A.B. Yehoshua never writes the shortcut phrase “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” in Friendly Fire, his most recent novel, newly translated into English from Hebrew. It’s as though the veteran Israeli author is mining a seam so deep that its boundaries do not need to be explored or examined, or picking up a thread of conversation that Israelis have already been engaged in for 60 years. That isn’t to say, however, that Yehoshua has no comment on the matter.
Lee Thomas talks with Aravind Adiga about neo-realism, myth, being a misfit, and winning the Booker Prize for his debut novel, The White Tiger. Adiga’s next book, a collection of stories called Between the Assassinations, will publish in the United States this June.
Driftless is David Rhodes’ first novel in 33 years and the sequel to his last published work, Rock Island Line. Unlike the earlier novel, whose epic narrative focused solely on drifter-cum-farmer July Montgomery, Driftless offers a series of vignettes featuring the many residents of Words, Wisconsin, as they tackle issues of powerlessness, tragedy, and belonging – timeless human questions – in philosophical and heroic ways. What John Gardner praised as “moral style” was evident in Rock Island Line, but it really comes into its own in Driftless.
E. Lockhart’s latest YA-novel–wherein Frankie Landau-Banks infiltrates her boarding school’s all-male secret society–is a lot of fun. The book is also a love letter to teenage girls asking them to value their own worth. As an antidote to the swooning of the Twilight crowd, Frankie’s gutsy determination is a welcome dose of a different kind of romance.
Jack Boughton returns home to Gilead, Iowa after a twenty-year, largely silent absence, offering his family no details about those lost years or the cause of his return. Home is a quiet book, one without dramatic plot devices; Robinson’s characters carry out the pure weight of life–playing the piano, going to the store, washing dishes– all while facing the ever-present sense of life’s brevity.
Michael Shilling talks about his first novel, his own adventures playing and touring with various bands, and his current project–one he describes as Jane Eyre meets The Wire.
In When We Were Romans, Kneale commits wholly to a child’s perspective–bad spelling, misused words and all–with fresh and moving results. Nine-year-old Lawrence joins his mother and younger sister on a spontaneous road-trip to Rome, holding fast to the hope that they can escape his mother’s demons.
Cannie Shapiro, the beloved protagonist of Good in Bed, is back in Weiner’s newest novel, Certain Girls. The book is (gasp) chick lit…but guess what? It tackles some interesting writerly topics.
Join me tomorrow night at Barnes & Noble in Tribeca (97 Warren St. @ Greenwich St.) at 7 PM to hear Pushcart- and Hopwood-prize-winning Nami Mun read from her debut novel, Miles From Nowhere. And look for an interview (soon!) with Nami on FWR. Miles from Nowhere began as a collection of linked stories (two of which I had the pleasure to read in workshop at Michigan, and several of which have been published in prestigious lit journals). As a novel, it holds together beautifully; Miles remains episodic, but breaks between chapters feel hauntingly like lost years–perfect for this particular […]
I don’t actually want to tell you anything about this novel. I want you to go read it and then meet me at Sweetwaters in Ann Arbor, so we can talk about our favorite parts while sipping mocha lattes and nibbling cranberry scones. This type of behavior—informally discussing books in settings seemingly created for the informal discussion of books—is something that Clarke makes fun of in the novel, but then again, he makes fun of pretty much anyone who likes books, or talks about books, or thinks they are at all important. A significant feat, considering the fact that Clarke obviously reads tons of books, and loves them, and thinks they’re at least important enough to spend a few years writing a pretty good one.
