reviews

Mom as embezzler: “detachment in its most elegant and pure form” Author: Emily Culliton In her excellent debut novel, Emily Culliton reminds us that looks can be deceiving. The Palms live in a lovely old brownstone in affluent Brooklyn Heights. Nathan is a writer and stay-at-home-dad. Daughters Ginny and Jane attend a competitive private school, where Marion, their mother, works in fundraising. The family seems as normal as the next. But peek beyond the Palms’ mahogany molding and Pottery Barn couches, and you will notice the rubber-banded wads of cash—totaling $40,000—hidden in the basement. This stash is only a small [...]

Eerily Prescient Dystopian Future Author: Margaret Atwood I make no secret of my love for dystopian future fiction.  Said fiction usually takes the form of some highly unrealistic post-apocalyptic society that can only be saved by an intrepid teenager.  Because really, grown-ups in dystopia suck.  But once in a while I chew on something a little weightier – something truly dystopian, highly disturbing, and terrifyingly possible.  AKA, Margaret Atwood’s brilliant 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in the near future (that it was written in the mid-80s matters not at all) where American society has collapsed [...]

Take the Plunge Author: Allen Eskens Like most people, I take sides when I’m reading a book.  I jump to conclusions about characters without enough evidence, second guess their decisions, root for the ones that seem to need it.  Because that’s what makes reading fun!  Good authors make it easy to pick and choose at first, then mix things up as the story progresses so that as a reader I have to change my previous assumptions as more facts come to light.  Allen Eskens is one such author. The Deep Dark Descending brings back one of the characters from The [...]