Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung - Book Review

Feb 282012

Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung
Published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin

In every generation of Janie’s family, one sister is lost. Her aunt, for instance, was ostensibly kidnapped from her college dorm by North Koreans, never to be heard from again. Even worse, the family could not attempt to look for her, because the insinuation that one had dealings with North Korea could ruin a Korean family. Janie, at least, has the freedom to look for her sister Hannah. For one thing, their family now lives in America, having moved there when the girls were young for fear of repercussions from Janie’s father’s politics.

When Hannah disappears without a trace - although clearly voluntarily - it would certainly be possible for Janie to track her down and, initially, she contemplates doing so. After their father is diagnosed with late-stage cancer, though, Janie begins to feel increasingly frustrated with and betrayed by her sister. Hannah is not their for their father, their family, so why should Janie expend energy on trying to draw her back into the fold? When the girls’ parents return to Korea in hopes finding a doctor who can cure their father - or at least prolong his life - Janie is forced to track Hannah down, whether or not she actually wants her sister to return.

With Forgotten Country Chung has created a beautifully sad portrait of a family. That they are Korean and have immigrated to the United States and return to their native land is in some ways incidental to the universal story of family love, jealousy, and betrayal. At the same time, it is their cultural heritage and immigration status and the authentic ways that these aspects of who they are inform their lives that brings Chung’s characters so vividly to life.

Chung’s writing is beautiful and her characters are alive, so I can recommend Forgotten Country without reservation.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, for BOOK CLUB.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Recommended by us

March BOOK CLUB giveaway – Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

Feb 152012

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture It is that time again! We are gearing up for this month’s discussion of Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung (Tuesday, February 28th on Nicole’s blog), but it is also time to give away next month’s BOOK CLUB selection. In March we will be reading an offering from Amy Einhorn/Putnam Books, The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye.

godsofgotham picture

We will be discussing The Gods of Gotham right here on Tuesday, March 27.

From the publisher:

1845. New York City forms its first police force. The great potato famine hits Ireland. These two seemingly disparate events will change New York City. Forever.

Timothy Wilde tends bar near the Exchange, saving every dollar and shilling in hopes of winning the girl of his dreams. But when his dreams literally incinerate in a fire devastating downtown Manhattan, he finds himself disfigured, unemployed, and homeless. His older brother obtains Timothy a job in the newly minted NYPD, but he is highly skeptical of this untested “police force.” And he is less than thrilled that his new beat is the notoriously down-and-out Sixth Ward-at the border of Five Points, the world’s most notorious slum.

One night while returning from his rounds, heartsick and defeated, Timothy runs into a little slip of a girl—a girl not more than ten years old—dashing through the dark in her nightshift . . . covered head to toe in blood.

Timothy knows he should take the girl to the House of Refuge, yet he can’t bring himself to abandon her. Instead, he takes her home, where she spins wild stories, claiming that dozens of bodies are buried in the forest north of 23rd Street. Timothy isn’t sure whether to believe her or not, but, as the truth unfolds, the reluctant copper star finds himself engaged in a battle for justice that nearly costs him his brother, his romantic obsession, and his own life.

If you would like to be considered as a participant for March, please fill out the form below by noon, Eastern on Tuesday, February 21th. Your mailing address will be discarded if you aren’t selected to participate and used to mail you the book if you are. I do not share or retain any personal information. Only those selected will be contacted by email.

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BOOK CLUB – Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron

Jan 312012

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture Welcome to BOOK CLUB, which I run with co-conspirator Nicole from Linus’s Blanket. Today we will be chatting about Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron, which was released on January 3rd by Algonquin Books (website | twitter | facebook). For those of you reading this post, please remember that this discussion is likely to contain spoilers.

