Home School Rules is a look at the world of lockdown through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy. If you ever wondered what we adults look like to kids when we’re stressed, caged and on an emotional rollercoaster, wonder no longer! And be prepared to laugh. Nothing is quite so funny as seeing ourselves in …
Jarkata by Rodrigo Márquez Tizano
Reviewed by Desiree Willis Jakarta focuses on the life of an unnamed narrator in a dystopian society where the virus Z-bug has caused nearly the extinction of the human race. Where he resides, his partner Clara holds a strong connection to a glowing stone; which holds powers that allow for the narrator to view past …
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
Reviewed by Kelsie Colclough The End We Start From is Megan Hunter’s ambitious debut novella. Exploring motherhood in a flooded Britain is a fascinating concept delivered in the novella in a shaky format. The End We Start From leaves you feeling that more than Britain has flooded and been swept away; character names are reduced …
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Reviewed by Karisma J. Tobin Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream tells the haunting story of a mother’s experience of an unfamiliar town. Vacationing with her young daughter, Nina, Amanda finds herself unsettled. It soon becomes clear that there is something strange about this place. It’s the worms. You have to be patient and wait. And …
Shakespeare’s Younger Sister by Geoffrey Craig
Author's note: This book is meant for mature audiences When, in the spring of 1592, fictional eighteen-year-old Constance Shakespeare joins her brother, Will, in London, she is in for any number of surprises. Expecting opportunities not available under her father’s domination in Stratford, she finds life in London far more complicated and challenging, yet exhilarating, …
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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reviewed by Zhenbang Yu Offred is a victim of a regime that thrives on fear and lies. Since Offred has assumed the role of a handmaiden, she has experienced the horrors of witnessing their utmost cruelty the regime has imposed on her. This has led her to despise the regime for its oppressiveness towards women who …
The Wanderers By Sarah Barkoff
Reviewed by Aaron Sommers "We pursue that which retreats from us," said the existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger. The quote pertains to desires, happiness or knowledge--and it also describes the protagonist's journey in The Wanderers, a fast-paced, eminently readable debut novel by Sarah Barkoff. The novel kicks off in the unsettled world of a post-Hurricane Sandy …
Iris Murdoch, on the Anniversary of Her Birth and Death
Reviewed by S.B. Julian I call them my Irises -- my copies of the novels of Iris Murdoch. They have played such an intimate role in my life that we can't but co-exist on a first-name basis. I found my first “Iris” at age eighteen while back-packing in Europe. Near my hostel in Germany was …
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Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang
Reviewed by Chengyuan Bian As one of the Chinese millennial generation, we are always blamed to be selfish, crazy, irresponsible by elder Chinese. We are also expected to attend good universities and then find great jobs in big cities, for the benefit of the next generation, for the glory of the ancestors, and for the …
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Reviewed by Keegan Greenacre I really enjoyed reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was a great read and I couldn’t put it down once I had started reading it. I noticed that this book went into some dark topics as the story progressed and it really shows how the books are evolving …
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