Newly Published in March

Too many books, too little time, and here are some more to add to the lists:

The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen: This is a debut novel by British author McCleen and the title is a reference to the Book of Ezekiel, fitting for a book centered on people who believe the end of the world is imminent, and fitting for an author who was raised in a fundamentalist church. Ten year old Judith McPherson lives with her steelworker father in a town dominated by the mills. Her mother has died and the family belongs to a strict and serious religious sect. Her time is spent at school (where she is bullied), in bible study and spreading the word of God, and in her room. In this somber, grim life, Judith has built an alternate universe in her room and begins to believe that what happens in “the land of decoration”, will also happen in reality.  This is a story of how a child tries to make sense of the faith given to her by adults. This novel sounds like a good book group choice.

Newspaper and Blog Reviews:

From The Guardian: “Short, thoughtful chapters dramatise tough emotional and philosophical issues through the lonely intelligence of the child who notices everything…”

From Buried In Print: “The Land of Decoration is an absorbing and emotive read; Grace McCleen’s debut is likely to provoke a great deal of discussion.”

From Fleur Fisher: “The ending was perfect. It was nicely dramatic, and it had just the right amount of ambiguity. Not all of my questions were answered, but sometimes it is right that there are no answers, that you have to make up your own mind.

And, though it is not without problems, it is lovely to be able to say that a debut novel is ambitious, intriguing and original.”

Forgotten Country by CatherineChung: Janie’s parents are naturalized American citizens from Korea. Her father has terminal cancer and they are returning to Korea for treatment. In the midst of this, Janie’s sister Hannah disappears following a legacy of having a missing sister in each generation. This is more than a mystery, it is also an exploration of familial relationships, Korean folklore, immigration and assimilation, and family secrets.

From Linus’s Blanket: ” …Catherine Chung has written a thoughtful and touching novel that draws its strength from examining a host of complicated, yet beautifully rendered family issues. There aren’t any neat resolutions to be found, and some mysteries remain just that, but don’t let that deter you from this achingly bittersweet tale of two sisters.  Highly recommended.

From The San Francisco Chronicle: “Chung reveals Janie’s secrets with such a delicate grace that I was startled and then leveled by them…Chung falters only in her revelation of Hannah’s motivations…But Chung’s broader theme, that the sisters represent a New World/Old World division, and her goal to see them unified, having learned each from the other, are both strongly conveyed and realized. Her voice is fresh, her material rich, and “Forgotten Country” is an impressive, memorable debut.”

From Devourer of Books: “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.”

Why be Happy When You Could be Normal by Jeanette Winterson: Winterson is a British author who was adopted at birth and raised by her family in a Pentecostal church. She is highly acclaimed and her works are prize winning, particularly her first novel Oranges are not the Only Fruit which is based, in part, on her childhood. Her latest work is a memoir about her search for happiness in spite of the restrictions of her religion, her coming to terms with her sexuality, to her search for her biological mother.

From Shelf Awareness: “is as compulsively readable as Truth and Beauty, Ann Patchett’s great memoir of friendship…Winterson’s memoir is also a tribute to the salvation of narrative, a salvation she found as a teen on the shelves of the Accrington Public Library, in the paperbacks she bought with her market wages and hid under her mattress (until Mrs. Winterson burned them) and in the books she went on to write herself.”

From Asylum: “The three elements in the book – love, literature, life in the world – are ultimately inseparable…Jeanette not only explains but shows how her childhood informed her fiction, including the lack of straightforward narrative which she attributes in part to her own life’s lack of narrative.”

From The Guardian: ” this vivid, unpredictable and sometimes mind-rattling memoir. You start it expecting one thing – a wry retake of her working-class gothic upbringing – and come out having been subjected to one of the more harrowing and candid investigations of mid-life breakdown I’ve ever read.”

Other Releases of Note:

When I was a Child, I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson, author of Housekeeping and Gilead. This book features ten essays covering Robinson’s childhood in Idaho to political and social issues.

Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates: M.R. [Meredith Ruth] Neukirchen is the first female president of an ivy league institution and she was also abandoned at birth in a mudflat by her psychotic mother.  During a tumultuous period in her life, the past rises up to conflict with the present.

Another Time, Another Life by Leif GW Persson, a Swedish criminologist and author: In 1975 the German embassy was bombed in Sweden and in 1989 a murder occurs. In the year 2000, the head of the Swedish Security Police must reexamine these crimes and find out how they are linked together and  the repercussions for the present day.

Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son by Anne Lamott: Anne Lamott is a grandmother and Sam, the focus of her Operating Instructions is a dad.

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