North Woods
The story of a cabin over the centuries and the story of America and the story of some ghosts, cute and sweet. A bit overwrought and maybe a bit fanciful at times, trying too hard to write with styles, but...
2020s
Cloud Cuckoo Land
I think a book with these ambitions needs to be warm, organic, feel alive - but it is surprisingly cold and clinical. I’m not really sure what makes it so, maybe the storylines are too flat, maybe the characters lack...
Babel
There is a bit here of the young-adult, which of course is nothing to be ashamed of, but means that it is a bit simplistic, a bit stilted, and a bit preoccupied by its own project. Which like, it’s a...
Demon Copperhead
Good, sweet story, a bit trite and maybe a bit patronizing, but mostly empathetic, well put-together and a good modern Dickens.
In The Act
What You Are Looking For Is In The Library
Trust
They Flew
The Wind Knows My Name
I think Isabelle Allende is a Very Good writer, deep and heartfelt, and the book a topical and compelling story of immigration and the toll it takes, especially at the US border. I don’t think she is a Great writer,...
Butterflies
A cute and lovely collection of prose on butterflies. The poetry - I’ve read some of Hesse’s poetry before, and I can’t really tell if he is a bad poet or it doesn’t come across in translation? For a writer...