Reviews by Michelle H

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Before Dorothy
by Hazel Gaynor
Cliched and Sentimental Writing (6/1/2025)
I enjoy reading stories re-told from marginalized characters’ points of view (James, Fagin, Longbourne, etc) so I was looking forward to reading a prequel to Oz told from Auntie Em’s point of view. But I was sorely disappointed. There are very few surprises in thismore
Theft: A Novel
by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Compassionate Tale of Three Lives in Modern Day Zanzibar (5/15/2025)
Gurnah tells of lives of Karim, an aspiring, university-educated young man, Fauzia, a young woman dedicated to teaching but fearful of recurring "falling sickness" and Badar, a sensitive soul confined to the servant class, with the steady pace and compassionate tone of amore
Twist: A Novel
by Colum McCann
Disappointed Colum McCann Fan (5/13/2025)
I am a huge fan of Colum McCann’s fiction -- I've read almost every single one -- but this one left me feeling disappointed. The subject of African workers who repair the cables that lie on the deep ocean floor, carrying almost all of our internet messages, soundedmore
Awake in the Floating City: A Novel
by Susanna Kwan
Meditative Beauty (5/6/2025)
I am not a fan of post-apocalyptic books, but I was drawn to this one by the relationship between two intriguing-sounding women. And this "apocalypse" is just caused by rain, it is gentle, without violence, which made it more palatable. I had to really slow down to anmore
Small Rain: A Novel
by Garth Greenwell
A Surprisingly Deeply Absorbing Read (4/21/2025)
Much of this book is a detailed description of a poet's 10 day sojourn in the ICU, in the middle of the pandemic, as medical professionals try to figure out what has caused his aorta to tear. I inwardly groaned when I first opened the book to see lots of very long sentencesmore
Mothers and Sons: A Novel
by Adam Haslett
Absolutely Absorbing Read (4/15/2025)
I was enthralled by this story of a gay immigration attorney and his estrangement from his mother, who left her job in the ministry to found a feminist retreat in Vermont with her lesbian lover and long-time friend. The descriptions of the myriad incredible life and deathmore
James: A Novel
by Percival Everett
Stunning Take on An American Classic (4/3/2025)
My first thought on reading this retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's point of view was "Why has no one done this before? And why have none of the white people who have revered Huck's story ever thought to deeply consider the way Jim's character is portrayed?" Praisemore
Someone Like Us: A Novel
by Dinaw Mengestu
Strangely beautiful story of the heartbreak of immigrant lives (4/3/2025)
This beautifully written and masterfully crafted novel lets us in to the inner world of Mamush, a struggling international journalist who must leave his wife and ill toddler in Paris to return to DC for the holidays, only to learn that Samuel, the father figure of his lifemore
Brotherless Night: A Novel
by V. V. Ganeshananthan
Beautiful and Powerful (3/29/2025)
The powerful, deeply compassionate story of a young Tamil woman in Sri Lanka, working to become a doctor and keep her humanity in the midst of a growing civil war between the unjustly and often brutally treated Tamil minority and the Sri Lankan government. I was woefullymore
Beautyland: A Novel
by Marie-Helene Bertino
Wondrous, Delightful, Soulful (3/23/2025)
The journey of Adina, sent to earth as a baby to report on human life on earth by beings on her planet looking for a new home, is one of the most imaginative, wondrous novels I have read in many years. Her childhood observations, faxed to her superiors, and their matter ofmore
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Book Jacket
Before Dorothy
by Hazel Gaynor
Before Oz, Aunt Em leaves Chicago for Kansas in a powerful tale of courage, change, and new beginnings by Hazel Gaynor.

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