Will H

The tightness and brevity of these tales allow for a cohesive flow and focus that remains across the entire reading experience. That focus is demonstrated by the book's unifying themes of distance and connection. The collection's first story — "Malliga Homes" — tells the tale of an elderly woman who has been housed in a retirement village by her daughter Kamala, who immigrated to the United States. The theme of connection runs deeper than the issue of geography, as is best seen i

The Wedding Party is a discordant instrument, lacking in cohesion and demonstrating the chaos of ordinary life. In this way, it is a warmingly relatable novel. Weddings are stressful, no matter who you are. Unexpected problems are likely to occur, uninvited guests may cause trouble and emotions will run high. Liu does something truly remarkable in juggling the cast of characters: Beyond fleshing them all out into flawed and lovable people, he also uses them to show how the Cultural Revol

The events of Wollstonecraft's life are told with bright emotion, capturing the wisdom, savvy, integrity and common sense of this early feminist. We see her childhood home, her relationships with her brash, abusive father and her spoiled older brother. We see the spark that lit the fire of her hatred for marriage and the traditional roles of women, as she is expected to marry young, and to care for her sisters. Our narrator-protagonist is an inspiring heroine, engaging in frequent battles of wit

Genesis is a book of constant surprises, one that leads to a real feeling of growth and understanding. While it can overwhelm, the end result is one of enlightenment. Tonelli has fun with mythology, religion and philosophy. He remarks on the human thirst for knowledge and our tendency to look up when asking the big questions, tying science into creation myths in a respectful and entertaining way. By doing this, Tonelli keeps the topic of creation relevant to the human experience, allowing

What's astonishing about The Echo Wife from the beginning isn't only how solid and vivid Evelyn is as a character and a narrator. It is also how real the science of this novel feels. This is speculative fiction at its finest, taking science that seems plausible and using it to ask exciting questions about what makes us alive, what makes us human, what separates and divides and unites us. The novel doesn't demand or provide answers so much as request that we keep these questions in mind an

While Circe and The Silence of the Girls take overlooked women characters — from the Odyssey and Iliad respectively — and add weight and perspective to their stories, Haynes opts for a different approach here. And it is this approach that ultimately allows A Thousand Ships to shine: There is no central protagonist, nor one established narrator. A Thousand Ships takes us through different locations in time and space, covering established momen

Outlawed manages not only to flip the script on the masculine hero outlaw archetype, but to do so with biting wit and real purpose. North considers the role of a woman, especially in the world of the Wild West: Her place at the heart of dangerous superstitions, devised by men for maintaining a status quo of which they are afraid to lose control. Her role as a machine for making men happy and producing offspring. The Hole in the Wall Gang represents freedom from that machine life and its d

Every character in the novel is well-rounded and clearly defined, if a little one-dimensional. The plot is a bit reminiscent of a Disney movie, however; the main characters are good people with small interpersonal dramas and there is a looming villainous presence. Nothing here is narratively complicated or heavy, even given the wartime setting and high political stakes. Despite these gripes, The Book of Lost Names is a pure kind of novel. It works spectacularly as a love story; its charac