June 20, 2013

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Davina & Paul Witts - Founders

Each month we give away books to members to read and review (or discuss). Members who choose to take part receive a free book (including free shipping) about every three months. Here are their opinions on three recently published books:

Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: 06/18/2013
Novels, 288 pages

Number of reader reviews: 37
Readers' consensus:


BookBrowse Members Say
"What an amazing debut novel. Not only is the writing extraordinary, the story is one that is not well known in the west - the consequences of the ongoing Iranian revolution. Love, hope and resilience guide those who make a life in spite of the fear. Highly recommended. A beautiful book." - Elizabeth D. (Longboat Key, FL)

"One of the best books I have ever read. We have heard over a long period of time how the long battles in Iran have taken a toll on the country but this book tells us about its people." - Meredith K. (Hackensack, NJ).

"The most significant aspect of this excellent novel for me was the incredible sense of voice that each of Delijani's characters possess. This book opened my eyes to Iran the way that Hosseini's Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns opened my eyes to various voices in Afghanistan." - Amber B. (East Sparta, OH)

"I often needed to take a break with tears in my eyes although I couldn't not finish it! This is a first-rate fictionalized memoir." - Toby S. (Seattle, WA)

"This story is outstanding, I loved it and it should be number one for 2013." - Suzanne G. (Tucson, AZ)

"This multigenerational, heartbreaking story of families in post-revolutionary Iran is mesmerizing and beautifully written. There is much here to discuss by book club members." - Chris W. (Temple City, CA)

Above are 6 of the 37 reviews for this book
Read all the Reviews

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Reading Guide
Interview

Below is part of BookBrowse's review of The Fever Tree. Read the review in full here


Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books
ISBN 9780399158247

BookBrowse Rating:
Critics' Consensus:


Review:
Jennifer McVeigh's breathtaking debut novel The Fever Tree is both an engrossing historical tale and a coming of age story. Frances Irvine has been raised like a hothouse flower: privileged and adored. She has been educated to play the piano and draw pictures. Her father, a wealthy Irish merchant and an outcast of upper-crust English society, has tried to nurture in Frances the qualities that will help her have the life he could never achieve. When he dies suddenly, burdening Frances with great debt, she is left with the option of becoming the nurse to her young cousins in Manchester or leaving England for South Africa where Dr. Edwin Matthews, whom she knows from childhood, is keen to marry her. Her upbringing has prepared her for neither life, but the thought of raising her cousins in the poverty-plagued depths of Manchester leaves her stricken. With hesitation and fear, she boards a steamer for South Africa. On board she meets William Westbrook, a charming rogue, who flirts with her and speaks well of her father. The na�ve Francis is misled by William's panache and personality, and resents her looming marriage to Edwin.

Thus begins The Fever Tree, a captivating novel set against the diamond industry in Kimberley, South Africa in the late 19th century. Though it is primarily occupied with the Francis's awakening and maturation, McVeigh fills the story with large historical questions: What was the nature of colonization in South Africa? Why did the Europeans choose to subjugate native peoples in such a harsh manner? Finally, how was European dissent about colonization handled by other Europeans? McVeigh provides an astute, and full-bodied description of colonization in South Africa. William represents the opportunistic Englishman, comfortable using brutality to turn a profit. He sees native Africans as instruments for his own gain. In contrast, Edwin Matthews stands for the progressive European who speaks against native subjugation. He believes Africans have their place, but that they should be granted the minimal respect allowed to any human being.

Outside William and Edwin's dichotomy is Francis, whose educational path parallels the reader's. Just as many of us do not know the intricacies of 19th diamond mining, or how native Africans were treated during this period, Francis is similarly unenlightened. As Francis discovers the realities of the diamond mining operation in Kimberley, truths that many want hidden from the wider world, we discover them as well. This process is enhanced by McVeigh's narrative structure. Much of the novel is told in free indirect discourse (or FID), a combination of first and third person narrative voice that allows for a seamless transition between character and narrator.* An example from the novel:

Would a doctor from the colonies really be presumptuous enough to flirt with her? She didn't imagine he had found himself there by mistake. He didn't look like the kind of man who did things carelessly or by mistake. continued... 

Above is part of BookBrowse's review of The Fever Tree. Read the review & backstory in full here

Reviewed by Sarah Sacha Dollacker

At BookBrowse, we don't just review books, we go 'beyond the book' to explore interesting aspects relating to the story.

BookBrowse Rating:
Critics' Consensus:  

 

A music prodigy is a child, 12 or under, whose talent is considered on a level and competitive with skilled adult musicians. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is still deemed one of the greatest child music prodigies-born in 1756, he started playing harpsichord at age three. By the age of five he was accomplished at reading and playing music and by age six began performing publically, eventually becoming one of the most famous and prolific composers in history. Other historic well-known music prodigies include George Bizet who started studying at the Paris Conservatory of Music before he was ten; Frederic Chopin who composed "Polonaises in G minor and B flat major 9" at the age of seven; Franz Liszt who performed his first major concert at eleven; and Felix Mendelssohn who began making concert appearances at age nine.

On the more contemporary front, Bjork began studying classical music when she was five, releasing her first album when she was eleven and Tori Amos attended the Peabody Institute at age five. Taylor Swift was writing music by the time she was eleven, and mandolinist Chris Thile cofounded the new-grass group Nickel Creek when he was eight.

But beyond these household names, there are many other music prodigies, with new ones being thrust into the limelight every year. Two highly engaging children recently caught the public's attention; seven year-old Alma Deutscher and six year-old Tsung Tsung.

Compared by many to Mozart, Alma Deutscher of Surrey, England, could name the notes on the piano by age two, received a violin for her third birthday and could play Handel sonatas before she was four. She began composing by the age of five and in 2012, at the age of seven, made the news after writing her first short opera, titled "The Sweeper of Dreams." She has said that she hopes someday to "compose like Mozart, play the violin like Perlman and play the piano like Barenboim."

Above is part of our backstory to The Lucy Variations click to read the review and backstory in full, including videos of Alma Deutscher and Tsung Tsung