****Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez

LibraryThing.com ARC
Latin American Literature

Things We Lost in the Fire
by Mariana Enriquez

Things We Lost in the Fire is a series of twelve short stories, each serving as a social commentary on the darker side of present-day life in Argentina. Influenced by violent mythologies, there are ghosts and supernatural apparitions and occurrences. They are macabre tales of extreme circumstances, broken marriages, mental illness, abuse, torture and murder, to name a few. All reveal some aspect of the human condition.

Ms. Enriquez is a journalist and novelist who seems deeply connected to her homeland. She is skilled at portraying disturbing detail with purpose, but without rigidity or farce. Her stories are filled with haunting and memorable images one will not soon forget.

***Library of Illuminaries, Frida Kahlo, An Illustrated Biography, by Zena Alkayat

This illustrated biography of the Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, is nicely designed and made with good quality materials. Unfortunately,  it does not contain any pictures of her paintings. This baffles me. How can one publish a biography about Frida Kahlo without showing her work; they are intricately connected.  It simply does not make any sense, especially since she is known for her autobiographical self-portraits.  It is difficult to recommend an essentially incomplete biography no matter how concise the intention.

***The Mortifications by Derek Palacio

LibraryThing.com ARC 
American Author 

Palacio looks at the psychological complexities of immigration through the eyes of a fictionalized Cuban family divided by their beliefs and nations. He incorporates some Catholic mysticism and magical realism to help illustrate the burden of  loss and longing. Sometimes tedious other times poetic, Palacio is a good writer but requires further editing and refinement to reach the literary goal that lies within his grasp.

****Human Acts By Han Kang

South Korean Literature
LibraryThing.com ARC

Told by different characters using varying perspectives, Han Kang has written a searing portrait of South Korea’s Gwangju uprising. Despite the violent subject matter, Kang’s writing is beautiful, poetic and introspective.  She effectively illustrates the dichotomy of human nature - one that allows man to both savagely murder, yet show compassion through acts of human kindness.  Kang does not attempt to resolve this complex issue. Instead she uses her unique and powerful voice to honor those lives lost and ruined by this horrific event.  An impressive novel.

****The Cauliflower, by Nicola Barker

LibraryThing.com Early Review
Australian Literature 

Quirky, stylistically unique and varied, the author combines fact with fiction in her attempt to understand the development of spirituality, how it gains momentum and becomes a part of a culture. Barker uses the Guru, Sri Ramakrishna, as her vehicle for examining this subject. The narrative is not dry and dour, but a fresh and inventive approach to a complex issue.

****Who Will Catch Us As We Fall, by Iman Verjee

LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer's
African -Kenyan - Literature

Verjee’s narrative is straightforward, yet rich and compelling. It tells the heartbreaking tale of a beautiful city, Nairobi, fraught with rampant racial bias, poverty and unethical practices - especially by those who should be protecting it's people and communities. This is not a story about solutions, it is about hope, a hope that its people can see beyond the dirt, poverty and corruption and realize the beauty in its land and diverse blend of people. The moral is in the story itself without the need for moralizing. It hits the reader hard as one contemplates the formidable injustices.  This is a powerful novel filled with multidimensional characters whose lives were developed from the experience of one who was born and raised in Nairobi. It is a commendable work of literature.

Post note: The above review is based on an ARC edition. In this review I left out my opinion of the author's first and last chapters, which is not favorable. They lack the depth and character of the intervening 400 approximate pages. I do not know whether these parts were edited for the final printing. They were weak enough to warrant mentioning, yet not enough to effect the novel's overall value and rating.

