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Anil Tissera is a forensic anthropologist, specializing in human rights violations. At the behest of an international organization, she returns to her forsaken birthplace, Sri Lanka, to investigate political murders. These atrocities have been commonplace since sectarian unrest there escalated in the 1980s. Despite the inherent danger of such an investigation, Anil becomes consumed with uncovering the identity of one particular victim, whose remains are nicknamed, "Sailor." Told poetically from various viewpoints, including that of Anil's partner Sarath Diyasena, this story is a morality tale of sacrifice versus senselessness in a country caught between ancient tradition and political upheaval.

Reviewed by Lydia L., Main Library

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Michael Ondaatje has written a novel about the political and violent turmoil that engulfed his home country of Sri Lanka between the mid 1980's to the early 1990's. The central character of the book is Anil Tissera, a forensic anthropologist, who has returned to her home country after studying and working abroad. She returns as part of an international human rights group to investigate the murders that are ripping the country apart. Apart from Anil there are two other main characters. The brothers Sarath and Gamini Diyasena. Sarath, the eldest, is an archeologist. Gamini is a doctor who has to deal with atrocities of torn limbs, tortured bodies and death everyday. He too keeps his emotions hidden dealing with his pain by working himself to death.
-Simone, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

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Set in the turbulent decade of the 30s in Port Ticonderoga, eighty-four year old Iris Griffen, reminisces about her younger sister, Laura, who committed suicide. It is this tragedy that runs as an underpinning throughout this complex, but mesmerizing story. Laura’s posthumously published novel, The Blind Assassin, is a “novel within a novel.” The author uses “both” novels to explore the trappings of romantic self-delusion, and of previously entitled women forced into emotional bondage in order to achieve parity in a society that now shuns them. With attention to absorbing detail, Atwood engages the reader in a family’s long and tortured history of familial bonding and betrayals, the pain of class distinctions and political upheaval in this 2000 Booker Award winner.

Reviewed by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch

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Margaret Atwood is a fantastic author! I have read most of her novels, and this is one of my top 3 favorites. It has great character development, twisting plot lines and real feeling behind the story. Definitely a recommended read.
-Abby, Charlotte, NC

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Following the death of her mother, Jing-Mei "June" Woo becomes the fourth member of The Joy Luck Club, a club that meets weekly to play mah jong. Formed by June's mother in 1949, the San Francisco Joy Luck Club allowed the immigrants to share their past experiences in China. The Woos, the Jongs, the Hsus, and the St. Clairs are as close as family, yet each mother and daughter remembers unique events that shaped their own lives. June expresses the complications of mother-daughter relationships, family expectations, and cultural traditions as she learns more about her mother's life in China and what she left behind.

Reviewed by Sarah H., Independence Regional

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As combat soldiers in the most surreal nightmare of a war in history, they carried a great deal indeed – from fragmentation grenades to unbearable emotional burdens. In a compelling mix of fiction and fact, in short stories that double as chapters of a strange and haunting novel, O’Brien provides the definitive account of the American experience in Vietnam. Switching deftly from the past to the present and back again, from third- to first-person narrative, the entire panorama of war – duty and responsibility, isolation and terror, good and evil, life and sudden death – are examined with sometimes surprising judgements that obscure the sharp distinction between (for example) cowardice and valor. O’Brien’s work was a finalist in the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Early in The Hours, as Clarissa, one of the main characters, is interacting with another woman in a flower shop, we are told: "Something about her face...reminds you that people looked essentially the same a hundred years ago." The sentiment of this line pervades each page of this wonderfully-wrought book. Cunningham delicately weaves together the lives of three women --living decades apart -- with a subtlety and skill that touch on poetry. There is a timelessness about the book, even though life in current New York is expertly drawn in one storyline, and a character is living with AIDS.

