30
Sep
2010
Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell
It is systematically impossible to review this book without comparing Shandi Mitchell to Willa Cather. Similarities include, but are not limited to: Eastern European immigrants to the harsh prairies of North America; suicide; vast landscapes; early 20th century; complex characters (particularly strong women).
10
Nov
2009
Seal Intestine Raincoat by Rosie Chard
The Seal Intestine Raincoat in the book’s title turns out to be exactly that: a raincoat made from seal intestines. It was made a long time ago by a now homeless old Inuit man in the Northern reaches of Canada.
23
Apr
2009
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
This is a fantastic dystopian novel. Set some time in the not-so-distant future, America has taken fundamentalism to the extreme. Women are for cleaning, cooking, and making babies. Literally. This is not one of those societies where men believe that women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. It is a society that utilizes women either as status wives, handmaids (whose sole purpose is to bare children), or Marthas (cooks and cleaners, usually nonwhite). If a man can’t afford to clothe and feed all of them, he might get an econowife, who has to be all three.
21
Apr
2009
The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
In the weeks I spent back home in Michigan after my Dad died, I read this book. I had been excited to read it when I bought it a month or so before, because Alice Munro traces her family history from Scotland in the 19th century, to their emigration to Canada. The Oldfields also came from Scotland and England to Canada, and some, eventually, to Detroit. I had actually thought that if I liked the book, I’d give it to my Dad. Instead, I read it as part of my mourning.
13
Apr
2009
JPod by Douglas Coupland
What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said about Afghanistan? It’s all bombed out and depleted. O.K., I had to start this review with my own pop culture reference because, because pop cultural references are what Coupland is all about. And just like Afghanistan has its goods point despite being bombed out and depleted (I assume), so does this book.
