THE LIBRARY | BOOK REVIEWS | DONNE TEMPO
November/04/08 08:54 AM
Whatever
happened to the beguiling witches who took the
fictional town of Eastwick by storm in John
Updike's 1984 novel? In "The Widows of Eastwick,"
(Knopf Publishing, 978-0-307-26960-7) author John
Updike provides those answers, but readers may
wish their follow-up adventures were left to
their imaginations. Read the
review...
August/25/08 11:30 PM
A
man wanders his neighborhood, late at night and
encounters another man, out walking his dog in
the wee hours of the morning. The first tells the
second he is suffering from writers block. The
second says, let me tell you a story. So begins
The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter.
Read the
review...
August/25/08 11:14 PM
Set
during a New England summer in Towne,
Massachusettes,
July and August
introduces readers to Great-Aunt Lily, the maiden
aunt of a varied family while letting the reader
in on a family as they converge in Towne for the
summer. Read the
review...
August/25/08 10:39 PM
Maria
Galante, the heroine of Francesca Marciano’s
novel, The End of Manners,is a food photographer
made famous by a chance photograph that is nvited
to join the famed gonzo journalist Imo Glass on a
journey that takes them into Afghanistan in
search of a story. Read the
review...
August/15/08 08:58 PM
Eating
can be a sensuous experience. In Broccoli and
Other Tales of Food and Love, Vapnyar's offers a
collection of short stories about a group of
immigrant New Yorkers that reveal their attitudes
toward love and home through their relationship
with food. Read the
review...
August/15/08 05:31 PM
What
is it to be an Israeli immigrant to the United
States as a young teenager? In Danit Brown's Ask
for a Convertible Osnat, a thirteen year old with
an Israeli mother and an American father is newly
transplanted to Michigan. Read the
review...
June/12/08 01:44 PM
Julie
Buxbaum’s The Opposite of Love is an exceptional
first novel. The main character, Emily, is an ivy
league educated New York lawyer with an attentive
boyfriend, an absentee father, a deceased mother,
and a supportive grandfather. Read the
review...
June/12/08 01:39 PM
Chitra
Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of
Illusions
is the re-imagining of an Indian myth, the tale
of The Marabharat, from the perspective of the
Queen Panchaali. Panchaali was the wife of five
Pandava brothers and led her husbands and country
into a civil war. Read the
review...
June/12/08 01:29 PM
Shirley
Abbott, in her 2008 novel, The Future of
Love,
combines modern dramatic fiction with an extended
cast of characters living in Manhattan from 2001
to 2002. The falling of the World Trade Center
serves as a life changing catalyst for some and
allows others to more clearly define their
feelings for their significant others.
Read the
review...
June/08/08 03:30 PM
Anyone
who's had a fleeting moment of doubt regarding
their choice in a partner will enjoy Emily
Giffin's "Love the One You're With." Ellen
Graham's life is on track in more ways than one.
She followed her passion and makes a living as a
prolific photographer in New York City. She
recently married Andy, a successful, confident
man who's easy on the eyes and is the brother of
her best girlfriend, Margot. And, best of all,
Andy absolutely adores Ellen. Read the
review...
May/09/08 04:54 PM
Dorothy
Koomson’s, My Best Friend’s Girl, is an easy
read. The writing is quick and accessible. It is
a classic in the English modern farce style. The
plot is the tale of the broken hearted Kamryn and
how she learns to love again through the adoption
of her dead best friend’s daughter. It is almost
pulpy, in that the story includes cheating
fiancés, childhood abuse, physical abuse, foster
homes and cancer. Read the
review...
May/08/08 04:48 PM
Ha
Jin’s A Free Life tells the story of Nan a
Chinese academic, and immigrant, over twenty
years in the United States. His is a success
story, but he is personally unfulfilled. Ha Jin
does not give the reader pat answers or
mollifying plot leaps. The running theme of Nan’s
detachment from China, his motherland, serves as
a greater question. Are we, as individuals, what
we have come from or what we make of ourselves?
Read the
review...