Here is the synopsis of the book I wrote for my review:

For as long as Jean Patrick can remember, he has wanted to be a runner, to represent Rwanda in the Olympics. And he has a gift, he could do this. Except, in addition to being a talented runner, he is also Tutsi. Things are becoming increasingly difficult for the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Hutu are in power, there are ethnic quotas in place, and violence is beginning to escalate. Jean Patrick may be able to overcome his family’s poverty, but can he survive the hatred of his fellow countrymen?

runningtherift 1 picture Before we get started, here are some of the reviews of readers who will be participating today:

Between the Covers
Cheap Black Pens
Devourer of Books
Linus’s Blanket
Linus’s Blanket - Literary Feast
Literate Housewife

If you plan on participating in today’s BOOK CLUB, please consider subscribing to comments at the bottom of the page (please use the TOP subscription option). I will be updating this post with new questions and ideas over the course of the day.

Here we go…

First off, what were your general impressions of the book?
Is this a book you would have read had you not been reading it for a book club?
How did you respond to Jean Patrick’s eternal optimism/naivete?
Prior to reading Running the Rift, how much did you know about the Rwandan genocide? Did this at all change your understanding of the event?

BOOK CLUB – The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate

Nov 152011

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture Welcome to BOOK CLUB, which I run with co-conspirator Nicole from Linus’s Blanket. Today we will be chatting about The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate, which was released on September 27th by Algonquin Books (website | twitter | facebook). For those of you reading this post, please remember that this discussion is likely to contain spoilers.

Here is the synopsis of the book I wrote for my review:

Josie Henderson wants nothing more than to leave her family and the legacy of addiction behind her. She’s married now, a successful scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Still, though, she is terrified that if anyone at work new about her family she would go from being the only black female scientist to be the black girl whose daddy used to be a drunk and whose brother is in rehab. Life had been going more or less smoothly, but now her brother Tick’s release from rehab forces Josie to once again face her family. When a new scientist with a background similar to Josie’s own joins the staff at Woods Hole, it quickly becomes apparent that Josie’s carefully constructed life is simply a veneer, and that what is underneath is not as solid as she believes.

Before we get started, here are some of the reviews of readers who will be participating today:

1330v
Between the Covers
Caribou’s Mom
Cheap Black Pens
Devourer of Books
The Feminist Texan [Reads]
Linus’s Blanket
Rhapsody in Books
Savvy Verse & Wit

If you plan on participating in today’s BOOK CLUB, please consider subscribing to comments at the bottom of the page (please use the TOP subscription option, the second option will subscribe you only to replies of your own comments). I will be updating this post with new questions and ideas over the course of the day.

Here we go…

First off, what were your general impressions of the book?
Is this a book you would have read had you not been reading it for a book club?
It is not always immediately apparent which family member is narrating a given chapter. What do you think Southgate’s purpose is in structuring her story like this, and do you think it worked well?
Josie feared that if people knew she was a black girl with an alcoholic brother they would judge her harshly. How did she let this influence her life?
Did Josie’s marriage ever have a chance? What were the problems they faced, and how might they have been overcome?
Do you think that Josie and Ray have hope of a real reconciliation at the end of the book? Why? What brought them to this place?
Did you have any other questions about the book that you hoped to get answered?

November BOOK CLUB giveaway – The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate

Oct 102011

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture It is that time again! We are gearing up for this month’s discussion of The Marriage Artist by Andrew Winer (Tuesday, October 25th on Nicole’s blog), but it is also time to give away next month’s BOOK CLUB selection. In November we will be reading an offering from Algonquin Books, The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate.

We will be discussing The Taste of Salt right here on Tuesday, November 15. Please note this date is a week earlier than normal to accommodate people’s Thanksgiving travel.

From the publisher:

Josie Henderson loves the water and is fulfilled by her position as the only senior-level black scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In building this impressive life for herself, she has tried to shed the one thing she cannot: her family back in landlocked Cleveland. Her adored brother, Tick, was her childhood ally as they watched their drinking father push away all the love that his wife and children were trying to give him. Now Tick himself has been coming apart and demands to be heard.
Weaving four voices into a beautiful tapestry, Southgate charts the lives of the Hendersons from the parents first charmed meeting to Josie ‘s realization that the ways of the human heart are more complex than anything seen under a microscope.