Reviewed by Tony T., Main Library

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This National Book Award winner about a sweet, sensitive but hard-drinking Irish-American, Billy Lynch, is a skillful blend of anecdotal memories of the main characters and an expose of the inner demons that plague alcoholics. Set in a Bronx, NY bar, it opens with the aftermath of Billy's death by alcoholism. Billy's friends and relatives ruminate on the episodes of his traumatic life. Sitting in the bar, the narrator imparts glimpses of Billy's troubled life, including his intense infatuation with a visiting lass from Ireland who becomes his fiance, but eventually leaves him, sending Billy off in a craze of binge drinking and depression. Billy still clings to the false perception that she "died", and this theme of self-denial shapes his adult life and ultimately leads to his death. With themes of the complexities of deep friendship and loyalties and the tight social bonds that form Irish-American communities in the big cities, it is a book that touches the heart.

Reviewed by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch

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In these 12 short stories, Moore explores the human condition ranging from neurosis to death. Although the settings vary from Iowa to Italy, her eccentric characters are all afflicted with angst and alienation in their relationships. Their conversations are sprinkled with word play, sarcastic banter, and current events. Moore’s work, reminiscent of Ann Beattie, is ironic, acutely observant, and poignant. “The impulse toward a joke,” muses the heroine of “Agnes of Iowa” is what “made any given day seem bearable. People need to laugh.” These fresh, honest, quirky portraits of strange birds are guaranteed to make you do just that.

Reviewed by Megan M., Main Library

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This book of epic proportions takes on magic, comic books, WWII, family relationships, and life in New York, through the eyes of Jewish immigrants Thomas Kavalier and his cousin Samuel Clay. Tom escapes from Prague with the Nazis on his heels then teams up with Sammy to write and illustrate some of the most popular superhero comic books of the era. These comic strips are emblematic of the longings, loves, losses, and eventual salvation of their creators. The interweaving of a multitude of exciting plots, with action and larger than life heroes keeps the reader eagerly waiting the next escapade in the lives of Kavalier & Clay. An intriguing, well-developed novel.

Reviewed by Michele H., Main Library

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A re-telling of the Chinese legend of a woman who cared for a man who, though he became a minor deity, was never worthy of her, this is a beautiful and sensitive story of women and their relationships with men and each other. Set in the present and the past, in San Francisco and in China, it examines in intimate detail family relationships - especially between mother and daughter, sister and sister. Members of the family, of course, are not necessarily related…. Like all of Tan's work: enchanting.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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McCarthy tells the tale of John Grady Cole, a young Texan who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in the 1940s. After his grandfather dies, John Grady's mother sells the ranch, separating him from the only life he's ever known. Feeling dispossessed, John Grady and his pal Lacey head for the last bastion of the old West - Mexico, where they secure jobs on a huge ranch. The rancher takes a liking to the young man with an uncanny ability with horses. Meanwhile, John Grady takes a liking to the rancher's daughter, which spells trouble in paradise. It is a beautiful tale portraying rites of passage, a vanishing way of life, and the loss of innocence; as usual with a McCarthy novel, however, the real star is the writing.

Reviewed by Bryon C., North County Regional

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At 43, Joe Ransom is past his prime. He drinks too much, gambles and gets into fights – a lethal combination in the backwoods of North Mississippi. A few years back Joe spent some time in prison, and it looks like he might be heading back soon if he doesn’t control his temper. He’s divorced from his wife and estranged from his son and daughter. It seems as if he’s speeding toward a lonely, pointless end until he crosses paths with fifteen-year-old Gary Jones. Gary and his homeless family live in a shack in the woods and subsist off of human refuse. When Joe offers Gary a job he gives him an opportunity to escape his abusive father, a man of unspeakable evil. Beneath Joe’s gruff, redneck exterior beats a heart-of-gold.

Reviewed by Bryon C., North County Regional

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Sad, sweet and violent is this mountain morality play in which a Confederate soldier deserts his nearly-defeated army and walks all the way back home--to his sweetheart, and to what he believes to be a saner and more meaningful life--deep in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. Lovingly and intricately detailed, Appalachia lives and breathes through Frazier's excellent craftsmanship. Its sober and haunting depiction of a significant time and place, as well as its brilliant characterization, makes this novel an American classic.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Ned Kelly was a 19th century Australian outlaw whose family was exiled from Ireland and sent to Australia. His father died when he was 12. His mother relied on graft and crime to support the family. Kelly, a killer, thief, and gang leader, was hanged when he was 25. The fictional account is written as a letter to Kelly’s daughter. He is a folk hero to Australians because he rebelled against the corrupt English landlords and used injustice to create his own brand of justice. The novel reads like an old-fashioned American western with one showdown after another. Carey has you cheering Ned on to victory, even though you know his fate. He does an impeccable job of capturing the voice of an Australian legend.

