This week, we look at comments from our just-opened Book Club discussion on When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky by Margaret Verble, a riveting work of historical fiction about a young Cherokee woman working as a horse-diver for a Wild West show.
In Editor's Choice, we cover Miriam Toews' Fight Night, a poignant novel about the bond between a grandmother and granddaughter in a family fraught with turmoil. We also recommend some read-alikes and share our "beyond the book" article about the team spirit of the Toronto Raptors basketball team.
Plus, we bring you the latest book news and a new Wordplay.
Very best,
Davina Morgan-Witts
BookBrowse Publisher
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When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky
by Margaret Verble
From the Jacket
Louise Erdrich meets Karen Russell in this deliciously strange and daringly original novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble: set in 1926 Nashville, it follows a death-defying young Cherokee horse-diver who, with her companions from the Glendale Park Zoo, must get to the bottom of a mystery that spans centuries.
From the Discussion
"I really loved this book! The importance of friendship and the acceptance of others really hit a stellar note with me. The setting was so fully developed it became a character in the story. The historical aspects made it even more enjoyable. Two Feathers is an enchanting character and the others were no less memorable." - janeb
"I absolutely loved When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky. The well-developed characters, setting and storyline appealed to me, and the book far exceeded my expectations. I will definitely be reading Margaret Verble’s other books." - BuffaloGirl
"I enjoyed When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky. Ms. Verble is an excellent writer who knows how to entertain while putting forth issues that Tribal members and governments struggle with today: racism, the lack of cultural and historically accurate histories of America's Indigenous peoples, voter rights, blood quantum issues and more. It's put in the context of one woman telling a story that is both universal for women and specific to the Tribal nations. At the same time, this is an entertaining story with allusions to local history in Tennessee and the history of Wild West Shows." - skagitgrits
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Mariner Books. Historical Fiction. 384 pages. Published October 12, 2021 |
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Fight Night
by Miriam Toews
When the novel begins, it's a difficult time for nine-year-old Swiv, who has been suspended from school and is dealing with an absent father and a depressed mother. Swiv learns why her father left her family through her mother and grandmother, Elvira, and she also comes to understand the changing family dynamics by communicating with her yet-to-be-born baby brother, Gord. Swiv's insightful and youthful first-person narrative is interspersed with the voices of other family members — sometimes in the form of letters, or emotionally charged monologues — as they all speak to one another, including some who are dead or yet to be born. Through these novel methods of communication, the family's tumultuous past gradually unfurls.
Spanning three generations and two continents, one might not immediately recognize the monumental vastness of the themes and truths that Toews is exploring within Fight Night. This is because we are gleefully and gently guided through the events that unfold by Swiv as she tries to make sense of the world...
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BookBrowse features Read-Alikes, hand-picked recommendations of similar books, for each work we review. Members have access to the full database of read-alikes for over 4,000 books.
Read-Alikes for Fight Night include:
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Beyond the Book:
The Toronto Raptors
In Fight Night, grandmother and granddaughter Elvira and Swiv are both big fans of the Toronto Raptors, a Canadian basketball team that competes in the NBA's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. The novel has a few autobiographical elements, as author Miriam Toews lives in Toronto in a household that includes her own mother (whose name is Elvira), her daughter, and two of her grandchildren. Throughout the novel, the Raptors are referred to frequently in passing and play in the background on the television. The team was established in 1995 during the NBA's expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. A nationwide vote gave rise to the team's name, chosen due to the popularity of the movie Jurassic Park at the time. Upon the relocation of the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canada-based team in the NBA.
Fitting with the theme of fighting and working together for something greater, at one point in the novel, Elvira says that the reason that "the Raptors are so good is because they're collectively trying to win, not a single one of them just trying to break personal records or up his stats or whatever." ...
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The above "beyond the book" article is one of hundreds in our Cultural Curiosities category. Other recent articles include:
- Cassandra of Troy
- The Tradition of Las Vegas Magicians
- The Weird and Wonderful History of Weird Tales Magazine
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Bloomsbury USA. Novel. 272 pages. Published October 5, 2021
Critics' Consensus: 4.8/5, BookBrowse Rating: 5/5
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Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a 6-month membership to BookBrowse.
"Y A B Up T W T"
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The answer to the last Wordplay: L Said, S M
"Least said, soonest mended"
Meaning: Bad situations will be forgotten more quickly if not dwelled on; generally used to discourage a person from complaining, apologizing, arguing, or making excuses.
According to America's Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Titelman, this expression is first recorded in Remains of Early Poetry (c.1460). We were unable to find reference to this title and date but did find Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England, collected and edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1864). If this is the earliest known reference in English then earlier uses can be found in Spanish.
For example, Cervantes expresses the sentiment in Don Quixote (1606) ...
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