If you would like to be considered as a participant for November, please fill out the form below by noon, Eastern on Thursday, October 13th. Your mailing address will be discarded if you aren’t selected to participate and used to mail you the book if you are. I do not share or retain any personal information. Only those selected will be contacted by email.

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BOOK CLUB - The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharp

Sep 272011

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture Welcome to BOOK CLUB, which I run with co-conspirator Nicole from Linus’s Blanket. Today we will be chatting about The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharp, which is being released in paperback by Picador on October 25th (website | twitter | facebook). For those of you reading this post, please remember that this discussion is likely to contain spoilers.

Here is the synopsis of the book I wrote for my review:

Little K was a prima ballerina, the lover of the last Russian tsar. A woman whose determination brought her into the beds of many members of the imperial family, but whose brilliant future was derailed when Russia as she knew it began to disappear, along with her beloved Tsar Nicholas II, and something where the concubine of the Romanovs was a dangerous thing to be. But perhaps it would be best to let Little K introduce herself in her own words, as this is a story she has been endlessly remembering for the past 50 years:

My name is Mathilde Kschessinska, and I was the greatest Russian ballerina on the imperial stages. But the world I was born to, the world I was bred for, is gone, and all the players in it are also gone – dead, murdered, exiled, walking ghosts. -p. 3

Before we get started, here are some of the reviews of readers who will be participating today:

Beachreader
Devourer of Books
Reviews by Lola

Here we go…

First off, what were your general impressions of the book?
Is this a book you would have read had you not been reading it for a book club?
Near the beginning of the book, Little K makes this somewhat provocative statement about Nicki’s marriage to Alix. Do you think, based on the events of the book, that she was correct about this?
And what kind of wife would I have made him? Could I have stood his future - imprisonment and
a martyr’s death? I can assure you this: if I had been his wife, that would not have been his future. -p. 23
What do you think was the root of Little K’s determination to be part of the tsar’s life? How did you feel about the way she positioned her son?
Do you think that Little K fully understood the causes of the revolution? What helped or hindered her in this?
Do you think that Sharp made the causes of the revolution clear to the reader?

12 review copies of The True Memoirs of Little K were provided by Picador in order to facilitate this discussion. Thank you!

The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharp - Book Review

Sep 202011

The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharp
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

Little K was a prima ballerina, the lover of the last Russian tsar. A woman whose determination brought her into the beds of many members of the imperial family, but whose brilliant future was derailed when Russia as she knew it began to disappear, along with her beloved Tsar Nicholas II, and something where the concubine of the Romanovs was a dangerous thing to be. But perhaps it would be best to let Little K introduce herself in her own words, as this is a story she has been endlessly remembering for the past 50 years:

My name is Mathilde Kschessinska, and I was the greatest Russian ballerina on the imperial stages. But the world I was born to, the world I was bred for, is gone, and all the players in it are also gone - dead, murdered, exiled, walking ghosts. -p. 3

Mathilde Kscessinska is a fascinating subject through whose eyes the reader can explore the fall of tsarist Russia. As a member of the Imperial Ballet and daughter of well-respected Catholic Poles as well as the mistress of Tsar Nicholas II and at least two other members of the imperial family, she had a unique point of view for the fall of the empire, particularly as she also had the benefit of hindsight from her Parisian exile. Sharp excelled in creating Little K’s voice. There was a sort of learned regal quality to her thoughts, a self-aware verbosity that spoke of a women reaching to achieve a higher station. Occasionally this resulted in mild distraction, such as when commas extended sentences far too long, or when Little K would digress into future events while telling her story. Still, overall it was done to good effect.

Although some of the more minor characters are easily confused, Little K’s story is a dramatic and interesting one that is told well. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher for BOOK CLUB.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

October BOOK CLUB giveaway - The Marriage Artist by Andrew Winer

Sep 192011

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture It is that time again! We are gearing up for this month’s discussion of The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharpe (Tuesday, September 27 right here), but it is also time to give away next month’s BOOK CLUB selection. In October we will be reading another offering from Picador, The Marriage Artist by Andrew Winer.

marriageartist picture

We will be discussing The Marriage Artist on Tuesday, October 25th on Nicole’s blog.

