Booker season continues with Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting Western Lane (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2023 – thanks for the advanced copy!) – a chunky tragicomic family saga set in post-crash Ireland that boosts a unique approach to storytelling. The first section of the novel is divided into four parts – one for each family memberContinue reading “THE BEE STING – Paul Murray”
Tag Archives: Family Saga
BANYAN MOON – Thao Thai
“He’s polish without substance, and I’ve hitched my wagon to nothing but a handful of glitter.” “The living must trespass on the dead; everything left behind a gift, an inheritance, no matter how unintentional.” Thao Thai’s debut Banyan Moon (Mariner Books 2023) is a heart hug of a family saga. From the 1960s Vietnam toContinue reading “BANYAN MOON – Thao Thai”
THE LAST RUSSIAN DOLL – Kristen Loesch
“She stood, with her doll beneath her arm, and she walked, across the blood-red floor, over her blood-red siblings, through the blood-red door, out of the blood-red house, all the way to the blood-red river. She forgot to wash her blood-red hands.” Spanning the period from 1916 to 1993, Kristen Loesch’s The Last Russian DollContinue reading “THE LAST RUSSIAN DOLL – Kristen Loesch”
THE COVENANT OF WATER – Abraham Verghese
“What defines a family isn’t blood but the secrets they share.” “Yes, old man, yes, eyes open to this precious land and its people, to the covenant of water, water that washes away the sins of the world, water that will gather in streams, ponds, and rivers, rivers that float the seas, water that IContinue reading “THE COVENANT OF WATER – Abraham Verghese”
MEMPHIS – Tara M. Stringfellow
“The things women do for the sake of their daughters. The things women don’t. The shame of it all.” I’m still toying with the idea of reading the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, and I put in several holds at the library. Since I’ve already read a couple and intended to read a few moreContinue reading “MEMPHIS – Tara M. Stringfellow”
PACHINKO – Min Jin Lee
“History has failed us, but no matter.” Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (Grand Central Publishing 2017) is a novel that has been on my physical TBR pile/cart for years. (It’s not the longest resident on that list, but it comes close.) I love family sagas, the chunkier the better, and this is a ridiculously well-done chunkyContinue reading “PACHINKO – Min Jin Lee”
BLACK CAKE – Charmaine Wilkerson
Spanning more than half a century, Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake (Ballantine Books 2022) is a sprawling family saga about family legacies, secrets, and treasures all wrapped up in those ties that bind. There’s a slow burn of a mystery that vibrates on the surface, but the heart of the novel is in the delicate threadsContinue reading “BLACK CAKE – Charmaine Wilkerson”
PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING – Melissa Fu
Family sagas are one of my most favorite genres. They tend to be epic, chunky novels that hit that sweet spot for me. When I saw Melissa Fu’s Peach Blossom Spring (Little, Brown and Company 2022), I knew I had to have it. It boasts a stunning cover, and it follows a time in ChinaContinue reading “PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING – Melissa Fu”
AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED – Khaled Hosseini
I don’t know how I’ve managed to go so long without reading anything by Khaled Hosseini, but here I am in 2021 reviewing my first book by this master storyteller. And the Mountains Echoed (Riverhead Books 2013) is a novel I am unlikely to forget in this lifetime or the next. The decisions the charactersContinue reading “AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED – Khaled Hosseini”
Tamar Yellin – The Genizah at the House of Shepher
Religion has always fascinated me. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church and have a pretty decent grasp of the Bible. Biblical stories were my bedtime stories and I prayed to the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. As I grew up, I began to explore other religions – never as faith-altering explorations, justContinue reading “Tamar Yellin – The Genizah at the House of Shepher”
A Girl Named Tommi 