fiction

‘Beginning With Cannonballs’ by Jill McCroskey Coupe

/ Jaclyn Bauer / 1 Comment

beginning-with-cannonballs-coupeBeginning with Cannonballs by Jill McCroskey Coupe tells the story of two childhood friends growing up together. Divisions of race, class, and ideology deign to keep Hanna and Gail apart, but they keep finding their way back to one another. Across the expanse of time, the two main characters fight to both reunite and divide themselves as they grow from girls into women with husbands and children of their own. Each finds out things about one another, their parents, and their own children as they live and learn together.

The book takes on important and timeless issues of race, racism, and cultural shifts in America.

Slated for release by She Writes Press in May of 2020, you can preorder a copy of Beginning with Cannonballs by Jill McCroskey Coupe at your local independent bookstore.

Please remember during these tough times for our economy to still order your books from your local independent bookstore! Help support local businesses during covid-19!

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘The Beauty of Their Youth’ by Joyce Hinnefeld

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beauty-of-their-youth-hinnefeldThe Beauty of Their Youth is the latest literary work by award winning author Joyce Hinnefeld. A collection of short stories, The Beauty of Their Youth introduces five characters who struggle with making sense of their present lives through both the chartered and unchartered territories of their pasts.

From a middle-aged daughter struggling to understand her dead mother through the help of an unsuspecting neighbor, to a German woman who goes to the greatest lengths to find and preserve an authentic and different self, all of Hinnefeld’s characters are deeply tragic yet entirely relatable. No matter the age or situation of the character, Hinnefeld has a way of drawing the reader into the narrative and erasing all sense of distance or difference.

Focusing mainly on the role of the past to help understand and make sense of the present, Hinnefeld takes this idea and creates worlds in which the reader can immerse herself in that very challenge with passion and with empathy.

Beautifully told and utterly engaging, The Beauty of Their Youth by Joyce Hinnefeld is a quick but in-depth collection of stories.

The Beauty of Their Youth by Joyce Hinnefeld is slated for release by Wolfson Press in March 2020.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘Amnesty’ by Aravind Adiga

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amnesty-adigaWhat does it mean live in a world where not being seen is the only thing that will sustain you, but when being seen is the only thing that can keep your spirit alive?

Danny is struggling with just this question as an illegal immigrant in Aravind Adiga’s latest novel, Amnesty. Danny is a cleaner, cleaning away the secrets and mysteries of the privileged, white Aussies who refuse to do it for themselves. Those same people who see him only as the color of his skin or the thickness of his accent. Those people who see him as the same brown person from across the street or from that Southeast Asian restaurant. Danny spends his days both hiding from and trying to be seen by these people.

And then he meets Radha, a brown woman whose luxurious home he’s hired to clean. A woman who at first seems to genuinely care for him, who offers to help him, but who ends up being as corrupted and swallowed by the white-washed world she lives in. Radha is forced to take on a certain persona to protect herself from further degradation because of the color of her skin. She treats Danny like a pet, taking him to gamble and drink with her and her secret lover Prakash. Danny has left that life behind though, having refused to clean for Radha and her lover for months. Until the morning he’s cleaning a neighbor’s home and finds that Radha has been murdered.

Danny tries to convince himself that Radha’s murder was random, an act of violence committed by any person who might have had nothing against her. But he knows this isn’t true. He knows Prakash had something to do with it. He knows Prakash has murdered her. But what can he do? He, an invisible, illegal immigrant? Someone no one sees? Someone who spends his life trying to be invisible and slowly dying because of it?

Danny struggles with these fundamental moral questions as he weighs what it means to be human, to be a human who has suffered, to be a human who has an obligation to those around him even if they don’t look like him or want him.

A beautiful and poignant novel that tells a story that was dying to be told, Aravind Adiga’s Amnesty is a must read of 2020.

Slated for release by Scribner in February 2020, you can preorder a copy of Adiga’s Amnesty from your local independent bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘American Dirt’ by Jeanine Cummins

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American-Dirt-CumminsAmerican Dirt by Jeanine Cummins tells one of the most important stories of our time. A story of heroism and bravery, of fear and unfairness, and of what it means to live a life to its fullest.

Lydia and Luca are the two main characters of American Dirt: an upper-middle class mother and son from Acapulco. Their lives are turned upside down on page one when their entire family is murdered by an infamous gang. The pair narrowly escape from the wreckage alive and quickly turn from their quiet lives to become migrants in a sea of rage and despair. Their destination is el norte, but they have no idea how they’re going to get there or of the terrors they will encounter on the way.

On their journey, Lydia and Luca befriend others who are fleeing dangerous and unstable lives for the hope of something better. While their journey is a harrowing one and the messages that come from it are important, where American Dirt falls short is in its character development and plot-line. The characters all have what seem like interesting and exciting backgrounds that the reader gains access to; however, it often feels like the way in which we learn about those characters is through an information dump rather than through a slow and meticulous crafting of the characters and their relationships to one another. People die, but never is the reader close enough to the character or the action to feel the anguish of that death. These backgrounds and characterizations also prove to be stereotypical in every way. Similarly, the plot points in the book appear action packed and empirically should evoke terror, but they feel very scripted and somewhat too easily escaped. In this way, the important messages of American Dirt, while still visible and pertinent, get somewhat lost in the book’s almost didactic, staccato feel.

