Full confession: I originally selected this work because of its short length. My goal was to read 50 books in 2023, and I had fallen behind. What a rewarding surprise, then, when this novel turned out to be my favorite of the year!
This book details the circumspect life of a woman who does not engage in relationships in the same ways as other people. Her thoughts and emotions revolve, instead, around the convenience store where she works.
This novel explores the tyranny of societal expectations and the difficulties atypical people face, two of my favorite themes both to read and write about. It also offers an up-close and fascinating view of everyday life in modern Japan. As a translator, I’m drawn to translated works and very much enjoyed the naturalness and idiomatic phrasing of this very good translation.
This book tells the sweeping story from childhood to young adulthood of Damon Fields, or Demon Copperhead as he is also known.
As the son of a single, drug-addicted mother in Appalachia, Demon faces a difficult life from the start. Following his mother’s death, he is left to struggle with poverty, addiction, abandonment, and prejudice from the larger society that has branded him a hillbilly. The book also hosts a large stable of secondary characters and interwoven stories that highlight the complex way of life in this geographic area.
Kingsolver tackles various harrowing issues with compassion and insight in this work. This novel was the well-deserved winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
Whenever I open a book written by Ann Patchett, I become immediately absorbed in the story and have to keep reading. Tom Lake was no exception.
The novel takes place in 2020. The adult children of Lara and her husband, Jim, have all returned to their cherry farm in Michigan to isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the family works to harvest the cherries, Lara tells her daughters the story of the summer she dated the famous actor Peter Duke, when the two appeared in a production of "Our Town" at Summer Stock Theater in Tom Lake, Michigan. As the harvest ends, so too does Lara’s tale.
I love how Patchett weaves the past and present together and explores the themes of love, loss, and forgiveness in the two timelines.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * THE NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *
A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
'A new Ann Patchett novel is always cause for celebration ... and Tom Lake is one of her best' i
'This comforting summer read has it all ... Young love, sibling rivalry and deep mother-daughter relationships' REESE WITHERSPOON
'Filled with the moments I live for in a story' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry
'One of the most beloved authors of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES
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This is a story about Peter Duke who went on…
Trapped and isolated in small-town Wisconsin, Sarah wants nothing more than to blend in and lead a normal life away from her abusive brother. Weighing five hundred pounds and having no job or formal education, however, makes this almost impossible.
When Sarah commits an unthinkable act, she seizes the only opportunity available to escape the consequences of her actions. She contacts the carnival man who previously offered her a job as a sideshow act. Burying her guilt, Sarah leaves home and begins performing under the stage name Lola Rolls.
Traveling from town to town, Lola wonders if it's possible to hide in plain sight and truly outrun her past.
