ATLAS OF UNKNOWNS by Tania James

At its heart, ATLAS OF UNKNOWNS is a story about family, especially the relationship between two sisters. Linno and her younger sister, Anju, grew up with their father and grandmother in Kerala, India. Their mother’s apparent suicide is alluded to but not discussed although her death haunts both girls in different ways. At age 13, Linno, a budding artist, loses her hand in an accident with a firecracker.

September 29, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Family Matters, India-Pakistan, New York City

ZEITOUN by Dave Eggers

It’s been four years since one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina, hit New Orleans, yet the stories of those affected have been making their way out only slowly. Dave Eggers’ ZEITOUN is one such. Here too, as in his brilliant WHAT IS THE WHAT, Eggers does an expert job narrating non-fiction and making the story come alive.

September 19, 2009 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Class - Race - Gender, Humorous, New Orleans, Non-fiction

LOVE AND SUMMER by William Trevor

In William Trevor’s novel LOVE AND SUMMER, past and present don’t collide but instead merge into a shimmering, elusive and painful present. The novel set in the 1950s explores the lives of interconnecting characters following the funeral of Mrs. Eileen Connulty in the Irish town of Rathmoye.

September 12, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Ireland, Man Booker Nominee, World Lit, y Award Winning Author

UNDER THIS UNBROKEN SKY by Shandi Mitchell

UNDER THE UNBROKEN SKY is the story of two related families living on the prairie of Western Canada in the 1930s. They are part of the diaspora of the Ukrainian agrarian settlement to that region that began in the late 1800s and continued through the First World War.

September 11, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Canada, Commonwealth Prize, Debut Novel, Family Matters, y Award Winning Author

BROOKLYN by Colm Toibin

The very first page of Colm Toibin’s new novel, BROOKLYN, sets the stage beautifully: In Enniscorthy, a small town in Ireland, Eilis Lacey looks out the window as her more glamorous sister, Rose, returns from a game of golf with her professional acquaintances. Rose has an important job, provides for the family and is the arbiter of most conversations the homely Eilis shares with her mother. When Eilis looks out the window, it’s as if an adoring child is watching a parent return home. So it comes as no surprise when…

August 13, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Costa Award (Whitbread), Europe, Family Matters, Literary, Man Booker Nominee, New York City, World Lit

SHANGHAI GIRLS by Lisa See

Shanghai China in 1937 is known as the “Paris of the East.” It is a thoroughly modern, international city, with a large foreign community. There is also a heavily populated Little Tokyo section, where Japanese residents promote “Friendship, Cooperation and Co-prosperity between China and Japan.”

May 26, 2009 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: China, Facing History, World Lit