One of America’s greatest and most prolific modern day authors, Kingsolver brings to us another masterpiece. I loved her work in Unsheltered and in Flight Behavior, but my all-time favorite is The Poisonwood Bible. Even at 20 years old it’s still very readable and if you haven’t read it you should. But her latest work is really remarkable…here is my book review Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.

I’m actually struggling a bit to write this review. This book was disturbing in many ways…for it’s gritty and real portrayal of drug addiction in the United States…specifically in the mountains of southern Appalachia.

Kingsolver

Apparently Kingsolver used David Copperfield as inspiration of this novel…but it wasn’t something that came through strongly for me as a reader. What did come through though is Kingsolver’s incredible talent for descriptive narrative, palpable and often painful. There was one passage in this book that I had to set the book down and take a minute it was so real and alarming to read.

But don’t let me scare you away…because this is a must read. It’s deep, factual and substantive.

Meet Damon

Damon is our narrator, only eleven when we meet him, dealing with a single mother who is addicted. Damon has faced things in his short life most of us will never deal with; addiction, starvation, neglect, abuse and violence. There are very few stable adults in his life…not even the Department of Social Services representative cares about him.

As Damon bounces around several unsavory, neglectful and dilapidated foster care homes, he dreams of being an artist. A dream so far beyond his reach he can’t even imagine getting there. Penny less, homeless, motherless – Damon encounters a variety of distrustful characters and only has a tiny handful of friends.

When he finally finds his Grandmother she will get him set up in a foster care home that seems stable on the outside. This is when Damon will become a football star, loose it all when injured, get addicted to opioid painkillers, fall in love with an addict and spiral totally out of control.

A Cry for Help

How can so many horrible things happen to one child? It’s a eye-opening testament to our underfunded welfare, child and social services system not to mention the deep prejudice and misunderstanding of the rural region of southern Appalachia. But don’t fret. Damon “Demon” will get his shit together and you will be astonished at how this book unfolds. A new American Masterpiece with a message we all need to hear. Thank you for reading my book review Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.

See last week’s book review The Book of Goose by Yiyun Lee

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Fabienne and Agnes are best friends growing up in a provincial French village during the post war WWII. Poor beyond words, both girls cling to each other for the affection neither get at home. But life is about to take a big twist, and neither girl will ever be the same. Here is my Book Review The Book of Goose by Yiyun Lee.

Agnes can’t imagine her life without Fabienne, she is everything to Agnes. While Agnes’ parents are preoccupied with her dying brother Jean, Agnes hangs on Fabienne’s every word.

Fabienne has her own troubles at home, with a drunken father and brothers who expect her to cook and clean, she finds solace in fantasy stories she creates. But Fabienne is also manipulative, demanding and often rude to Agnes…while Agnes does anything Fabienne wants to please her.

But when Fabienne hatches a plan to write a book and say that Agnes is the author, neither girl has any idea how many people will be hurt and scandalized as they fall deeper and deeper into a world of lies.

Yiyun Lee is a unique writing talent, and her character development of these two adolescent girls, one a leader the other a follower, their choices, mistakes and ultimate outcome will have you sad and joyful, amazed and astonished. If you had a best friend forever as a child, you should read The Book of Goose.

Thanks for reading my Book Review The Book of Goose by Yiyun Lee.

Four stars for The Book of Goose by Yiyun Lee.

Read last week’s book review The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

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Three siblings…in fact triplets…who have absolutely nothing in common. Throw in a father in absentia and an overly doting mom. This is a recipe for a hateful and dysfunctional family barreling down the track to disaster. From the author one of my top books of 2021 The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz comes another twisting and turning novel. Here is my book review The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

Triplets Harrison, Lewyn and Sally, conceived in vitro, grow up with a distant father Salo, who loves his art more than his family and harbors guilt and grief from events of his past. Meanwhile mother Johanna learns no matter how wealthy this New York family is, money can’t buy her a happy marriage or family.

As the plot slowly and deliberately develops the past will rear it’s head for Salo and Johanna and Johanna, facing a future of loneliness chooses to have a fourth child after her triplets have gone to college. How will this “latecomer” affect the dynamic of this family and what other siblings might make a surprise visit?

Although I did not love this book as much as I loved The Plot, the story is well choreographed with many interesting themes pertinent to today such as prejudice and race, wealth and privilege, politics and religion and above all, family. Thank you for reading my book review The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

****Four stars for The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

Read last week’s book review Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris.

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Oh boy. I loved this engaging story for so many reasons. I had never heard of Robert Harris but he has several best sellers under his belt. And the exceptional storytelling of Act of Oblivion clearly shows why. Here is my book review Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris.

I read a lot of historical novels that are part fiction and part fact. I love an author who can seamlessly combine the two. Robert Harris is one of those. I had never heard of the historical fact of the killers of King Charles I in England escaping to New England. This part is true. What Harris does so eloquently is imagine how the manhunt for these killers evolves over more than a decade.

General Edward Whalley and his son-in-law Colonel William Goff sail to the new world after being involved in a brazen execution of the King…essentially ending the English Civil War between the parliamentarians and the royalists.

While more than fifty men have been imprisoned or hung for their role in the King’s death, only two have escaped. Long time foe of these men, Richard Nayler will not sleep until he sees them dead, blaming them singularly for the death of his wife.

Through the help of clergy and faithful in the colonies Goff and Whalley manage to stay hidden for more than a decade, but their life is lonely, cold, boring, humiliating. And most of all, they miss their wives and children back in England.