Reviewed by Megan M., Main Library

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The Corrections is about the dysfunctional Lambert family of St. Jude. Enid Lambert wants her children to come home for Christmas to see their father, Alfred, who has Parkinson’s Disease. Denise, a chef, and Gary, a banker, live in Philadelphia. Chip, who was fired from his university position for sexual misconduct, is working for a prurient publication in New York. The book, which won the National Book Award, focuses on each character’s bizarre thoughts and eccentric behavior which is framed around the “spirit of correction” – a desire to change the past. Throughout these passages, Franzen creatively comments on issues ranging from health care to the death penalty. Franzen’s impeccable ear for dialogue and his precise prose make this character-driven book a smooth, satisfying read.

Reviewed by Megan M., Main Library

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In the Canadian frontier of 1843 a young housemaid is tried for the murder of her employer and his mistress. Here Atwood creates a searingly compelling novel of the true, yet fictionalized, story of Grace Marks. Narrated by Grace herself, it is the story of her arrest and conviction for a crime that she insists she did not commit. While half the town felt she was simply an innocent victim of circumstances, the other half believed that Grace was a consummate liar. We also get a chilling glimpse of the horrors of 19th century mental asylums; the hypnotic and symbiotic relationship that physician, Dr. Simon Jordan, harbors for her, as well as a true reconstruction of the early rise of therapeutic psychology in a emotive-restricted Victorian era. Richly detailed and hauntingly narrated, it is mesmerizing in both scope and prose, and will leave you breathless with anticipation.

Reviewed by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch

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Love it!!
-Helene, NC

Pregnancy, as referenced and used in this novel is very important, as it was a very big turning point for all women. In regards to Alias Grace, pregnancy was the main cause of why these women's lives were ruined for a lack of better words.
-James, Quebec

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Set in rural Louisiana during the late 1940’s, Jefferson, a barely literate twenty-year-old black man, is wrongly sentenced to death for the murder of a white man. In a futile attempt to spare his life, his defense lawyer claims that he is not intelligent enough to be regarded as human. Eventually, his extended family convinces Grant Wiggins, the university-educated teacher of their parish, to help Jefferson realize his humanity and self-worth during his final days. Major social issues such as race, the death penalty, and religion are central to this powerful tale of human morality. This title is a must read for anyone who enjoys literature with an important social message.

Reviewed by LaJuan P., University City Regional

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Lin Hong, a Chinese army doctor is trapped in a marriage arranged by his parents. While working in an army hospital in Muji City, he falls in love with a nurse. As an army officer he is not allowed to divorce without his wife’s consent until after 18 years of separation. Every year, Lin goes back to Goose Village his home to ask for a divorce without success. Year after year, 18 years pass, until finally he is free to marry the woman he loves. Was it worth the wait? Jin’s account of love, family and daily life in China is realistic, powerful and heart-rending.

Reviewed by Janet W., Morrison Regional

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Outraged by her husband’s infidelity, Violet Trace is a woman obsessed with trying to get behind the allure of the girl who captured her husband’s affections. What she learns reveals as much about her and her society as the fatal attraction of her husband’s young lover. Touching on matters of infidelity, race, the victimization of women, and the insinuating influence of jazz music on morals, Toni Morrison’s Jazz offers rich insight into the lives of urban blacks in 1920’s America. Her descriptions are poetic and evocative; creating a city that represents character as well as place in the novel.

Reviewed by David S., University City Regional

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House of Sand and Fog is a modern day Greek tragedy complete with its multi-ethnic layers of morals and complexities. A legal altercation quickly flares into a personal battle—with climactic, appalling results. Andre Dubus’s technique in narration of purposefully shifting of points of view supplies emotional response to the characters’ moral dilemmas and the ongoing frustrations of not being able to resolve conflicts. The reader cannot help but sympathize with Kathy Nicolo (self-destructive alcoholic), Sheriff Lester Burden (obsessively smitten married man), and Massoud Amir Behrani (former wealthy colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah) in their pursuit of the “American Dream.”

