Karen R

BookBrowse Reviewer

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BookBrowse Reviewer Karen is a BookBrowse Reviewer and has written reviews featured in The BookBrowse Review.

Karen Rigby is the author of Chinoiserie (Ahsahta Press, 2012), which received the 2011 Sawtooth Poetry Prize. Her website is karenrigby.com

BookBrowse Editorial Reviews (30)

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Infatuations: A Novel
by Javier Marias

(9/18/2013)

That may well be the real brilliance of the work: it turns out that the novel isn't about the "Perfect Couple" after all (they're essentially a pretext), and it isn't about lives destroyed by the crime. It is about adults ensnared in an attempt to brush truth aside—a broad concept, perhaps, but so well-executed that I quickly forgot my initial reluctance to delve into the story.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Beneath the Abbey Wall
by A. D. Scott

(1/9/2013)

A. D. Scott weaves charged emotion into Beneath the Abbey Wall, a well-paced novel that bridges the gap between British “gentleman detective” mysteries – which include characters such as Hercule Poirot, Inspector Morse, and Adam Dagliesh, among others, and which often entail ingenious executions of a crime – and hardboiled police procedurals that suggest bleak views of humanity.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Bathing Women: A Novel
by Tie Ning

(11/28/2012)

For those who were born outside of communism, The Bathing Women sheds light on some of the Cultural Revolution’s tragedies and effects on young people, but it is not political strife that marks this work as noteworthy – it is the careful exploration of love, loss, and the challenges of friendship and sisterhood that extend across time and culture which leave a lasting impression.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Story of My Assassins
by Tarun J. Tejpal

(10/31/2012)

In [Tarjun J. Tejpal's] latest novel, The Story of My Assassins – a hardboiled account of life on the fringes – he draws on his journalistic background to create a fictional panorama that questions perceptions of victimhood. But this is not a thriller with easy resolutions and clear culprits. Instead, Tejpal creates a naturalistic portrait of a society plagued by abuses of power, poverty and village tensions.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Round House: A Novel
by Louise Erdrich

(10/3/2012)

Erdrich holds back little when it comes to seeking emotional resolution for her characters; her novel offers the daring justice that real life seldom affords. Readers intrigued by literature on adolescents coping amid violence will find a striking entry that inspires conversation.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Absolutist: A Novel
by John Boyne

(8/22/2012)

...[W]hile some readers may find the material unsympathetic, the author raises worthy questions, including the consequences of holding fast to unchangeable events. Boyne's rendering of Marian Bancroft... also helps invigorate the material. Conflicted, temperamental, charming, forgetful, loyal to her brother's memory, and unforgiving, she is complex where others seem defined by a handful of traits. Her story elevates the plot as Sadler must consider the effects of facing the family of someone he

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Mission to Paris: A Novel
by Alan Furst

(7/11/2012)

Furst brilliantly recreates the ominous environs, describing Paris, Berlin, and other locales just before the appeasement of Hitler via the Munich Agreement in September 1938 through the outbreak of the war. Between the risks of border-crossing, one character's struggle with the Gestapo, murder, and street disturbances, Mission to Paris is rife with examples of the strain both ordinary and high-profile people endured.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Chaperone
by Laura Moriarty

(6/14/2012)

The Chaperone offers an imaginative take on women's lives. Though some readers may question the main characters' interpretation of what a newly liberated, enlightened life entails, this is a worthy portrait of loyalty in friendship, courage in the face of disappointment, and belief in remaking the self.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Thief
by Fuminori Nakamura

(4/18/2012)

...Nakamura deftly creates the tale of a Tokyo pickpocket while exploring questions of fate and manipulation. Here, the underworld bears little trace of the glamor that sometimes occurs in works featuring an anti-hero. As this criminal world consumes its members along with its victims, readers are treated to an empathetic portrayal of a man whose desire for life resurfaces under duress.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Drifting House
by Krys Lee

(2/15/2012)

Lee reminds readers (with a welcome absence of nihilism) that hardship is worth paying attention to, not just for the empathy it draws forth, or for the strength found in characters who manage to come out on the other side, but for its ability to connect people across time and cultures. Especially recommended for fans of stories with a variety of younger narrators.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Stealing Mona Lisa: A Mystery
by Carson Morton

(9/7/2011)

Stealing Mona Lisa - a debut novel that effectively draws from the public's fascination with the underworld - combines elements of both suave manipulation and occasional humor. Like several Hollywood plots, it also aligns with a criminal perspective from the beginning, states its motives plainly, and differs from traditional whodunits that are punctuated by red herrings and that rely on revelations.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Miss New India: A Novel
by Bharati Mukherjee

