Archive for the ‘Literary’ Category

RODIN’S DEBUTANTE by Ward Just

Ward Just is a writer’s writer, as straightforward and gritty and no-nonsense as Chicago—the city from which he hails. His solid 17th novel carries a seemingly enigmatic title – Rodin’s Debutante – a curiosity, considering the book has nothing to do with Rodin or debutantes.

But wait – as in much of Ward Just’s work, there is complexity and hidden meaning behind the seeming simplicity.

March 2, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Award Winning Author, Contemporary, Literary, US Midwest

FALLING SIDEWAYS by Thomas E. Kennedy

In his fantastic and insightful book, On Writing, the prolific writer Stephen King once said: “People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do.â€

But what if that work is especially mind-numbing and unfulfilling and involves plodding away at an outfit called the Tank—chatting, shuffling papers, composing reports, sending e-mails and wondering where things went wrong? Would that still make for a readable story? As Thomas Kennedy’s new book, FALLING SIDEWAYS shows, the answer is yes.

March 1, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Award Winning Author, Denmark, Drift-of-Life, Job, Literary, Reading Guide, World Literature

PORTRAITS OF A MARRIAGE by Sandor Marai

They say there are two sides to every story. In the case of PORTRAITS OF A MARRIAGE, there are three. There is the story of the erstwhile housekeeper cum second wife, Judit; the pragmatic and loving first wife, Ilona; and there is Peter’s story, the husband of wife number one and wife number two, whom we find at the end of the novel, lost and destitute. It is not a complicated story, the one told here; nor is it particularly unique or poignant, though the story is laced with insight. The story told here, the story, as the title suggests, of a marriage, is told in straight-forward narrative, albeit from three perspectives, and set against the fabric of a damaged Hungary between the wars. It is an elegant and beautiful book, a rich tapestry on love, marriage and class. It is, as well, deeply psychological, almost Jamesianly so.

February 22, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Class - Race - Gender, Literary, World Literature

OPEN CITY by Teju Cole

When Julius, a young psychiatrist living in New York, looks out of his apartment window, he loves to watch the birds fly past. And when he occasionally spots geese flying in formation, he wonders how our life below would look like to them. This same external perspective—which one could argue immigrants master especially well—permeates Teju Cole’s debut novel, OPEN CITY.

February 8, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, Identity, Immigration / Diaspora, Literary, New York City

DESTINY AND DESIRE by Carlos Fuentes

Wow! This quotation should indicate why I both reveled in this rich and wonderful book and yet had such trouble getting through it. It was my first Fuentes, and may or may not be typical of his earlier style, but it is original, gloriously baroque, and alarmingly dense.

January 30, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Latin American, Literary, Mexico, Translated

CARIBOU ISLAND by David Vann

Many people think of Alaska as wildness with great open spaces in a mountainous wildernous with sub-arctic cold, dark and long winters, ever-light summers, bears and moose. This is not the Alaska of David Vann. His Alaska consists of what sounds like an area most likely the Tongass National Rain Forest. This is the northernmost rainforest on earth, and it extends into southeast Alaska. Trees here are huge but grow close together here much like in the Amazon. It rains up to 400 inches a year in this part of Alaska and the days are often dark and dismal with damp that cuts right through you. There is no vista in this forest; all you have are the trees that hem you in.

January 18, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Alaska, Betrayal, Character Driven, Contemporary, Literary, Nature