Reading Round-Up: Unwanted Guests, Lost In Translation, And A Thief
By Maggie Hellwig in Arts & Entertainment on May 7, 2012 4:20PM
May brings us some intense reads. While we're preparing for the summer days, there's a bit of lingering severity in the air. These novels, a taste of what's out this month, are solid houses: their foundations are secure and the body is complex, but without superfluous or unnecessary tendencies.
The Uninvited Guests
By Sadie Jones
The Uninvited Guests is Sadie Jones's third novel, preceded by the 2008 Costa Book Award-winning The Outcast, and her 2009 novel Small Wars. Jones is a Jamaican-born, European-dwelling novelist. Her London inhabitance is certainly prevalent in Guests. The location is Sterne Manor in 1912, it is Emerald Torrington's 20th birthday, and over the circulation of 24 hours the tone of the setting is dramatically altered. While the festivities unfold, a colossal train accident occurs nearby and an odd assortment of survivors take shelter at Sterne. The house is thrown into upheaval, and the character's roles are redefined. There has already been a large amount of praise for the Novel including The WSJ and Publishers Weekly, but all sources agree: Jones's third novel is a damp, dark, Edwardian comedy and, while haunting, definitely worth a glance.
The Newlyweds
By Nell Freudenberger
Nell Freudenberger's impressive novel of culture clash buds out of her short story "An Arranged Marriage," which appeared in The New Yorker in 2010. The story involves two characters: Amina, young Bangladeshi woman, and George, an engineer in Rochester, N.Y. The two meet online and begin a courtship that resolves in marriage, and Amina's relocation to the states. Far from a romantic tale, Amina marries for the future financial security of her parents and George does so out of loneliness. What ensues for the female protagonist is a struggle to be taken seriously in the U.S., and to remain true to her home country. The relationship, strained at best, takes a back seat to the confusion that Amina encounters. NPR has tagged Freudenberger as being a novelist who breaks the unfortunate generalizations concerning female novelists; her writing is far from the familiar "chic lit", and demands the attention "legitimate" criticisms. Looming sexism aside, what the reader inherits from The Newlyweds is an intelligent glimpse at the intricate complications of culture clash and transitional adjustment.
The Car Thief
By Theodore Weesner
The Car Thief was initially published in 1972 and most recently re-printed by Grove/Atlantic in 2001. The old reviews, archived over the years, tell us that the book sold over half a million copies and was wildly popular upon its initial launch. It received acclaim from the The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and from authors such as Joyce Carol Oates. Come this May, Weesner's first novel will be republished by Astor + Blue Editions. If the publisher's name is unfamiliar, it's because the LLC is launching with Weesner's books as brand-spanking new digital-first publisher. Considering the previous acclaim for The Car Thief, its an obscure but intriguing selection for Astor + Blue's launch. Weesner's main character, Alex Housman, has an addiction for stealing cars that stems from his blatantly dysfunctional circumstances. The autobiographical novel trails young Housman through arrest, imprisonment, and struggle to change his life. We'll be flipping the pages of this novel this month, as we highly recommend you do as well.