Reviewed by Laura S., Scaleybark Branch

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You will laugh and cry, sometimes simultaneously, when you read this book, and you must read this book! Christopher Boone is the narrator. Christopher is brilliant mathematically, his chapters are assigned only prime numbers. He knows all the countries and their capitals but he cannot understand the simplest human emotion. He doesn’t like to be touched. Christopher Boone is autistic. When Christopher finds one of the neighborhood dogs impaled on a garden fork, he applies the logic of Sherlock Holmes, (his favorite fictional character,) to solve the crime. Mark Haddon has scored a huge hit with this very creative, refreshing story. Haddon gives us a small glimpse of the challenges of autism and a book that people will be talking about for years to come.

Reviewed by Susan C., Independence Regional

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"Fifteen-year-old Christopher has a photographic memory. He understands math. He understands science. What he doesn't understand is other human beings." Christopher Boone has autism. When he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, dead in her garden, he decides he's going to do some detective work to find the killer, like his favorite character, Sherlock Holmes. This is when he begins his "murder mystery novel" with the encouragement of his teacher Siobhan. But it is not the only mystery that crops up. Haddon creatively and skillfully explores the disorder of autism. Written from Christopher's point of view, you begin to understand his behavior.
-Daryn, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

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In her debut novel, Monica Ali offers an intimate and enthralling glimpse into the struggles of modern immigrants as they cling to the culture and traditions they hold dear, while trying to assimilate into foreign lands. Ali?s heroine, Nazneen Ahmed, is a woman dutifully swaddled in the traditional roles of daughter, wife, and mother. Yet, she is emotionally surrounded by the passions of her renegade sister, Hasina, the over-inflated ambitions of her arranged-marriage husband, Chanu, and the specter of her mother, ?Amma,? not to mention the daily challenges of living in a Bangladeshi ghetto in London. Despite these constraints, she gradually unfolds, finding her own voice, doing nothing more extraordinary than following Amma?s advice: ?You just have to endure.?

Reviewed by Lydia L., Main Library

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This novel, first published a decade ago by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, is a white Southerner's interpretation of one of America's most shameful racial killings - the Emmett Till murder in Mississippi in 1955. It is unlike any other novel ever written and is very hard to describe. Here's what Randall Kenan said about it (in The Nation): "An immense and wall-shattering display of talent...At its very center lies one of the most senseless and well publicized crimes in American history: the murder of Emmett Till."

Reviewed by Shannon R., Editor, Algonquin Books

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Benchley's son (and biographer) Nathaniel selected the essays for this posthumous collection. It contains some of Benchley's funniest work: "Carnival Week in Sunny Las Los," "Kiddie-Kar Travel," "Opera Synopses," and many other short pieces perfect for reading to your self or out loud with friends. For more information about Benchley's life and work, visit the Robert Benchley Society at www.robertbenchley.org.
-David, Boston, Mass.

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Should a man’s private life impact his legacy? This seems to be the underlying question in Toni Morrison’s latest novel. Bill Cosey has been dead for quite some time. However, those he left behind seem to revel in telling his life story. There are Christine and Heed, once best friends in childhood, now fighting for control of the family fortune and the right to call Cosey their own. Vida and L, former employees of Cosey, have to dig deep to find wrong in him, even though the wrong has been staring them in the face for many, many years. Spanning a time period of some thirty years, Morrison’s Love makes you wonder if it is love or some other crazy emotion that has these women reflecting so delinquently on one Bill Cosey.

Reviewed by Vickie C., West Boulevard Branch

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Love is full of powerful images that paint vivid portraits of each character. The story initially focuses on Bill Cosey. However, as the story unfolds, you find the story really isn't about Cosey but about the powerful relationship between the two characters, Heed and Christine. By the end of the book, the emotions are strong and it's uncertain who is the true villain or hero. Love follows typical Toni Morrison form. The language and flow are powerful. The reader will be caught up in the story.
-Freda, Charlotte, NC

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What would compel a man, who was himself a former slave, to become a slaveholder? Are the attributes needed to become a slaveholder a learned behavior or are they innate? These are only a few paramount questions readers would most likely want to ask of Henry Townsend. Townsend is the main character in Edward P Jones’s debut novel The Known World. Set in ante-bellum Virginia, Jones’s many, many characters breathe life into the taboo topic of black people who become slaveholders. Jones is a brilliant storyteller who just recently received the Pulitzer for The Known World.

