The Anatomy of Exile by Zeeva Bukai is a riveting novel about an Israeli-born woman, a Sabra named Tamar, married to a Syrian Jew, Salim, who has migrated to Israel. She has been raised with the noble founding values of Israel as an egalitarian society. His experience, however, is that of a Mizrahi, darker-skinned Jews …
Continue reading More than Romeo and Juliet: Israel meets Palestine
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger reminds me of nothing so much as Harvard Law Professor Michael Sandel’s course on justice and making ethical decisions, especially when choosing between two, equally problematic alternatives. Holsinger’s novel is set in the era of artificial intelligence. Attorney Noah Cassidy and his wife, Lorelei Shaw, a prominent leader in the field …
Continue reading A novel look at Moral Responsibility in the world of A.I.
Clean by Alia Trabuco Zeran, translated by Sophie Hughes, is a probing novel about class, bias and a crime. The reader is hooked on the first page, told that a child has drowned, under mysterious circumstances. The narrator, sitting in a cell, speaks directly to the reader. The narrator, Estela Garcia, had moved from a …
After the Last Border by Jessica Goudeau should be required reading for people who fear or loathe strangers coming to the United States to avoid persecution, war and chaos in their home countries. The author tells of two such women, weaving between their alternating stories the history of immigration and refugee resettlement in this country. …
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford is a quickly unspooling, cinematic mystery set in the fictional city of Cahokia, during the 1920’s. (The real Cahokia had vanished by 1200 C.E., leaving behind only mounds of grass-covered dirt in Illinois, near the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.) The population of author Spufford’s Cahokia is divided …
The Mountains Sing , a first novel by Vietnamese poet and author Nguyen Phan Que Mai, is a saga about the Tran family, against the backdrop of 20th century Vietnamese history, is told from two perspectives. First is that of grandmother Dieu Lan, telling her family story to her granddaughter Hu’o’ng, nicknamed Guava. Dieu Lan, …
Continue reading A Vietnamese novelist captures troubled history
Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah by Charles King is a delicious mix of history and music, against the backdrop of 18th century England. George Frideric Handel had grown up in Halle, Germany, worked for a while in Italy and moved to England, where he eventually became a citizen. …
Continue reading The story behind the score: Handel and history
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is one of the most captivating works of fiction I’ve read in a long time. (I thank my reliable source Beth G. for the recommendation.) Set in rural England, this is a story of youthful passion, class differences, family loyalty, secrets, crime, coverups, abiding love, wrong decisions, their consequences, …
Continue reading Literary fireworks for the July 4th holiday
Lost and Found: Coming of Age in the Washington Press Corps by Ellen Hume captures the idealism of a young reporter, from her early days as a cub in California, moving to the L.A. Times and its Washington Bureau, and her intuitive skills in ferreting out the truth behind the headlines and press releases. As …
The Known World by Edward P. Jones , published in 2003, is a richly woven saga set in antebellum South between 1840 and 1860. The central focus is the Townsend family headed by Augustus and Mildred, who are freed former slaves. They have also bought freedom from their white former owner, William Robbins, for their …
Continue reading A novel novel: when blacks were slave owners
Marjorie Arons-Barron 