Fatherland: A Novel
by Victoria Shorr
Unpleasant Tale of a Father's Abandonment (2/15/2026)
The synopsis for Fatherland says it's about the American dream gone bust due to a father's infidelity and the effects on his daughter across decades and milestones. Technically, that's true but I had no feel for why Lora, the aggrieved wife, adored Martin, how a 1950s housewife survived such abandonment, not exactly a time of personal or financial independence for most women. Nor was there much believable delving into why Josie, the daughter, was motivated to keep in touch with him when each meeting leads her to be more disillusioned and distraught than the last one.
Author Victoria Shorr is an acclaimed author and many like her unsentimental style. But for me, it created a barrier making it difficult to connect with any of Fatherland's characters. I also found Shorr's frequent use of pronouns confusing, you'll need to read carefully whom the "she" and "he" is referring to.
If you are looking for a nuanced exploration of a family grappling with a father's betrayal, you might be better served by the emotional depth of Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Or if you want to better understand an irredeemably cheating husband, read any of John Updike's Rabbit books.
Ginseng Roots: A Memoir
by Craig Thompson
The search for meaning and home through Ginseng roots (4/24/2025)
You cannot tell that author Craig Thompson suffers from hand degeneration in his gorgeously and intricately illustrated graphic memoir about growing up on a ginseng farm in Wisconsin. I have scant knowledge about ginseng and only a little more about Wisconsin, mostly owing to its status as Blue Wall state. After reading (and viewing) this 435-page memoir, I feel closer to both.
Thompson doesn't just show the grueling nature of Ginseng farming, he also takes readers on a fascinating journey into the herb's very roots in China, the US, Korea, and Taiwan, both through the new people he encounters along the way and reuniting with his parents, long-time farmers, and sometimes via an impish female Ginseng Avatar. I appreciated Thompson's Zen-like empathy for his parents with whom he disagrees on various fronts, for his brother, whom he travels to Asia with, and for all those behind getting this fussy plant to folks who benefit from its medicinal properties.
If you've never read a memoir in cartoon form (although calling it a cartoon feels like it falsely reduces Thompson's compelling narrative into a children's genre), you might get hooked on this memoir alternative. I know I did.