Overall, Jeanine Cummins’ book is one that tells a story of paramount importance at a time when migration and migrants are such buzz words in our contemporary culture. It becomes problematic when told by someone who lives outside of the reality of what it means to be Mexican, Mexican-American, or an asylum seeker. The issues brought up in the book need attention called to them, but the questions remain as to whether this was the best way or best person to tell this story. Cummins herself addresses this in the afterword of her novel, but defends her decision to write the book based on personal experience, heritage, and the importance of the story itself.

Slated for release from Flatiron Books in January of 2020, you can preorder a copy of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins at your local independent bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘Jenny in Corona’ by Stuart Ross

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jenny-in-coronaJenny in Corona by Stuart Ross has all the elements of a strange, intriguing, and insightful novel.

Our narrator, Tyrone, is a twenty-something “meat head” as his sometimes-girlfriend Jenny would describe him. Tyrone, or Ty, as he much prefers, takes readers through the full gamut of his life from the time his music teacher sexually abused him (despite the fact that he is reminded by many and by himself that ‘he wanted it’) to his multitude of current dilemmas. He and Jenny have an on-again off-again relationship, each pushing the other away simply in order to have the other come begging for more. Ty alternates between imagining his future with Jenny and daydreaming about a life with his boss, whom he happens to be having an affair with. Ty’s mother has been dead for years, his father is hyped up on meds all day, and he lives under a death metal guitarist who writes satanic music but also attends church.

Ty’s life is a whirlwind of absolute mess, not unlike most twenty-somethings in our modern age. He vacillates between wallowing in self-pity, to hating everyone around him, to loving everything and everyone and seeing the whole world as potential. He moves between being dissociated with his current situation to so acutely feeling his own pain that he can’t function in the world around him.

A beautiful, moving, and utterly strange novel, Jenny in Corona definitely takes a dedicated reader who is willing to follow the wiles of Ty’s brain through all the memories and feelings and disconnectedness he shares with us.

Released by Tortoise Book in 2019, Jenny in Corona by Stuart Ross is available for purchase at your local bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘The Art of Regret’ by Mary Fleming

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the-art-of-regret-flemmingThe Art of Regret by Mary Fleming is a story about more than just regret, it’s about healing, about hurting, and mostly about what it means to be an imperfect human being.

At the beginning of the novel, Trevor McFarquhar it seems, has mastered the art of regret. He runs a run-down bicycle shop in Paris that’s about to be closed down, sleeps around with at least two women at a time, and has less than kind thoughts about most of the people in his life. He is a cynical, selfish man who is afraid of everyone and everything, but most of all himself and his past. He has a snobbish American family and a beautiful sister-in-law whom he decides to tangle with in a less than respectable way. When the whole family finds out, Trevor is ostracized.

In the five years that he doesn’t speak to his family, Trevor acquires not only a new bicycle shop, but a friend, a dog, and some sympathy (if not yet empathy) for the people around him. When Trevor reunites with his estranged brother, his world turns upside down for better and for worse.

Fleming’s second novel is a whirlwind of action-packed drama that leaves the reader always eager to turn the page. While Trevor is not the most likable of characters, even in the end, he is a very human character whose flaws and triumphs many can relate to. The Art of Regret leaves readers with the feeling that change is possible: challenging, yes, but possible. The reader leaves with the feeling that there doesn’t need to be an art to regret, but rather that we can remember the good and bad times alike. We can take them with us and not let them rule us. We can ease regret through right action and effort towards change.

An inspiring and wholly realistic book, The Art of Regret will be published by She Writes Press on October 22, 2019. You can preorder a copy at your local independent bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘Out of Darkness, Shining Light’ by Petina Gappah

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out-of-darkness-gappah

Racism, misogyny and the ironies that arise from situations in which we “do right” are just a few of the topics taken on in Petina Gappah’s new novel Out of Darkness, Shining Light.

A historical novel that fictionalizes the actual removal of a missionary and doctor’s body out of Africa in the late 1800s, Out of Darkness, Shining Light is told from two unexpected perspectives. One is Halima, Doctor David Livingston’s cook, and the other is Jacob Wainwright, a freed slave and a Christian. Through these two narrators, we are afforded a glimpse into the harrowing journey of the group that literally carried Livingstone to the edge of the Earth.

While the frame of the novel centers around Livingstone’s removal from Africa, the core of the book gets at much deeper themes. Halima is a slave who is maybe not a slave, who is treated like the woman she is: not as worthy, intelligent, or capable as her male counterparts. She is chastised for having feelings towards another man when her partner is abusive, and their union is forced. She is made fun of for loving a child that isn’t hers. She’s told she can never own a house even if she is free one day, simply because she’s a woman. And yet, it’s Halima who provides for the group. Halima who in the end is shown to be the strongest of all.