(6/15/2011)

Although Mukherjee's work begins with the familiar plot of a daughter who is not enthused by her parents' decisions about her future, the author is careful not to allow generational differences to serve as simple catalysts for trouble.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Mistress of Nothing: A Novel
by Kate Pullinger

(2/3/2011)

Pullinger's imagined account, inspired by the real lives of Lady Duff Gordon and her maid, reveals fascinating strengths as well as weaknesses in both women, positing neither as being "right" or "wrong," but asking readers to consider the delicate differences between kindness and cruelty, honor and respect. Steeped as it is in Victorian sensibilities, the novel is a shaded, well-considered portrait of emotional betrayal, revealing what happens when a trusted person thinks too little – or too muc

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Blindness of the Heart: A Novel
by Julia Franck

(11/3/2010)

What can the general reader glean from immersion in this period between wars, which offers seemingly little respite from a mostly bleak trajectory? This may be a fair question, yet it may also be unfair to ask for greater redemptive interludes; The Blindness of the Heart is very much a tale of chilling times, and fittingly, it adopts an unsparing approach... this demonstration of how easily passivity could happen, day by day... transforms one woman's story into a more piercing, provocativ

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Some Sing, Some Cry: A Novel
by Ntozake Shange & Ifa Bayeza

(10/6/2010)

Thorough dedication to their title theme transforms Some Sing, Some Cry into an unusually textured examination of mothers and daughters, as well as the shifting currents that guide them... For all the social brutality it exposes, and for all its intimate, more domestic griefs, Some Sing, Some Cry is not intended as a dark retrospective. In the midst of cruel circumstances, the women reinvent themselves with verve, maintaining a spirit of creativity as well as their own interpretat

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Quickening Maze: A Novel
by Adam Foulds

(9/8/2010)

Though Adam Foulds draws from real personages - including John Clare and Alfred Tennyson before his tenure as Poet Laureate - it is not his reimagining of the Victorian past that ultimately stands out as much as the threading of multiple narratives and his tenacious characters, all of which elevate an otherwise competent historical fiction into a more complex study of misplaced desires... Foulds transforms relatively obscure material into an intelligent exploration of sanity, madness - and perha

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Beirut 39: New Writing from the Arab World
by Samuel Shimon

(8/4/2010)

The best of these works frequently underscore darker moments, running the gamut from a bombing and a book-burning to schoolyard bullying, but do so without criticizing the characters nor the conditions of the societies which shaped them. Read together, a sense of restlessness -- of migrations from village to city, from childhood to adulthood, from living with hesitation to gradually accepting fate -- emerges. These stories dig at human fallibilites with imaginative risks.

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BookBrowse Editorial Review

Ilustrado: A Novel
by Miguel Syjuco

(6/9/2010)

For all its wide-ranging splendors, Ilustrado is largely a piercing examination of identities in transition. ... Miguel's single-minded pursuit has marked this debut as more than a current event in publishing. It has fully earned its praises through the psychological mapping of a man who must live through the fallen grandeur of a place that is as prismatic as Salvador's writings, and in the end, that is as dynamic, frightening, and engaging as the course of his own life.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Imperfectionists: A Novel
by Tom Rachman

(4/7/2010)

[The Imperfectionists] details a world where getting the "scoop" often triumphs over empathy for a subject's privacy, and where career ambitions determine the actions of many of the titular "imperfectionists" who struggle with pressures of work and home... Though it is tough to read about selfishness, this debut is noteworthy as a portrayal of everyday lives during decisive moments in a changing landscape. It successfully weaves between workplace drama and domestic tales to combine moment

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Ruby's Spoon: A Novel
by Anna Lawrence Pietroni

(2/17/2010)

Many a novel has begun with a stranger settling in a small town, but Anna Lawrence Pietroni has taken this familiar scenario and spun an intelligently conceived, atmospheric tale rife with maleficia, mermaid folklore, religious references... She revisits themes including revenge, the power of rumors, and the nature of cruelty (whether premeditated or simply reactionary) in ways that gradually reveal how certain characters share a common bond. Ruby's Spoon allows us to immerse ourselves in

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall
by Kazuo Ishiguro

(11/5/2009)

Like many of Kazuo Ishiguro's widely-acclaimed novels, Nocturnes charts the nature of shifting relationships, the passage of time, real and perceived failures, the consequences of deferred dreams, feelings of estrangement, and the quiet but destructive erosion that occurs when truth is denied for too long, yet it does so with more attenuated gestures and less reflection... Fans of his novels may enjoy the change of pace offered by this debut, but newer readers may prefer to begin with his

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Invisible Mountain
by Carolina De Robertis

