Writer Flannery O’Connor published many short stories, but only two novels before her untimely death at age 39. Thanks to academic Jessica Hooten Wilson, readers now have access to fragments of O’Connor’s incomplete novel, Why Do the Heathen Rage? Hooten Wilson has interspersed these short sections with research, insight, and speculation for a unique, enjoyable … Continue reading Review: Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? (Brazos Press)
Review: Poor Deer, by Claire Oshetsky (Ecco)
I recommend Claire Oshetsky’s novel, Chouette, to pretty much every reader I know. It’s a weird little tale about motherhood, humanity, and an owl baby. Oshetsky’s follow-up, Poor Deer, is another strange and beautiful tale. The novel is narrated by Margaret, who, at the age of four, is involved in a horrific accident, one which … Continue reading Review: Poor Deer, by Claire Oshetsky (Ecco)
Review: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, by Shubnum Khan (Viking)
Another unexpected, unanticipated novel knocks me off my feet and crashes into my favorite novels list. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, the wonderfully-titled novel from South African writer Shubnum Khan, is perfect for fans of the gothic, with a hint of the supernatural. Jumping between 2014, and one hundred years earlier, we follow the … Continue reading Review: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, by Shubnum Khan (Viking)
California Reading 