nomadreader

I always follow the announcement of the National Book Award 's 5 Under 35 honorees each year. The award is given to work that "promises to leave an indelible mark on the literary landscape." This year I was thrilled to see all five are women , and three of the selections are novels. One of the things I most love about the 5 Under 35 is that each honoree is selected by a past National Book Award participant. A novel I might not otherwise pick up (or know about) may rise to the top of the list when I see an author whose work I've enjoyed thinks it shows immense promise. Chemistry  by Weike Wang  I'm drawn to fiction written by writers who are also scientists. While this novel is definitely about a chemist, but it's so much more. It's a refreshing take on a coming of age novel that challenges the genre's conventional tropes. I desperately want the narrator to have a name so I can talk about her, because I learned so much from her perspective ...

The backstory: The Hopeful  is Tracy O'Neill's debut novel. It was longlisted for the 2015 First Novel Prize and named a National Book Award 5 Under 35 pick. The basics:  "A figure skating prodigy, sixteen-year old Alivopro Doyle is one of a few "hopefuls" racing against nature's clock to try and jump and spin their way into the Olympics. But when a disastrous fall fractures two vertebrae, [it leaves] Ali addicted to painkillers and ultimately institutionalized." (publisher) My thoughts: The Hopeful  is one of those novels I love a little bit more because I discovered it through the First Novel prize longlist. Somehow, I'd never heard of it, even though it's fantastic, so I hope this review will introduce many more readers to it. Of course, while I was reading it, Fiona Maazel picked it as a National Book Award 5 Under 35 pick. That will probably help too. But back to The Hopeful  and why you should read it. On the surface, there...

The backstory: Redeployment , the debut short story collection by Phil Klay, has been honored twice by the National Book Award . It's on the 2014 shortlist, and it's also a 5 Under 35 pick. The basics: This thematic collection of short stories focuses on soldiers fighting in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Klay served in the U.S. Marine Corps and in the Iraq War. My thoughts: There's been a surge of fiction about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars in the past few years. I've read and reviewed several titles here: Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter, Unremarried Widow  by Artis Henderson, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk  by Ben Fountain, The Yellow Birds  by Kevin Powers, and You Know When The Men Are Gone  by Siobhan Fallon. Just as I've come to compare books about World War II to one another, I've also apparently reached the threshhold where stories about the Iraq and Afghanistan cause me to reflect and compare them against one another. In this sense, Phil Klay...

The backstory: The UnAmericans, Molly Antopol's debut short story collection, was named one of the National Book Award's 5 Under 35 last year . The basics: This collection of stories addresses themes of home, immigration, and history. My thoughts: Longtime readers of this blog know that short stories are not my favorite medium, but the reviews were so universally glowing for Molly Antopol that I've been anticipating this collection since I first heard about it. The collection's first story, "The Old World," is among its best. It absolutely blew me away, and perhaps it set my expectations for the rest of the collection too high. As my reading continued, I found the collection to somewhat uneven, except the highs were exceptional stories and the lows were still good stories. There was one story that I found relatively ordinary, but as a collection, it's impressive. I often struggle with assessing story collections as a whole because the order matters ...

The backstory:   The Sweet Relief of Missing Children  was one of the National Book Award's 5 Under 35 selections in 2010. The basics: I really like the description I found in my library's catalog: "Two seemingly separate stories from different points in time interconnect and provide clues to the disappearance of a missing New York City girl." My thoughts: If you read my tumblr , then you were privy to my love fest  of quotations as I was reading this novel. It's certainly the best novel I've read in 2011 (yes, I adored One Day , which is a lovely novel, but this one is better, and I enjoyed it just as much.) This novel begs to be re-read and re-appreciated as more layers come out. It won't appeal to all readers, but it's original, ambitious and lyrical. Watch out Jennifer Egan, Sarah Braunstein is coming for your readers. Although the novel jumps around among characters, I was always enthralled. Typically, I'll enjoy one aspect of a split ...

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to highlight an upcoming release you cannot wait to read. My pick this week is one of the most anticipated releases this spring: The Sweet Relief of Missing Children  by Sarah Braunstein. It was one of the National Book Award 5 Under 35 picks in 2010. Here's the publisher's description: "In New York City, a girl called Leonora vanishes without a trace. Years earlier and miles upstate, Goldie, a wild, negligent mother, searches for a man to help raise her precocious son, Paul, who later discovers that the only way to save his soul is to run away. As the narrative moves back and forth in time, we find deeper interconnections between these stories and growing clues about Leonora--this missing girl whose face looks out from telephone poles and billboards--whom one character will give anything to save. The Sweet Relief of Missing Children  is a suspenseful novel about the power of running and the desire for ...

The backstory:  How to Escape from a Leper Colony was one of the 5 Under 35 selections from the National Book Foundation this year. My thoughts: This book is dubbed a novella and stories, but I would classify it as including two novellas. As always with collections, however, it's difficult to describe. The common themes among the stories are their Virgin Islands setting and ideas on colonialism. I found overtones of ideas from Monique Roffey's White Woman on a Green Bicycle ( my review ), which looked at an ex-patriot British couple living in Trinidad. I don't mean to equate colonial literature about two different countries, but there were some thematic similarities. Regular readers know I am not a huge fan of short story collections, but I do often enjoy them. I adored Tiphanie Yanique's writing, and she skillfully evoked strong characters and a setting, which was especially impressive in the shorter stories. "Movies are like so much art. They can start a ...

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to highlight an upcoming release we can't wait to read. My pick this week is The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. This summer, the New Yorker named Tea Obreht one of their 20 Under 40. This month, the National Book Award Foundation listed The Tiger's Wife as one of their 5 Under 35 picks. Novelists are already praising her too. Colum McCann, who won the National Book Award in 2009 says, "Tea Obreht is the most thrilling literary discovery in years." Ann Patchett calls her "tremendously talented." T.C. Boyle says The Tiger's Wife is "a novel of surpassing beauty, exquisitely wrought and magical.  Téa Obreht is a towering new talent." Here's the publisher's description: The time: the present. The place: a Balkan country ravaged by years of conflict. Natalia, a young doctor, is on a mission of mercy to an orphanage when she receives word of her beloved grandfa...