nomadreader

The backstory:   Marlena  is Julie Buntin's first novel. The basics:   "The story of two girls and the wild year that will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades." My thoughts: Marlena  consumed me as I read it. It opens in the present day, where we meet Cat. This glimpse into the present felt brief, but I soon realized the real action of this novel is in the past. Initially, I found myself hungering to return to the present, which is at least partly do to my fascination with knowing how things end because figuring out how characters move from the past to the present (or future) fascinates me. But as this novel went on, I found myself much less invested in present Cat, which surprised me. Buntin is a gifted writer, and she made me love reading about teenage angst in a way I haven't enjoyed in years. She made me prefer a teen storyline to an adult storyline. At times, she even made me remember my teen years with fondness, "Everyone has a se...

narrated by Julia Whelan The backstory: Girl at War is on the 2015 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize longlist. Update: Girl at War  has been longlisted for the 2016 Baileys Prize . The basics: In 1991, Ana is living a typical ten-year-old's life in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, when the Yugoslavian war breaks out. My thoughts: I'm about the same age as Ana, so I was immediately drawn into her story. As a ten-year-old, she doesn't understand what's happening, and as a reader, neither did I. I've heard of the war, but my knowledge of it was slim at best. While coming of age stories set against a war backdrop are hardly new, Novic takes Ana's story in unexpected directions. We enter the story in 1991, but the story is told in several nonlinear parts. The action next jumps to New York City in 2001, where Ana is in college. Novic skillfully moves locations and times in a way that enhance the story, both emotionally and in structurally. Again, I could ...

The backstory: Loteria  is the first novel by Mario Alberto Zambrano. The basics: 11-year-old Luz slowly fill the reader in on her life and family by journaling based on Loteria cards, a Mexican version of bingo that uses images rather than numbers. My thoughts: Loteria  is a complicated little novel. I say little because although it has 288 pages, I read it in about two hours, and I am not that fast of a reader. There are many short chapters and each one begins with a full-page image of a mostly relevant Loteria card. For much of the first half of this novel, I was confused. Zambrano doesn't introduce the reader to the story; he throws you right in. You have no context. Several times I found myself flipping to the publisher's description and wondering "did I miss that?" The more I read, however, the more details fall into place and Luz's writing makes more sense. I was glad I saved this novel for the airplane, as it was perfect to read in a couple of sittings...

My thoughts: I'm not one to be easily shocked or made to blush (at least in the privacy of my own home. I fully confess to many blushing incidents on public transportation while reading), yet The Death of Bees  had my jaw dropping, cheeks blushing, and my interior monologue saying "she's how  old?" All of this is to say, The Death of Bees  is not for the faint of heart, but it is a beautiful, haunting, coming of age tale that far more sad than salacious. While it may shock many readers, it's end point isn't the shock value; there's a deep, affecting story at the heart of The Death of Bees . The Death of Bees is a difficult novel to classify. There are elements of mystery from the novel's first lines: Eugene Doyle. Born 19 June 1972. Died 17 December 2010, aged thirty-eight. Isabel Anne Macdonald. Born 24 May 1974. Died 18 December 2010, aged thirty-six. Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in th...

The basics: An Uncommon Education, Elizabeth Percer's first novel, is a coming of age novel centered around Naomi Feinstein. My thoughts: As An Uncommon Education  opens, Naomi Feinstein is a peculiar girl with a big intellect and no friends, yet her tale isn't one of sadness. There's a matter-of-factness to Naomi and her honest narration. She writes both of the time in which she's living and with a maturity of observation: "For entertainment I was given such things as Infamous Women  coloring book; Shakespeare's plays in comic book fro; my own miniature Torah, the scroll of which was covered in wavy black lines; historically correct figures of Clara Barton and Abigail Adams; math games made pretty with glass marbles; and a jump rope with a booklet of illustrated counting rhymes to accompany it. In addition to our regular visits to the Kennedy home, every April 19th we drove to Lexington before dawn to witness the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington an...