Reviewed by Vickie C., West Boulevard Branch

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In short anecdotal chapters that recall her staccato style from previous works, Cisneros continues her examination of the experience of Mexican-American families and those they leave behind. Young Celaya, or Lala, tells us the saga of the Reyes family on both sides of the border. We meet Lala, her father Inocencio, and his mother, the Awful Grandmother, and other members of the Reyes clan in this wonderfully sensuous novel. The novel spans the years of the Diaz dictatorship, the revolution that brought him down, Chicago in the 1920s, and sees both countries into the present. Told with the same irreverent, loving humor as The House On Mango Street,Caramelo, shows that family is family no matter the culture or country. Differences divide only if we let them.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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A. S. Byatt’s Possession is a romance that crosses time, space and even death. It all begins when a young researcher finds the unfinished draft of a love letter in the papers of a famous poet. He begins to put together the clues that would point to the object of the poet’s affection, and starts out on a journey that will take him around England and to the south of France, break up his current loveless relationship, have professors from three universities trying to sue him, and finally give him understanding as to the meaning of love. Byatt weaves the details of her tale together with consummate skill, letting us know all her characters, warts and all. This novel is a tremendous feat of storytelling.

Reviewed by Ian R., North County Regional

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In his second novel, Jonathan Safran Foer has completely captured my soul. The story is about a very precocious boy, Oskar Schell, age nine, whose beloved father has died a year ago in the World Trade Center attacks. This initially turned me off the book, because I thought it was too soon for any really good literature to be based on September 11th. I was wrong. Foer weaves the tragedy of September 11th into the common human experience of many Americans, contextualizing it but without in any way diminishing its power to wound us. He does this by moving between Oskar's young life and the youth and courtship of his paternal grandparents, who both lost their families in the fire-bombing of Dresden in World War II. Through these tragedies, the characters experience grief, loss, and human love in a way that's so real as to give the reader a visceral reaction. This book may go into my top 10 of all time. I think it may go into yours too.

Reviewed by Suzanna V., Cornelius Branch

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In this newest book by the author of Remains Of The Day the narrator, Kathy H., is telling about her life growing up at Hailsham, a British boarding school in the 1990s. Hailsham students (along with the reader) were protected from knowing what the future held for them, but hints are dropped, building the sense of mystery that permeates the first part of the book. At age 31 Kathy is telling us the story after meeting up with two of her old school friends with whom she had lost contact. The mysterious secrets that permeated their days at Hailsham are now out in the open. As the three friends move along the paths for which they were trained, they have a chance to renew their friendships, and reach a level of love and forgiveness, as well as an understanding and acceptance of their lives.

Reviewed by Susan H., Main Library

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The Kite Runner begins when Amir is a twelve-year-old boy in Afghanistan. Chronicling his life, his relationship with his larger than life father, his friendship with the boy he considers a servant, his activities and kite fighting takes the first half of the book. Amir is a quiet bookish boy, not very brave and not always kind. Amir and his father eventually come to live in the United States and Amir continues his education and he marries an Afghani woman. Then comes a phone call from an old friend asking him to come back to visit. He meets his old friend in Pakistan but must make the decision he had hoped to never have to make--to return to Kabul. The book is surprisingly easy to read, well written and touching.

Reviewed by Karen M., Morrison Regional

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A problem many writers face is the need for resolution, stories that unfold neatly and tie up their loose ends. This happens very rarely in real life. William Boyd has set out with the ambitious project of creating a novel, in journal form, where a life unfolds without having to follow the conventions of a story. In this book we follow Logan Mountstuart through his own words from his schooldays, through college, through his stalling and interrupted career as a writer, through war and imprisonment, through love and loss, and finally to a brief and serene moment before death. Throughout, Mountstuart feels like a real person and the journal feels like a real account. An admirable and ambitious novel.