2016 Books Read through May 3, 2016

****Medicine Walk, by Richard Wagamse, audiobook, Canadian Literature

****And After Many Days, by Jowhor Ile, LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer's program, book to be published February 2016, author was raised in Nigeria and currently resides in London, First Edition to be published in American

****The True Deceiver, by Tove Jansson, published in English 2009 (1982 Swedish pub,), translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal, 2015 reading list with Ferris, Finland

****Musical Moment and Other Stories, by Yehoshua Kenaz, translated from the Hebrew by Dalva Bilu and Betsy Rosenberg, 1995, originally published in Isreal in 1980, 2015 reading list with Ferris, Isreal 

****We've Already Gone This Far,  by Patrick Dacey, LibraryThing.com  Early Reviewer's program, book to be published February 2016, American

****Daddy-long-legs, by Jean Webster (1876-1916), 1912, LibriVox digital audiobook, American Literature

****The Dwarf, by Pär Lagerkvist , originally published in 1945, translated from the Swedish by Alexander Dick, Sweden, Scandinavian Literature

***1/2 The Vegetarian, by Han Kang, LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer's program,  book to be published in February 2016, originally published in South Korea, South Korean

***Best Boy, by Eli Gottlieb, 2015, digital audiobook, American

****A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, 1943, audiobook, American Literature

***Fury, A Novel, by Salman Rushdie, 2001, reading list with Ferris, Indian author

*West of Here, by Jonathan Evison,  2010, audiobook, USA

****Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou, 2012, Translated from the French by Helen Stevenson, Republic of Congo, Africa

***1/2This Dark Road to Mercy, by Wiles Cash, 2014, digital audiobook, USA

***Expensive People, Wonderland Quartet #2,  by Joyce Carol Oates, 1968, American Literature

***My Name is Lucy Barton,  by Elizabeth Barton, 2016, digital audiobook, American Novelist

****A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman, 2015, digital audiobook, Swedish

*****Are You Here For What I Am Here For, Stories, by Brian Booker, to be published in May 2016, LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer's Edition,  American

****The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, 2012, digital audiobook,  British

****The Nightingale,  by Kristin Hannah, 2015, audiobook, American Literature

****We have Always Lived in the Castle,  by Shirley Jackson, 1962, American Literature

***The Ploughmen,  by Kim Zupan, 2014, audiobook, American Literature 

**Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving, 2010, audiobook, USA

Currently Reading Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, 2010, audiobook, USA 

Currently Reading Zafarani Files, by Gamal al-Ghitani, 2015, originally published in Arabic 1976, first English translation 2009, translated from the Arabic by Farooq Abdul Wahab, Egyptian  

Currently Reading Five Spice Street, by Can Xue, 2009, translated from the Chinese by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping, Chinese Literature

Currently Reading Accursed,  by Joyce Carol Oates, 2013, American Literature

Currently Reading The Fox Was Ever the Hunter, a Novel, by Herta Müller,  2016, LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer's program, translated from the German by Philip Boehm, German Literature

Currently reading Clarissa, or, The history of a Young Lady, by Samuel Richardson, 1748, (from 2014 reading list w/ Ferris - resumed reading 2/10/2016), England

****Are You Here For What I Am Here For by Brian Booker

Early Reviewer's Edition via LibraryThing.com

We are the sum of our experiences. How we internalize them determine our thoughts, emotions and ultimate responses. It is a nonlinear abstract process that is not fully digested on a conscious level. Booker pays homage to this elusive cognitive concept through his cast of troubled characters. Their hallucinatory thoughts and situations illustrate the surreal functionality of the brain. It is an haunting display of extraordinary imagery that is as unpredictable as life itself. This was a thoughtful and unique debut novel. (  )

***The Vegetarian, A Novel by Han Kang

• Originally published in South Korea
• ARC edition for publication in February 2016
• LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer's program
• S. Korean Literature 

• Han Kang's book runs into a peculiar problem. The entire story is based on a premise and a premise by its very meaning demands a resolution. The Vegetarian lacks resolve. The ending is merely a continuation of the story. The book does not fall apart, it simply does not fulfill its implied objective. It is otherwise a strong, beautifully elegiac and poetic work of fiction.