Jacob Wainwright on the other hand, the pious Christian that he is, denounces the savagery of his countrymen and aims to convert all of Africa to the one true religion: Christianity. He parallels his savage counterparts in his treatment and view of women as inherently evil, in his blasé reflections on punishment and death, and in his othering of all who are not what he sees as the ideal. And yet, he in many ways is a victim of his circumstances: stolen as a child, shipped across the sea, and taught the white man’s view of white vs. wrong.

A cutting, funny, and most often horrifying novel, Petina Gappah’s Out of Darkness, Shining Light is a beautiful and soulful book that tells a story that desperately needs to be told.

Slated for release by Scribner Books on September 10, 2019, you can preorder a copy of Out of Darkness, Shining Lightby Petina Gappah at your local independent bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘This Tender Land’ by William Kent Krueger

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this-tender-land-kruegerWilliam Kent Krueger’s latest novel, This Tender Land, takes on the task of emulating the American Classic in a number of ways. A group of outcast youngsters, down on their luck, living in an abusive, historical setting escape their captors to adventure down the Mississippi. Harkening back to landmark works like The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and Great Expectations, Krueger’s novel awakens a sort of nostalgia for the American Classic in the reader.

While the cast of characters is interesting and the adventures manifold, the novel breaks down in its ambling structure and stride. The action is spread thin across the pages, making it challenging for the reader to keep pace. Krueger has moments where the intention is clear and the prose beautiful, but overall, the novel takes a heft of patience and perseverance to sift through.

Slated for release by Atria Books on September 3, 2019, you can preorder a copy of This Tender Landby William Kent Krueger at your local independent bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

 

 

‘The Porpoise’ by Mark Haddon

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the-porpoise-haddon

The Porpoise by Mark Haddon is a masterfully rendered retelling of Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Haddon takes all of the elements of Shakespeare’s work, and layers on it a multitude of intricacies that elevate the story to an entirely different emotional plane.

Haddon sets his reader up in contemporary France where a plane has just crashed: a wife is dead, a daughter survives. Angelica, the daughter, is raised by her father Phillipe who develops a muddled and monstrous relationship with his her as she grows. Just as Shakespeare’s Pericles’ own adventure starts with the unveiling of a scandal between father and daughter, so does Haddon’s Pericles. This Pericles though is at first a con artist named Darius who comes to visit Phillipe and uncovers the untold lies surrounding Phillipe and Angelica. After being chased away by one of Phillipe’s henchmen, Darius, now Pericles, finds himself upon a ship, The Porpoise, with a new name, a new history, and a new destiny to fulfill.

Haddon follows not only Pericles, but also a host of other characters whom have only minor or momentary parts in Shakespeare’s original. Haddon, instead of simply following Pericles’ narrative as it stands, weaves together characters and elements in unique and magical ways. In doing so, the reader is intimately tied to all of the characters whether she despises them or holds her breath for them. Through elements perhaps of magical realism, of mental instability, or musings on the veil between life and death, characters, times, and places start to blend together as themes and narrative threads are woven into a brilliant and moving tapestry that is Mark Haddon’s The Porpoise.

While there are points in the novel where Haddon’s musings seem to run away and leave the reader wondering at the thread of his thoughts, overall the piece is a beautifully set puzzle with some odd curves, but a marvelous finish.

A masterful and poetic work, The Porpoiseby Mark Haddon is slated for release by Doubleday on June 18, 2019. You can preorder a copy of the book at your local independent bookstore today.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.

‘Lights All Night Long’ by Lydia Fitzpatrick

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lights-all-night-long-fitzpatrickBrilliant and beautiful beyond comprehension, Lydia Fitzpatrick’s Lights All Night Long is a novel that pulls the reader in starting on page one.

Fitzpatrick tells the story of a Russian exchange student, Ilya, and his mission to save his brother, Vladimir, from punishment for a series of murders Ilya knows (or at least thinks he knows) Vladimir did not commit. Ilya is in Louisiana though and doesn’t quite know how to help his brother except by sending him lengthy emails detailing his life in America and his insistence that Vladimir is innocent. While in America, with the help of both fate and some new friends, Ilya begins to unravel bits of the truth about his brother’s life and his confession of the murders.

Told through a blend of past and present, the reader slowly starts to piece together Ilya’s history and the life he’s lived in Russia. We start to understand Ilya and Vladmir’s relationship as well as Ilya’s relationship with his hometown, his dead father, and what’s left of his family. A story of drugs and murder, of family and companionship, of honesty and dishonesty, of honor and love, Lights All Night Longis impossible to simply sum up in a few paragraphs. It’s a novel that has to be read and by being read almost lived.

Fitzpatrick is a dazzling and poetic writer who creates characters that are difficult to forget. Since the book is told from the close third perspective of a teenage boy, we hear a lot about his sexual fantasies and desires, and while this at times can detract from the flow of the book, the reader just has to remember the age of the main character, and it’s easy to move through some of these more staccato descriptions.

Overall, Lights All Night Long is a captivating book that will pull readers into an entirely new world.

Slated for released on April 2, 2019 by Penguin Press, you can preorder a copy of Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick at your local independent bookstore.

Read more fiction book reviews at Centered on Books.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me in return for a fair and honest review of the text.