In a time of global refugee crises, Nayeri’s book is more important than ever. What does it mean to be a refugee? What does a refugee look like? Where are refugee camps and how does one get there?
Second Thoughts: Madeline Stevens’s “Devotion”
While I thoroughly enjoyed reading Stevens’s debut novel, the more I thought about it, the less I realized actually happened. This is the first time I’ve ever edited a review of a book, but I’m sure it won’t be the last…(minor spoilers; content warning)
First Impressions: “Devotion” by Madeline Stevens
The lives of two young women become intrinsically intertwined when Ella, young and desperate for work, accepts a nanny position for Lonnie, rich and effortlessly beautiful, looking after her son William. But Lonnie’s life isn’t what it seems—nor is Ella’s.
First Impressions: Jennifer Mills’s “Dyschronia”
Australian author Jennifer Mills crafts a new kind of apocalyptic story, one without mutual destruction, nuclear winter, and the end of humanity as we know it. Using the strange and unexpected, Mills pulls the reader back and forth from present to past to create her novel.
First Impressions: “Medici: Ascendancy” by Matteo Strukul
Beginning with the death of Giovanni de’ Medici, Strukul crafts the past lives of Italy’s most famous family, the Medici. From death to exile, Strukul (translated to English from Italian by Robert McKenna) weaves a history rife with betrayal and coarse alliances.
First Impressions: “The Memory Police” by Yoko Ogawa
SPOILERS!! Ogawa’s novel echoes Orwell’s “1984” in this chilling novel about the power of the government and the mind. Translated from Japanese, follow the interwoven stories told by and written by the narrator through her life living on the island.
First Impressions: Catherine Chung’s “The Tenth Muse”
SPOILERS! Elegant, cutting, and brilliant, Cathering Chung brings a new perspective to a largely male-dominated field and history: mathematics. Told through the eyes and experiences of Katherine, a mathematics prodigy, we see her struggles and her triumphs in her attempt to solve one of the most difficult math hypotheses ever written.