From the publisher:

When the wife of renowned art critic Daniel Lichtmann plunges to her death, she is not alone. Lying next to her is Benjamin Wind, the very artist Daniel most championed. Dedicating himself to uncovering the secrets of their relationship, Daniel discovers a web of mysteries leading back to pre-World War II Vienna. Ambitious, haunting, and stunningly written, The Marriage Artist is an “elaborate psycho-political-sexual puzzle, with…hard truths, startling visions, and eerie insights into the mystical and memorializing powers of art, and that endless hunger we call love” (Booklist).

If you would like to be considered as a participant for October, please fill out the form below by the end of the day Wednesday, September 21. Your mailing address will be discarded if you aren’t selected to participate and used to mail you the book if you are. I do not share or retain any personal information. Only those selected will be contacted by email.

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By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham - Book Review

Aug 232011

By Nightfallby Michael Cunningham
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

Peter Harris’s life looks great on the surface. He has a smart, lovely wife, a grown daughter, and a relatively successful art gallery. Of course, his gallery is stuck around relatively successful, unable to break free. Plus, his relationship with his wife Rebecca has grown strained of late, and his daughter will barely speak to him. Into this barely held together veneer comes Mizzie. Mizzie, whose nickname is appropriately short for “mistake,” is Rebecca’s much younger brother, a brilliant but wild young man whose presence disrupts the fragile balance of Peter and Rebecca’s lives.

By Nightfall is a very complex book, one well-suited to discuss with a book club. I’m not sure I really understood Peter and his motivations, and I’m not sure I can without taking it through with other people. The reader is very much inside Peter’s head, which male in such a way that it became almost entirely foreign to me. Because Peter had lost any real connection with Rebecca - or any of the women in the book - there was no female viewpoint, no matter how miniscule, until the absolute end. This made for a novel that I had a difficult time accessing. It was quite readable, technically well-written, but I failed to truly engage, because I failed to truly empathize with Peter.

I suspect I will have more complete thoughts after discussing this with BOOK CLUB today, but for now I leave you with these somewhat unformed thoughts.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, for BOOK CLUB.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

BOOK CLUB - The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson

Jul 262011

5256159881 7ba9c432e6 m picture Welcome to BOOK CLUB, which I run with co-conspirator Nicole from Linus’s Blanket. Today we will be chatting about The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson, which was released at the end of June from Other Press (website | twitter | facebook). For those of you reading this post, please remember that this discussion is likely to contain spoilers.

Here is the synopsis of the book I wrote for my review:

When a young, pregnant woman, Lillie, is found floating dead in Richmond’s reservoir, the cause of death is originally thought to be suicide, but soon the evidence piles up so that murder is suspected. Before too long, the police pick up Lillie’s cousin Tommie, with whom she had been having a fling. As it becomes more and more obvious that Tommie was with Lillie the night she died, he is put on trial for her murder, his own life hanging in the balance.

Before we get started, here are some of the reviews of readers who will be participating today:

Caribou’s Mom
Devourer of Books
House of the Seven Tails
Indie Reader Houston
Linus’s Blanket
That’s What She Read

Here we go…

First off, what were your general impressions of the book?
Is this a book you would have read had you not been reading it for a book club?
I suspect some people will be put off by the distant language. Did you find yourself able to engage with the story and characters?
Fictionalizing true crime can be difficult. Do you think that Thompson struck a good balance between the different genre elements of his story?
Richmond reacted quite strongly to Lillie’s death and Tommie’s accusation. What does their reaction tell us about the mood of the town post-Civil War? Was the level of engagement a believable part of the story for you?
Thompson tells Tommie’s story by alternating between the storyline of the trial and his earlier life and interactions with Lillie. Was this method effective?
Do you believe Tommie’s final story of what happened to Lillie? If not, what do you think really happened?

12 review copies of The Reservoir were provided by Other Press in order to facilitate this discussion. Thank you!

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