Reviewed by Ian R., North County Regional

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Fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura's world is far from ordinary. He runs away from home to escape his father's Oedipal prophecy and find his mother and sister, who inexplicably ran off when he was little. In a parallel story, Nataka was once a precocious child but mysteriously lost consciousness during World War II and awoke a simpleton, unable to read or write, but able to speak to cats. Nataka finds himself inexplicably drawn to Kafka in a world where advertisements come to life, fish rain from the sky and people's spirits can wander great distances while they are sleeping. Murakami masterfully paints a metaphysical wonderland that incorporates philosophical musings with a completely engrossing plot.

Reviewed by Meri H., Main Library

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What can cause Palestinians to become suicide bombers? How does this act affect the loved ones left behind? Yasmina Khadra looks at these questions but doesn’t offer up any easy answers; there are none. Dr. Amin Jaafari, a Palestinian surgeon assimilated into Israeli society is jolted out of his placid coexistence with the violence raging around him when he learns that his beloved wife has embraced the role of suicide bomber. Enraged, and set adrift in the chaos that engulfs him, he goes in search of some answers. The reader is swept along on his quest in this short, powerful novel that examines the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on a personal, intimate level.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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13-year-old Briony Tallis does something terrible in the summer of 1935, permanently affecting the futures of those around her. She spends the rest of her life trying to atone for her horrific mistake. Set against the backdrop of World War II England and illuminated by McEwan’s beautiful prose, Atonement follows the lives of everyone affected by Briony’s error. The novel seamlessly encompasses a love story, a war narrative, and a coming-of-age novel. In the end, Atonement is first and foremost about the awesome power of fiction, which can destroy lives, but ultimately provides Briony’s only chance for redemption.

Reviewed by Meri H., Main Library

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This novella packs a punch far more powerful than its size would suggest. Set in an unnamed African country, this is the story of Agu. Civil war has destroyed young Agu’s world. When a band of rebel fighters find him hiding in a hovel he is given the option of joining them or dying on the spot. Told by Agu in language that emphasizes his youth and lack of understanding, this is a vivid and disturbing vision of the world of a child soldier. Agu is too young to understand the horrors all around him, even those he is forced to commit. He is not too young to suffer because of them. Iweala has penned a debut that shines a bright light on the horrors of child soldiers

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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The hangman always comes at the worst times. Jason Taylor has grown used to many things in the village of Black Swan Green. As a young adolescent boy, he has accepted the daily turmoil of his life during school hours, but the hangman is different. The hangman is the one who steals his words and causes him to stammer. His stammer, he fears, could lead him to be the most mocked boy in all of England. Each day he lives his adventures and fights the hangman along with numerous other teenage boys who are just waiting to start a fight one day and be his friend the next. Love, war and teen angst come together to create a page-turner not to be missed.

Reviewed by Courtney A., South County Regional

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White Teeth is a multicultural tapestry set in Northern London from the late sixties to the early nineties. Figuring prominently, are several families – two of whom are headed by WWII veterans who nurture a most unlikely friendship: Archibald Jones, a hopelessly indecisive white Brit and Samad Iqbal, a Bengali-born immigrant clinging to his Muslim heritage. The novel follows the lives of Archie and Samad, their extended families, and associates as they, haunted by the past, face some of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that life unleashes – including: racism, anarchy, adolescent drug abuse, bioengineering fears, changing sexual behaviors, and cults. At book’s end, a decades-old lie resurfaces to Archie’s dismay. Warning: gratuitous use of the “f-word”. Somewhat weak plot - but sharp, witty dialogue makes this a winner!

Reviewed by Susanne W., South County Regional

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The novel Yo! by Julia Alvarez is a story about a woman named Yolanda Garcia, or Yo, as she is commonly called. Yo is a writer, and the story begins with one of the four Garcia sisters bashing Yo and her new book. Yo’s book features revealing stories about her family and their past that no one is comfortable with. The story goes on to reveal a different story and opinion about Yo coming from a different friend, family member or acquaintance from her past in each chapter. From cousins to husbands, best friends to stalkers, and everything in between, every part of Yo’s personality is covered in this original story about one woman’s incredible life.

Reviewed by Alyssa, Lancaster, NH

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