Tuesday, March 27, 2012

American Dervish

In American Dervish, first-time novelist, Ayad Akhtar, tells the story of a young American boy of Pakistani heritage growing up in the Midwest during the 1970s.

Our narrator, young Hayat Shah, is in love with his "Auntie" Mina:  a friend of his mother's who has escaped an abusive marriage in Pakistan to live with her young son in the Shah home.  During that time, she and Hayat develop a complex and endearing relationship that resembles many others:  mother-son, teacher-student, religious guide-follower.  Beautiful Mina is also an unknowing catalyst for young Hayat's budding, though innocent, sexuality.  Eventually, however, Mina meets and falls in love with Nathan, a friend of the Shah family.  According to religious law and the rules of her parents, Mina may not marry Nathan unless he converts from his long heritage of Judaism to the Muslim faith.  Is is this very circumstance, in addition to the subtle triangle between Mina, Nathan and Hayat, that sets up the heartbreaking events which follow.

American Dervish is a beautiful and beautifully rendered story that will leave your heart stuck in your throat in at least a few of the novel's scenes. Highly recommended.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The Odds

I love falling in love with an author I've never before read.  Stewart O'Nan, author of The Odds, is my newest crush. 

O'Nan's latest work takes the form of a love story, stripped bare, void of the usual cliches.  It focuses on a long-married couple, nearly bankrupt, Marion and Art Fowler, who take their life savings to Niagara Falls to see if they can beat the odds at their hotel-casino, win enough cash to save their home, and salvage their relationship.  O'Nan paints both Niagara Falls and the Casino beautifully, and the Fowler's relationship with a realism that readers (especially those married) will undoubtedly find themselves relating to on some level.  He gets the subtle ways couples can simultaneously pick at, resent, support and adore. And he does so with a conciseness that leaves readers wholly satisfied.  Highly recommended.  I can't wait to read his other work.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Year We Left Home

The Year We Left Home is a beautifully rendered portrait of an Iowan family from 1973 to 2003.

With the conflict in Vietnam, the Farm Crisis and the Persian Gulf War as the novel's backdrop, the narrative focuses on character development over three decades, in the form of what some readers may see as disconnected chapter-vignettes.  As the title suggests, however, these characters are tied together not merely because they leave home in some form or another, but rather, because they are forever connected to both their family and, thus, their native Iowa. 

While impatient readers may not appreciate Jean Thompson's narrative approach, or fully comprehend the scope of her theme, they must certainly admire her intelligent and lucid prose.  Recommended for readers interested in realistically, yet sensitively, rendered family dynamics.