For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Perhaps there are no more famous witches than Shakespeare’s three “weyward” wenches. The crookedness of the Bard’s (and Britain’s) witches represented a cultural fear of an empty womb—the childless, the menopausal. Women were to be coupled and birthing. If they were not, they were witchy. Evil. Monstrously magical. But, for the reader, the witches … Read more
[ad_1] Jhumpa Lahiri is known for her absorbing, saturated writing, centering on the Indian-American experience. Her previous novels, The Lowland and The Namesake, are epic reads that encompass large spans of time and are thick in characterization. Lahiri’s writing is at once musical and practical, and I mean that as high praise. As a stylist, … Read more
[ad_1] It’s easy to feel like you really know a character after reading a confessional novel. But like people, characters evolve too. In a great novel, they react and change with their conditions. Such is the case in The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s thrilling sequel to his Pulitzer Prize winning debut novel, The Sympathizer. When … Read more
[ad_1] In the title story of Nicole Krauss’s fifth book and first collection of stories, To Be a Man, the narrative bends and breaks. Written in three sections with subsections, the narration shifts from first person to third, and then back to first. It’s only twenty-five pages. And it is as brilliant in execution as … Read more
[ad_1] Transition is often met with uncertainty. Changes in life challenge our perceptions, our emotions, and the way we feel about ourselves. In Shruti Swamy’s debut story collection, A House is a Body, a thread of internal change weaves throughout the twelve stories. Characters accept and face the consequences of unavoidable circumstances in life, and it’s … Read more
[ad_1] Women’s fight for equality is an old song. From Susan B. Anthony to Margaret Sanger to the #MeToo era, the struggle for equal gender opportunity and recognition is as American as a June Clever baked apple pie. Progress takes innovation, though, and innovation takes nerve. It also takes time and patience. This kind of … Read more
[ad_1] Writing a great, multi-generational and nationalist novel is no small feat. Salman Rushdie did it with Midnight’s Children, Junot Diaz did it with The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Gunter Grass with Tin Drum, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in a manner of speaking, with One Hundred Years of Solitude. With the exception of … Read more
[ad_1] Shakespeare’s plays have long been the gold standard of drama. Opening on scenes like witches toiling over brews, quarreling families, and a ghost sighting, the Shakespearean play starts late, right before the moment when his characters’ lives change. The building of momentum, decisions that doom fates, a hero’s solo journey as his control diminishes—as … Read more
[ad_1] Death is a blank stare. It’s an enigma for the living. While we try to interpret the concept of death, we’ll never really know it until we experience it for ourselves. What we do know about death is the feeling of loss, the disruption of daily rhythms, companionship, and love. It’s difficult. Grief is … Read more