SEVEN YEARS by Peter Stamm

The title and the description on the back cover suggest a familiar story of adultery as in the movie The Seven Year Itch: husband, getting bored after seven years of marriage, looks for a younger and prettier woman elsewhere. And indeed there is something of this. But Swiss author Peter Stamm goes out of his way to minimize any normal comparisons between the women. Alexander, the first-person narrator, is married to Sonia, a fellow architect, but more brilliant, more determined than he is, from a wealthier family, beautiful, and self-assured. The other woman, Ivona, is actually an earlier acquaintance, an undocumented Polish worker, dowdy, inarticulate, religious, not at all attractive, yet familiar…

March 23, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Character Driven, Contemporary, Translated, World Lit

CATCH ME WHEN I FALL by Patricia Westerhof

Whenever she doubts her role as “just a housewife,” Vicky recalls Oma, giving her the above advice. Oma had escaped to Canada from Holland in January 1945 with Vicky’s father and her other four children with nothing but the clothes they wore, the family Bible and a piece of paper giving the name of somebody to contact. Now, Vicky wants to make good by bringing her Alzheimer suffering father into her home.

March 16, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Canada, Family Matters, Short Stories

WRECKER by Summer Wood

WRECKER takes place primarily in the Mattole Valley in northern California from 1965 through the 1980’s. It is the story of a commune called Bow Farm and of the people who live there, held together by their love of a boy named Wrecker who comes to them unexpectedly and grows to be the glue that keeps them all together.

February 17, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: California, Contemporary, Family Matters

EDEN by Yael Hedaya

Yael Hedaya was a screenwriter for the acclaimed Israeli TV drama series Betipul (In Treatment), which was adapted for the United States and currently airs on HBO. This background shows in her novel, EDEN, with her attention to the emotions, human interactions and the inner workings of the characters’ minds. Eden’s translator, Jessica Cohen, does a stunning job. The book flows without awkwardness or hesitation.

This is a book about the intertwined lives of the people of Eden – the good, the bad, the indifferent and the morally ambiguous. Until tragedies hit, they go about their lives in a very insular way. Even with tragedy, they are more apt to talk about it than to take action.

November 29, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Israel, World Lit

BY NIGHTFALL by Michael Cunningham

Peter Harris is used to life dealing him very few surprises. He’s got a steady job as owner of a fairly profitable art gallery in New York City and his marriage to Rebecca Harris, the editor of an arts and culture magazine, is fulfilling enough. His daughter Bea, who has quit school at Tufts to become a bartender instead, hates him for no reason that Peter can immediately discern.

Into this fairly steady life, walks in Mizzy—short for “Mistake.” Mizzy is Rebecca’s much younger brother (he is only a few years older than Bea) who is a recovering drug addict and plans on staying with the Harrises until he can figure out his future life plans. He wants to do “something in the arts” but is unsure exactly what.

October 2, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Family Matters, Literary, NE & New York, New York City, Reading Guide, y Award Winning Author

THE WIDOWER’S TALE by Julia Glass

I loved THREE JUNES by Julia Glass and her newest novel, THE WIDOWER’S TALE, has much the same wonderful flavor about it. This languid story of a family dealing with their relationships with one another and the instrusions of the outside world delights the senses. The central character is Percival Darling, widowed for the last thirty-two years, and a somewhat crusty, cynical and reclusive personality.

September 24, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Character Driven, Contemporary, Family Matters, Literary, Reading Guide