Laura Imai Messina's The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is an immersive work of fiction about grief, based on the true story of a "wind" phone in Japan used for speaking to lost loved ones. All BookBrowse members who reviewed it rated it either 4- or 5-stars. They found it touching and hopeful, making it especially appreciated in these difficult times. Scroll down to read some reviews.
Our latest Editor's Choice feature covers Nancy Johnson's debut novel The Kindest Lie, an exploration of American race and class focusing on a successful Yale grad who is haunted by her decision to give up the baby she had as a teenager. The accompanying "beyond the book" article reflects on the importance of forming relationships across racial boundaries.
We also have an interview with Jackie Polzin, author of Brood, about raising chickens, human-animal connections and more.
Very best,
Davina
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Each month we give away books to BookBrowse members who live in the U.S. to read and review. Members who choose to participate receive a free book about every 3-4 months. Here are their opinions on one recently released title. |
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The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina
"This book tells a gentle and powerful story that is still with me days after finishing it. Set in Japan after the 2011 tsunami, it centers around a real phone booth with an unconnected phone in a Japanese garden. According to an introductory note, every year thousands come to use the phone and speak with those they have lost. The main characters, Yui and Takeshi, each grieving the loss of loved ones, meet at the phone booth and come to know others who are grief-stricken. The book asks fundamental questions: How is it possible to live with joy when everything comes to an end? How can we learn to live with those we loved who have died? The answers suggested by the story are profound, deeply moving and, perhaps most importantly, hopeful." --Joan R. (Chicago, IL)
"I read this book in a very short time... I was captured by how human this story was. From tragedy to hope it carries you on a journey of the human soul. It shows how grief is a personal thing for each one of us. The characters are nondescript but each one carries a different message of hope and dealing with everyday life through tragic events. A very touching story of love, companionship, community and the power of the human spirit. This would definitely be a great book for book clubs." --Windell H. (Rock Hill, SC)
"This book was a gentle and irresistible invitation for me to inhabit the world of two very likeable Japanese adults who are grieving their losses from the 2011 tsunami... I appreciated that the book focused on Yui and Takeshi, without straying too far into the lives of the people closest to them... This is not a story about a tsunami and the country it ravaged, it is really the story of grieving individuals, stumbling toward hope and supported by a unique and spiritual place." --Karen S. (Allston, MA)
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The Overlook Press. Novel. 416 pages. Published March 9, 2021
Number of Reader Reviews: 21, Readers' Consensus: 4.6/5.0
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For Members: The BookBrowse Review |
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The just-published issue of The BookBrowse Review, our twice-monthly membership magazine, is packed with new reviews and articles; plus author interviews, recommendations for book clubs and previews of notable books publishing over the next three weeks.
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The Kindest Lie
by Nancy Johnson
In a stirring novel about secrets and black lives, Ruth Tuttle from small-town Indiana has tried to defy what Faulkner wrote about the past: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Ambitious and brainy Ruth attempted to bury the experience of giving up her child as a teenage mother. She was aided by her grandmother Ernestine, who told her, "I saw every dream we had for you rotting and dying off. You were smart as a whip from the day you were born. You could have been anything you wanted to be in the world. But not with a baby." Ruth's grandfather, too, encouraged her to look to the future: "Study hard and get that piece of paper, girl. That's going to be your ticket to the big leagues someday. Then nothing can stop you." His advice was prescient. Moving from a working-class existence to the Ivy League to black excellence, Ruth trampled all the stereotypes that told her what she could not achieve as a child of the Rust Belt, as a girl of color who didn't know her father and whose mother had run off.
The Kindest Lie depicts Ruth's search for what she lost at the age of 17, during the summer of 1997, when her baby was given away. ... continued
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Beyond the Book:
Talking About Race Matters
Years ago, comedian Chris Rock told a joke: "All my black friends have a bunch of white friends and all my white friends have one black friend." It is one of those bits of humor where the laughter leaves you reflecting on a sadder truth. Particularly, that racial segregation is still normalized in white communities. To have more than one black friend is an anomaly.
As Nancy Johnson shows in her novel The Kindest Lie, interracial friendships are contextually complicated. People of different races talk about race differently. According to Pew Research data, 63% of blacks and 66% of Asians say that race or race relations come up in conversations with family and friends. 50% of whites and 49% of Hispanics say the same. But 27% of blacks say these kinds of conversations come up often, while only 15% of Hispanics, 13% of Asians and 11% of whites say the same.
Of course, it's not just conversations about race that are significant in healing divisions. ... continued
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William Morrow. Novel. 336 pages. Published Feb 2, 2021
Critics' Consensus: 4.5/5, BookBrowse Rating: 5/5
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This week, we bring you an interview with Jackie Polzin, author of Brood, in which she talks about her experience raising chickens and how it contributed to her decision to write the novel.
First of all, why chickens?
When I was 30, my partner and I got chickens. They were my first pets since childhood. I compensated by giving them a lot of attention, and that attention inspired the book. I knew I could spend time with the ideas the chickens provoked. Some broad ones: that a chicken's egg-heavy existence seldom bears new life; that a chicken is a pet whose value is complicated by its utility, often thought of as less-than when it stops laying eggs; that caring for a chicken yields very little emotional feedback. These ideas aren't stated directly but they're part of the story and quite specific to chickens.
... continued
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Along with reading interviews — such as our Q&A with Jackie Polzin — you can browse biographies, look up author name pronunciations, discover new titles to enjoy based on writers whose books you already love and more. |
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The Arsonists' City
by Hala Alyan
From the Jacket
A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home.
Reviews
"[E]xquisite...Tenderly and compassionately told, and populated with complicated and flawed characters, the Nasrs' story interrogates nostalgia, memory, and the morality of keeping secrets against the backdrop of a landscape and a people in constant flux. Alyan's debut was striking, and this one's even better." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Painful and joyous, sad and funny—impossible to put down." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"No one knows the human heart like Hala Alyan. Her ability to show its unexpected contours is on full display in The Arsonists' City—a book so gorgeously written I found myself reading sentences aloud just to keep them with me a little longer."
- Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk and The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Novel. 464 pages. Published March 9, 2021 |
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At BookBrowse, we believe that the very best books don't just entertain and engage, they also enlighten, wrapping us in their world, giving us a window into the lives of others or a mirror to reflect on ourselves. These are the books we seek out and feature on BookBrowse, both fiction and nonfiction. |
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Published every Thursday, BookBrowse Highlights is one of BookBrowse's four free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly.
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