The Tiger's Wife

The Tiger's Wife: A Novel by Téa Obreht

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a very rare case of a book I planned to give three stars, but was so impressed by the ending, that I upped it to four. So often I'm loving a book, only to be disappointed by a clumsy ending, or an overly explained ending that takes something magical and tries to make it concrete, reducing it to dust with the heavy hammer of rationalization. The Tiger's Wife built up a beautiful, crumbling, European folklore ambiance. It blended past with present, reality with fantasy. Most importantly, it explored what it means to find and hold onto humanity in a world of loss and death and horror. Obreht captured the magic that is our willingness to find a sense of wonder in a world of senseless violence and aching loss. And she was able to blend reality with magic, magic with reality, in a memorable and beautiful way.



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Unfamiliar Fishes

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As always, Sarah Vowell's enthusiasm for her subject succeeded in getting me excited about history- this time about the history of Hawaii. I listened to the book read by the author to get the full effect of Vowell's deadpan humor. I came away from the book intrigued by whale oil and sugar, and, for the first time in my life, excited about reading Moby Dick. Some Cherokee blood runs in Vowell's veins, and she makes a very personal connection to the fate of the native Hawaiians who lost their land and lives to the unfamiliar fishes that washed up on their shores. If anything, her genuine feeling for the loss of the Hawaiian way of life saps a little of her normal humor, takes just a little of the edge off her funny, sarcastic voice.



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Zen and the Art of Faking It

Zen And The Art Of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Good book. Sonnenblick was able to use techniques I'm familiar with from Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie to create a completely different protagonist. As I neared the end, I was really hoping there would be no neat ends, tying everything up, resolving all the protagonist's problems- because that would not be appropriate to this protagonist. Although not all the loose ends were cheerfully tied, I would have liked to see just a few more left loose. To me that would have taken the story from good to great.



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The Dream of Perpetual Motion

The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A surreal, dark fantasy.  Thrilling, fascinating, horrible.  Great use of language and theme.  Beautifully brutal world-building.  Confident writing voice that can tell the reader what will happen chapters before describing the journey, heightening, not decreasing, the tension.


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A Memory of Wind

A Memory of Wind by Rachel Swirsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Poetic retelling of Iphigenia at Aulis.  The vivid sensory detail fades as the novella progresses, but that may be less an inability to sustain, and more intentional depiction of flesh and blood girl dissolving into spirit wind.  Swirsky circles back again and again to two key familial moments in Iphigenia's life, fleshing out the memories a little at a time to emotionally coincide with the story's climax.

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