Category: FICTION

April 29, 2010

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea *** (of 4)

Three spritely teenage girls and an ebullient gay restaurant keeper from the fictitious town of Tres Camarones (Three Shrimps), Mexico make their way to Tijuana....

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April 29, 2010

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri **** (of 4)

Remarkable short stories. Each one feels like a complete novel of Indian immigrants making their way in the new world.

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April 29, 2010

n Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin ** (of 4)

Eight short stories of contemporary life in Pakistan. Most of the short stories cover decades or lifetimes: way too much material to summarize in just...

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April 29, 2010

Inheritance by Natalie Danford ** (of 4)

A too carefully crafted book of remembering and forgetting. A 30-something daughter of an Italian immigrant father with Alzheimer’s returns to Urbina, Italy to discover...

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April 29, 2010

I am the Messenger by Markus Zuzak * (of 4)

Feh. Zuzak’s means well. An Australian teenage no-goodnik performs saintly deeds for friends, acquaintances, and strangers transforming himself from a messenger of love to the...

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April 29, 2010

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh *** (of 4)

An American-born ecologist of Indian immigrants travels to the Sunderbans to study the Irriwaddy Dolphin. She joins three additional main characters — a translator, an...

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April 29, 2010

The Human Stain by Phillip Roth **** (of 4)

One of the best pieces of literature I’ve ever read with multiple layers about an African American who disguises himself as a Jew becomes a...

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April 29, 2010

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie ** (of 4)

I was so disappointed. The book is billed as the great retelling of the Igbo battle for their independent state of Biafra separate from the...

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April 29, 2010

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton *** (of 4)

In one of Crichton’s earliest books, he retells the adventure of professional, upper crust burglar who spends a year and a half masterminding the heist...

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April 29, 2010