How will Harris imagine the end to this years long manhunt? Through unprecedented storytelling, and realistic and heartfelt character development, Act of Oblivion unfolds like a symphony. Fans of Ken Follett, Maggie O’Farrell and Hilary Mantel will love this action packed historical novel.

Thanks for reading my book review Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris.

*****Five stars for Act of Oblivion byt Robert Harris.

Read last week’s book review When We Fell Apart by Soon Wiley.

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Strange but also heartfelt, this story of how family and identity can take someone to the brink, is sad and moving. A testament to mental stability, family expectations and the importance of being who we are. Here is my book review When We Fell Apart by Soon Wiley.

Min, a Korean American man working in Seoul for Samsung, is devastated when he learns the Korean women he has been dating has committed suicide. He begins a long and dangerous search for answers.

Yu-jin was a beautiful, ambitious, smart and happy young women, in love with Min…or so he thought. But the real Yu-jin was someone completely different. Someone playing a dangerous game in a country that does not accept anyone who is “different’.

But an even greater danger to Yu-jin and then to Min as he searches for answers, is Yu-jin’s parent. Her father a high ranking government official and her mother who sets appearances above all else, will go to great lengths to keep Yu-jin’s secret under wraps…lengths that threaten the lives of Min and Yu-jins closest friends.

It’s a novel that gives close inspection to the social expectations of South Korea, while also opening a window to understanding the Korean/American status in the United States. A very poignant story.

Thank you for reading my Book Review When We Fell Apart by Soon Wiley.

Read last week’s book review This Time Tomorrow by Emma Staub.

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Meet Alice. Living a life not exactly that she imagined but she is happy with most things. Except for the fact her ailing father is not getting better…she loves him so much and can’t imagine life without him. But on her 40th birthday something incredible happens. Here is my Book Review This Time Tomorrow by Emma Staub.

Fans of Oona Out of Order will love the story of Alice, as she discovers on her 40th birthday the ability to time travel. She wakes up and she is back to her 16th birthday in 1996. Her father is healthy, her friends are around her, and her choices are open to revisit.

She learns she can go back and forth through time and revisits life-changing moments – her high school crush and their relationship, her choices in college and jobs. Can she relive these and change them for the better? Should she? And what can she do that will change the trajectory of her father’s illness.

This Time Tomorrow is a fun book, much like Oona Out of Order, or other time traveling books like A Wrinkle in Time or The Time Traveler’s Wife. If you are a fan of this genre, you will love This Time Tomorrow.

Thanks for reading my book review This Time Tomorrow by Emma Staub.

****Four stars for This Time Tomorrow by Emma Staub.

Read last week’s book review The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

See this week’s top performing book review pin here Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Nell Young has spent her life loving maps. Raised by her father after the tragic death of her mother, Nell’s world revolves around cartography...until a mysterious map falls into her hands and her whole world turns upside down. Here is my Book Review The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.

Part mystery, part fantasy, part family saga, The Cartographers is a fun whodunit read with some unusual twists and turns.

Nell Young’s father is a world renown legend in the field of Cartography. But when Nell finds a hidden map in a box labeled “junk”, Nell and her father have an irreconcilable falling out. What is it about this plain and simple gas station road map?

When Nell’s father is murdered in his office in the New York Public Library, Nell will begin a mad hunt to solve the mystery of this nondescript map. Along with her former boyfriend and a cast of characters from her father’s youth, Nell will discover long held secrets, dangerous knowledge and powerful people behind this seemingly useless map.

A mix of science and magic, The Cartographers is a perfect read for fans of The Night Circus, The Buried Giant or Anansi Boys. Thanks for reading my Book Review The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.

Four Stars for The Cartographers by Peng Sheperd

Please read last week’s review of one of my favorites this year The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

See where our international travels are taking us next Away We Go – The Grand Adventure Begins Again

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Maggie O’Farrell is one of my favorite authors. Her books like Hamnet and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox always make their way to my favorite reads of the year. And this brand new, beautifully told, story will also be a favorite of my reading year. Here is my Book Review The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell.

Book Review The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Like most of O’Farrell’s novels, she weaves real life characters and factual history with fictional persons and events to create a magical story. The setting is Renaissance Italy with the ruling Medici family of Florence. The story of the young duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici will captivate you as O’Farrell shares the young girls remarkable story from conception to adulthood.

Lucrezia is unlike her sisters, less concerned about her looks or who she might marry than she is with nature and art. She never imagines a handsome husband or time at Court. But when her older sister dies unexpectedly, Lucrezia is betrothed to marry the man meant to be her sister’s husband…the ruler of Ferrara.

Not What It Seems

At only 15 years old she is thrust into an unfamiliar world, with a strange and mystifying husband, and his unusual family and courtiers. The marriage is not what it seems. Lucrezia is an outsider and from the beginning fears for what the future holds. Her only friend, a maid she brought from Florence.

Lucrezia sits for a wedding portrait commissioned by her husband, but as the months go by and she does not conceive an heir, all she has given up and indeed her future hang in the balance. How can she protect herself from this man whose personality is unstable and erratic?

Like her other works, O’Farrell’s beautiful writing brings the reader into the Italian Renaissance and the unusual plight of this young women. The story offers the reader brilliant imagery, prose and character development. Another O’Farrell masterpiece. Thanks for reading my Book Review The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell.

*****Five Stars for The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Read last week’s book review Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Allison Espach

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