As The Great Believers shows, the familiar nature of tragedy doesn’t make it any less painful to experience. But as it also shows, the struggle to find joy and move forward even within such tragedy is a thing of beauty, too.
Category Archives: Reviews
‘Unraveling’ a Multi-Step Pandemic Project
Orenstein faces her project with a little good-natured self-deprecation. That attitude helps make each step, and misstep, feel more like a fascinating conversation than a staid travelogue or sermon.
‘Hum’ a Grim Take on Tomorrow
There’s a lot that’s familiar with the world May inhabits. It’s debatable whether that imagined future is realistic or dystopic, but either way it’s a depressing and claustrophobic place.
‘Glory’ Asks Good Questions of Young Readers
Some Desperate Glory is an ambitious story in a lot of ways, and doesn’t have time to explore each issue fully. For the most part, Tesh knows this, and shows that her characters are only just starting to grapple with the long process of un- and re-learning.
‘Doors’ A Lovely, if Tangled, Tale
What initially seems like naivety or secondhand confessional turns out to be something far lovelier, and more than worth the time it takes to get there.
‘Fever’ a Little Known but Familiar History
In detailing this little-known series of events, Fever provides a reminder that our fraught political landscape is nothing new, nor is a swift wave that threatens to sweep society back a few decades.
‘Thornhedge’ Twists Fairy Tale Cozily
At just 128 pages long, Thornhedge is a sweet little fairy-tale snack with some substance to boot.
‘Art Thief’ a Compelling Portrait of Greed
The Art Thief is a slim book, under 200 pages. The story is riveting enough to make the pages fly by. The questions Stephane’s philosophy and crime stir up will last much longer than that.
‘Promises’ a Truly Golden Collection
Whether or not I was Olivarez’s target audience, I found myself profoundly moved by many poems in this collection.
‘Extinction’ a Multi-Layer Puzzle
The Extinction of Irena Rey is a layer cake of fascinating and thought-provoking elements, all of them strong enough to hold a story on their own but working together deliciously.
Ring Reads 