(9/23/2009)

The Invisible Mountain, set in Uruguay, is an incisive examination of some of life’s trickier dilemmas, including when to place family at the forefront, and when to honor your own ideals even at the expense of others. The novel is also an enchanting new entry in the realm of contemporary Latin American literature. De Robertis brings Montevideo, Uruguay's capital, to life in scene after scene; considering the scope and depth of this little-known gem on the banks of the Río de la Plata, it

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Censoring an Iranian Love Story: A Novel
by Shahriar Mandanipour

(6/10/2009)

Shahriar Mandanipour's English-language debut is an expansive, wry and funny examination of censorship in Iran. More than reportage or straightforward romance, Mandanipour offers a contemporary interpretation of one of the oldest themes. Though love may not be absolutely transcendent in this story, its pursuit presents a rewarding collage of history, magical realism and intrigue.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Every Man Dies Alone
by Hans Fallada

(4/1/2009)

Although it isn't a perfect novel, I would recommend it for Fallada's talent in showing us that sometimes the most frightening part of a war isn't dramatic at all -- it's the psychological game, that tension arising from waiting for something to happen, and wondering if it ever will, that slowly begins to wear the spirit down.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders: Connected Stories
by Daniyal Mueenuddin

(3/8/2009)

As in the best collections, the stories enhance each other, forging connections between recurrent characters and building a world where real locations like Islamabad and Lahore blend with imagined households... Themes of struggle and progress may be familiar, but Mueenuddin's rich stories make them fresh and powerful, marking a debut as auspicious as any so far this year.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Spare Room: A Novel
by Helen Garner

(2/5/2009)

Regardless of the ending, the dynamics of giving and taking would interest anyone that has ever experienced a similar situation. As the caregiver, one may question where to draw the line between allowing the patient as much dignity as possible and stepping in when he or she no longer seems to be rational. As the patient, one may worry about burdening others. Readers that have never played either role aren't likely to be drawn to the more visceral realities of tending to the dying, but the enduri

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
by Leslie T. Chang

(10/15/2008)

Factory Girls does not propose solutions, nor is it meant as a comprehensive guide to current trends in the industry. Instead the author leaves it up to the reader to draw his or her own moral conclusions. Although some readers may notice an absence of the more salient controversies (from the USA point of view) surrounding the factories, such as extensive discussions on unionization or the lack thereof, livable wages, or whether or not foreign corporations should be outsourcing their manu

BookBrowse Editorial Review

A Map of Home
by Randa Jarrar

(10/1/2008)

Coming-of-age themes are common, but the intelligent narration provides more than enough interest to sustain the momentum. Rare is the book that makes one stay up to finish it; this is one of them, simultaneously circling in its family dramas and spiraling outwards in its connections to history and place. Adult and teen readers alike would enjoy Nidali's honest portrayal. She's the Muslim equivalent of J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, tender, caustic and wise in all the right moments.

BookBrowse Editorial Review

Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
by Richard Fortey

(9/4/2008)

Fortey's passion for stewardship is convincing and comes across clearly in the way that the book's content and style mirror each other. This is not a fast-paced book to absorb in one sitting but its meticulous descriptions will please the reader who is sharply attuned to every turn of phrase. While at first glance Dry Storeroom No. 1 would appear to be of interest only to a niche audience interested in the nuances of taxonomy and other somewhat rarefied subjects, Fortey's ability to meld

BookBrowse Editorial Review

The Nightingales of Troy: Connected Stories
by Alice Fulton

(8/13/2008)

The world presented here is a dark one, punctuated as it is with madness, a drowning, hospitalization, unfulfilled desires, and an unhappy marriage, but realism is never used for the sake of preventing nostalgia, and never overwhelms. Moments of genuine humor are juxtaposed with seriousness. Though you may find yourself wishing the characters would emerge unscarred, happiness is not found in the avoidance of pain. It's found, wisely, in the midst of it—through the loyalty of sisterhood and throu

Reviews (1)

The House of Velvet and Glass: A Novel
by Katherine Howe

History and Imagination (3/20/2012)

The House of Velvet and Glass - which alternates between late 19th century China and 20th century Boston in the years during and just after the Titanic disaster - is detailed as a Henry James novel. Readers who appreciate a leisurely pace will enjoy various aspects of the period, from art nouveau furnishings to social mores of the elite, though some may find that the main conflict takes a long while to surface. Characters range from raffish to cultured, and the most complex among them include the main protagonist, Sybil. Recommended for the unusual take on grief and its effect on family relationships, and for the deeper aspects, which include some of the views of the time that are now regarded as unpleasant (such as Orientalism/exoticizing) or curious (such as séances.)