A Word About Awards

LILA by Marilynne Robinson   Award: National Book Critics Circle Winner 2014   Nominations: Booker Longlist 2015, Carnegie Longlist 2015, Dublin Finalist 2016, National Book Finalist 2014, Oprah Book Club 2021   Date Read: May 27, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “ More balm in Gilead as Robinson ( When I Was a Child I Read Books , 2012, etc.) returns to familiar ground to continue the saga of John Ames and his neighbors. Ames, Robinson’s readers will know, is a minister in the hamlet of Gilead, a quiet place in a quiet corner of a quiet Midwestern state. Deceptively quiet, we should say, for Robinson, ever the Calvinist (albeit a gentle and compassionate one), is a master at plumbing the roiling depths below calm surfaces. In this installment, she turns to the title character, Ames’ wife, who has figured mostly just in passing in  Gilead  (2004) and  Home  (2008). How, after all, did this young outsider wind up in a place so far away from the orbits o...

THE BLUE FLOWER by Penelope Fitzgerald   Award: National Book Critics Circle Winner 1997   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1997, NY Times Finalist 1997, Women’s Prize Longlist 1996   Date Read: January 16, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “ The German poet Novalis (1772-1801) was really Friedrich Leopold von Hardenberg and Fitzgerald ( The Gates of Angels , 1992;   Offshore , 1987, etc.) here re-creates him, his family, his doomed young lover Sophie von Kühn, and Sophie's huge family—not to mention the era all of them lived in—in the most human-sized and yet intellectually capacious narrative a reader could wish for. Times were once better for the Hardenbergs, who've sold two estates, may have to sell another, and meanwhile live in a more manageable house in town. The pious and old (he's 56) father of the many-childrened family is Director of the Salt Mining Administration of Saxony, one of the few vocations (the military is another) not forbidden to members of the aris...

LUSTER by Raven Leilani   Awards: Center For Fiction Winner 2020, Kirkus Winner 2020, National Book Critics Circle Winner 2020   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2021, PEN/Hemingway Finalist 2021, PEN/Jean Stein Longlist 2021,  Women's Prize Longlist 2021   Date Read: June 22, 2021   Edie is in her mid-twenties and at sea in her own life. She drifts from job to job, relationship to relationship with nothing to tether her to the world. She is black, poor, and suffering from IBS but she’s beautiful, infinitely capable and artistic. Over the course of several months, she flirts and then meets in real life Eric Walker, a married man over twice her age.   There are rules, though. His wife, Rebecca, is aware of Eric’s proclivities and has drafted a set of rules to ensure their relationship doesn’t infringe on her turf. Yet, the rules keep changing until Rebecca changes them completely by having Edie deliver soup and a bone saw to her work, a medical examiner specia...

IRONWEED by William Kennedy Awards: National Book Critics Circle Winner 1983, Pulitzer Winner 1984 Nomination: NY Times Finalist 1983, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 1984 Date Read: June 21, 2020 Francis, a once successful baseball player with a promising career, has ended up on the streets, confronting his life's mistakes, which continue to mount. His career ended due to injury and slowly, piece-by-piece, he has lost it all - a son who accidentally died by his hands, a loving wife and other children, jobs, casual friendships and a romance that began in the streets. The fact that Francis once had it all provides him the unique understanding that everyone he encounters on the streets - the drunks, prostitutes, petty criminals - all used to be so much more than what they are now. He is able to see that they were once someone's child, someone's love, healthy and whole unlike they are now. He honors those pasts in a way no one else does. Francis also has the unique position of having a ...

THE MARCH by E.L. Doctorow Awards: National Book Critics Circle 2005, PEN/Faulkner 2006 Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2007, LA Times Finalist 2005, National Book Finalist 2005, Pulitzer Finalist 2006 Date Read: June 4, 2019 The March follows the Union Army during the Civil War, as they march through the south, gaining displaced slaves, prisoners of war, and service members as they go. As time progresses, the march almost becomes an organism unto itself, ever growing and ever moving forward, self-healing and marching toward an uncertain end. As with all human constructs, the march is comprised of noble acts and the worst humanity has to offer. Through Doctorow's brilliant storytelling and ability to construct vivid realities nearly a century after they occur, we are reminded of the waste that is war - waste of property, waste of life and waste of spirit. War has a tendency to place people's morals on pause and the most egregious behavior becomes accepted, if not just...

MILKMAN by Anna Burns  Awards: Booker Winner 2018, Dublin Winner 2020, National Book Critics Circle Winner 2018 Nomination: Rathbones Folio Finalist 2019, Women's Prize Finalist 2019 Date Read: April 25, 2019 After the first paragraph, I could tell that Milkman would be refreshingly different from other novels I've been reading lately. Yet, this same difference would soon grate on me about half-way through.  Milkman is set in some sort of dystopian present, where danger lurks everywhere and life is lived in extremes. A world where certain names are banned, citizens are surveilled, teenagers are expected to marry and communities are segregated based on religion and political leanings. These same members of the community harass one another into conformity. Differing communities loathe each other for, what can only be presumed as, the slightest of differences, which I couldn't help thinking of The Butter Battle Book. For this very reason, Middle Sister immediately ...

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS by Kiran Desai Awards: Booker Winner 2006, National Book Critics Circle Winner 2006 Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2008, Women's Prize Finalist 2007 Date Read: April 10, 2019 All I can say about this novel is just Wow! The content is so rich and the story is compelling. It's difficult to sum up all of my thoughts.  The Inheritance Of Loss primarily follows Sai and Biju as they follow very different paths that converge in the end. Sai is orphaned and sent to live with her grandfather in India. Biju is an Indian national who is sent to the US but ultimately decides to return to India. Both characters provide unique glimpses into being Indian, being a foreigner in the US, life in a post-colonial society and the hardships of youth finding their way in a complex world. With Biju, readers see an inside view of the reverse racism that occurs among immigrants. Biju is harshly judged for being Indian, being illegal, being odiferous, for just being. He qui...

RABBIT AT REST by John Updike Awards: National Book Critics Circle Winner 1990, Pulitzer Winner 1991 Nomination: NY Times Finalist 1990 Dates Read: August 31, 2007 & August 30, 2017 And so continues the saga of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, who is now in the sunset of his life. With his body slowly failing him, having suffered a heart attack, Harry is having to confront the limitations of an aging body. He is also thrust into a confrontation with his son, Nelson, who's drug habit is in full bloom and having gained control of the auto dealership, has been embezzling money, causing Harry to lose the business. Tragedy and reckoning continue throughout this novel, as Harry faces up to many past decisions that now haunt him. Fortunately for Harry, on his deathbed, he reconciles with his wife, Janice, and his son. In my opinion, what makes these novels so unique is that Harry is so vividly real, with all the poor decision making and flawed relationships of every hum...

THE KNOWN WORLD by Edward Jones Awards: Dublin Winner 2005, National Book Critics Circle Winner 2003, Pulitzer Winner 2004 Nominations: National Book Finalist 2003, NY Times Finalist 2003 Dates Read: November 4, 2006 & July 1, 2017 The Known World is a beautiful novel that depicts the horrors of slavery by both black and white owners. Set in Virginia, Henry Townsend is a former slave that becomes a slaveholder himself, along with this wife Caldonia. Jones weaves a rich tapestry of vignettes that describes the family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances that make up this strange world.  Toward the end of this novel, there is a poignant scene where a character wishes there were a light of truth in the world, an actual place where people can stand and tell the truth with no retribution. To envision such a place, and to be able to vocalize your soul's truth is powerful. And that truth would be raw and real and not black, nor white but most likely very, very gray....