Synopsis:
Callously ravished by the man she hoped to love, an 11th Century Norwegian woman shapes her life around dreams of vengeance.
Review:
Gunnar’s Daughter is an early novel from the Sigrid Undset, author of the Nobel Prize-winning Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, and it is no less of a powerful, shocking work not just for a book set in medieval Norway, but for a book written at the beginning of the 20th Century. Continue reading
Synopsis:
Bereft and aimless, an ex-meth head signs up to test a new drug promising to cure anxiety of all kinds.
Review:
I picked up Sunless because it promised a Chuck Pahlaniuk-esque satirical romp through all the woes of our modern age, dressed up in off-kilter post-apocalyptic trappings and with an addictive prose style.
Instead, I suffered through a lazily written, incoherently plotted, almost aggressively aimless stylistic exercise that I had to force myself to finish reading. Thankfully it’s not very long, so I could get through it in a subway ride. There was no forward movement in the plot, and since there was a plot, author Gerard Donovan can’t hide behind the “it’s about character” defense. Nor was the prose such that I wanted to keep reading just to see what he’d do with language–while that’s not my favorite kind of read, I can at least appreciate someone who loves words and wants to push them to the limit.
No, Sunless wants to be what I initially hoped it would be, and fails miserably.
Synopsis:
A long ago summer idyll at a manor-turned-commune ended in tragedy, and the recent discovery of the bones of a woman and a baby threaten the secrets carefully guarded by the young man who inherited the home.
Review:
It may be a lesser Barbara Vine, but A Fatal Inversion is still an above average read. Continue reading
Synopsis:
When Frances’s birth mother contacts her asking to “finish it,” Frances must come to terms with the terrible crime that caused their separation, and learn how to forge her own path in life.
Review:
I devoured Breathe My Name, which will be published in early November 2007 by Razorbill. Not only is it an outstanding coming-of-age tale, Breathe My Name has a gorgeous, poignant love story that really drew me in. This is one I’m happy to give some advance praise to!
