mothers & sons
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
Once upon a time…The Magic Fish is quite possibly one of the most beautiful, poignant, and awe-inspiring graphic novels I have ever read. The story takes places in 90s America and we follow Tiến, a young boy, who loves reading fairy tales with his parents. Tiến’s parents are refugees from Vietnam and cannot speak English […]
MoreVersion Control by Dexter Palmer
Version Control is going to be tough to review as I have never felt so conflicted about a book. There were some scenes in Part I that were pure genius. But once I delved into Part II I was forced to reevaluate my first impressions of this book.Imagine walking into some art gallery and coming […]
MoreThe Son of Good Fortune by Lysley Tenorio
“One of the perks of being born neither in America or the Philippines. The only history he needed to know was his own.” A few weeks ago I read Lysley Tenorio’s collection of short stories, which had some real gems such as ‘Monstress’, and I was looking forward to reading his first novel. The Son […]
MoreThe Charioteer by Mary Renault — book review
“He was filled with a vast sense of the momentous, of unknown mysteries. He did not know what he should demand of himself, nor did it seem to matter, for he had not chosen this music he moved to, it had chosen him.” This is the fourth time I’ve read The Charioteer and once again […]
MoreAn Honest Man by Ben Fergusson — book review
In Ben Fergusson’s An Honest Man our narrator Ralf revisits a particularly significant year in his life. The year is 1989 and Ralf is eighteen and lives with his family in West Berlin. Growing up in a bilingual household (his mother is English), Ralf has always felt like a bit of an outsider. In a […]
MoreThe Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri — book review
“In so many ways, his family’s life feels like a string of accidents, unforeseen, unintended, one incident begetting another.” In the past few years I’ve read and fallen in love with Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories as well as her book on her relationship with the Italian language In Other Words. Although The Namesake […]
MoreThe Dutch House by Ann Patchett — book review
“I was still at a point in my life when the house was the hero of every story, our lost and beloved country.” Not Quite a Review, More of an Ode to Ann Patchett: Usually I tend to post my reviews a couple of days after I’ve finished reading a book. With The Dutch House […]
MoreLying in Wait by Liz Nugent
I won’t deny that –initially– there is an underlying tension that renders some portions of the story to be gripping. The first opening lines propel us into what promises – and fails – to be an intriguing mystery. My main reservation about this novel is that it switches tones too often: there is an unbalanced […]
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