I love to be transported by a novel, both to foreign places and unfamiliar psychological spaces. Alexis Schaitkin’s Saint X does both. An affluent couple take their two daughters for a New Year’s vacation to a tropical island. The older girl, a Princeton first year, attracts the attention of many men, both locals and visitorsContinue reading “Emily the Strange”
Tag Archives: books
American Publishing
A few weeks ago, on the strength of a single glowing review and numerous high profile endorsements, I bought a copy of Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt. After I had read the first ten percent, I got curious and Googled the author. If you have heard of the book, you know happened next. A few keywordsContinue reading “American Publishing”
Gold Dust Women
The collective publishing rejection heap must be piled high with fiction efforts that fail to execute what Taylor Jenkins Reid achieves in Daisy Jones and the Six. In an industry that strives for original voices, there is no story more predictable than that of a rock star. If you’ve ever seen Behind the Music, youContinue reading “Gold Dust Women”
Reese’s Pieces
I currently have at least four Reese Witherspoon book club picks on my Kindle. The only one I’ve finished is Ruth Ware’s The Lying Game. It was a logical first choice as I had read the author’s previous The Woman in Cabin 10, a derivative but enjoyable suspense story. What exactly compelled Reese Witherspoon toContinue reading “Reese’s Pieces”
Dear Diary
Have you ever read a novel written in diary form? By my estimate, there aren’t too many of them. It’s a peculiar choice for an author, an offshoot of the epistolary novel. Instead of writing to another, the protagonist is writing to himself. And how does it serve the story to frame the events thisContinue reading “Dear Diary”
Fly Girls
What is one job you are certain you would be bad at? For me, the answer is easy: flight attendant. I don’t like to fly, I would look terrible in a uniform, and I have no idea how they stay so fresh looking over long hauls. Somehow I still associate glamour with the job, aContinue reading “Fly Girls”
The Confused Witness
There is an element of suspense called the perception plot. It involves protagonists who witness something traumatic and then come to doubt what they have seen. This could be considered a subsidiary of the unreliable narrator plot with one key distinction: while the unreliable narrator intentionally deceives, the confused witness does it unknowingly. A.J. Finn’sContinue reading “The Confused Witness”
The Art of the Overshare
The best memoirs have the appeal of a night out with a dazzling raconteur. Good storytellers have natural editing skills: they understand that there is an arc to a narrative – foundation, tension, payoff – and they leave out the details that don’t serve it. Not everyone can pull this off, of course. Unlike itsContinue reading “The Art of the Overshare”
Girl, Revisited
One of the greatest disappointments of my reading life involves Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Back in 2013, curious about this hot new title that I hadn’t yet started, I perused the Amazon reviews, unconcerned about spoiler warnings. Because of my impetuosity, I will never experience the pleasure of reading this seminal work without knowing beforehandContinue reading “Girl, Revisited”
All’s Not Well
There is an undeniable appeal to stories that end well. Fiction has been described as life minus the boring parts, but it often is missing the unfair moments as well. Likeable protagonists end their trials on an upnote, any hint of trouble faded from the reader’s mind. The thwarted couple are reunited, the anguished soulContinue reading “All’s Not Well”
Books Smitten 