn of Murder and Invention.”
In this non-fiction book, Erik Larson sets out two distinct stories that appear to have no connection to each other. And it is also the case that the large cast of characters in each story never meet each other, nor do they ever have any desire or reason to meet. Yet, while one protagonist is crucial to the downfall of the other, the second protagonist is significant in the success of the former.