In her early 80s, Honey Fasinga has returned to New Jersey after many years away. Even at this stage of her life, she still seeks to define herself, struggles with the lasting repercussions of her family's violent mobster past, and wonders if it's worth it to continue living. And even as these internal battles rage, she drinks fine wine, wears custom-made dresses and still engages in smart and playful conversation. Honey is a master of artifice. As strangers become friends and more family secrets are revealed, this Glock-toting unlikely heroine's life begins to change. Every page of Lodato's wonderful novel contains sentences you will read and reread with delight and wonder. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds
A fascinating and brilliantly imagined novel that challenged and delighted me on every page. Set in the early 2010s, Godwin focuses on Mark Wolfe, a tech writer in Pittsburgh whose half-brother, an aspiring soccer agent from the UK, persuades Mark to help him locate a young soccer prospect in West Africa. The far-fetched scheme involves a grainy video and a partnership with a seasoned, unscrupulous French soccer scout. The improbable, poorly conceived mission provides numerous twists, turns and intriguing characters. Equally as compelling is the parallel story line of Mark's office, a workspace collective where underhanded office politics threaten careers and relationships, all told in the voice of Lakesha Williams, the founder of The Group. How the two narratives ultimately come together is a stroke of genius. Along the way there is much to be learned about the history and social customs of the country of Benin, how one assesses talent, the difficulties of managing difficult co-workers, family obligations and colonialism. O'Neill is a master of structure, dialogue and sentences. I loved this sprawling and elegant novel. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds
Neither prequel nor sequel to his critically-acclaimed previous novel, Tommy Orange's new work is deeply related to the Pulitzer Prize-nominated There There. Starting with the 1864 attack at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado, Wandering Stars follows one family through the generations from that massacre to present day Oakland just after the tragic events at the powwow that are the centerpiece of There There. Multi-layered and deeply felt, Wandering Stars explores themes of family, identity, addiction and so much more. Another masterpiece from an exceptional writer. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds
As a big fan of McCauley's previous novel, My Ex-Life, I found his new book equally page-turning, hilarious, life-affirming and wise. The layers and complexities of family are explored in ways I've never read before. The main characters, very much soulmates, are an uncle and his niece, each going through a career crisis. His sister/her mother, who is always on the brink of crisis, throws a gala that exposes and strains the bonds of friendship and family. McCauley's writing is as deep as it is funny. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds
It is a novel about a house in western Massachusetts. And a piece of land. It's about the people who inhabit the house across many generations and hundreds of years. The natural history of the area is meticulously explored. There are murders. Ghosts. The way Mason has woven countless threads together as the stories progress and the characters accumulate nearly defies belief. This book is astonishingly good. The first book I have read in years that I could have turned the last page and proceeded back to page one. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds