Many American Jews are unaffiliated with Judaism. Some do not observe Jewish rituals in any regular way; others might not worship at all. And yet Jewishness still pervades their lives: in food, in attitude, in ways of speaking, and — of course — in that wry sense of humor that is marked by self-deprecation and a slight satirical impulse. What contemporary poet speaks for those of us who do not know Yiddish or Hebrew, who do not attend services, who eat BLTs, and who might even go shopping on Yom Kippur?
Enter poet Kim Dower, whose latest poetry collection is a Jewishly infused valentine to her mother, to all mothers, and to “everyone who has a mother.”
Ghost Apples, the ninth collection of poems by University of Utah distinguished professor Katharine Coles, offers not only nature-based poems that stir and satiate hunger, but also serrated verse that slices through the agency of its readers. Divided into three sections (“Animal,” “If the Older I Get the Less I Know,” “Won’t Wait”), Ghost Apples crescendos cosmologically as it progresses. Along with the particular fruit in the book’s title, as well as ethical considerations of behavior, the reader may catch palimpsestic glimpses of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
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“My story has never been mine to tell,” says novelist, poet, and creative writing teacher Laila Halaby in her memoir, The Weight of Ghosts. “It is squished between other people’s tall tales, glopped onto their secrets and lies.” That may be the case, but the author’s story emerges as fearlessly authentic nonetheless. The Weight of Ghosts begins with the death of Halaby’s older son, Raad. In 2017, on a rainy February night, shortly after two o’clock in the morning, Raad was hit and killed by an 18-wheeler while standing by the side of a highway in Tucson, Arizona. He was 21 years old.
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Author Madeleine Nakamura’s science fiction thriller “Cursebreakers,” embarks on a “mind bending” battle between magicians, witches, medical professionals and the military in the year 3016. All of the drama in this novel unfolds in a place called Astrum.
The narrative is related by Adrian Desfourneaux. Fourteen years prior to this story, he worked as lead medical researcher at the Philidor solarium where he attempted to cure his chronic patients with his magic powers. He failed: Some patients died while others went into a coma. He was arrested by the “witchfinders” and put on trial (a witch is said to use power to cause harm while a magician would not). He is acquitted and becomes a professor of magic at the Pharmakeia, a huge medical complex.
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A Plucked Zither is Phuong T. Vuong’s sophomore poetry collection. Vuong’s poems draw upon her experience as a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American raised in Oakland, California, and echo the familiar themes of diasporic Vietnamese literature, including a meditation on nước as water and nation; watching an immigrant father’s labor and guilt from a distance; and the shame of losing the mother tongue. Vuong’s collection opens with epigraphs from Sara Ahmed and Jodi Byrd about the act of returning, of being in transit and in relation, and how a person can move between space and time from a memory. Throughout the collection, Vuong’s poems flit from one location to another, where preoccupations of the speaker “I” oscillate from that of an immigrant’s, then of a mother’s daughter, a father’s daughter, a granddaughter, a lover, and a poet.
Multiple poems of A Plucked Zither wrestle with what it means to come into English as a second language and to become bilingual. The poem “Fifth Grade English” takes a turn on the school attendance roll call dreaded by immigrant kids by describing a formative moment when Vuong’s name is spoken correctly in her American elementary school:
CURSEBREAKERS by Madeleine Nakamura is a novel as electric as the lightning-bolt magic its protagonist wields, filled with curses, destruction, and piercing heartache.
Sometimes vicious and violent; all times spectacular and sweet.
Cursebreakers is nonstop action, pierced with so much heart and heightened emotion on both ends of the scale. It follows Professor Adrien Desfourneaux, who finds himself entangled in the life-threatening position of preventing a magical coup linked to a rapidly increasing number of comatose victims—while he is experiencing a significant flare-up of his bipolar disorder symptoms.
“A remarkable work that is both a poignant story of queer coming-of-age and a breathtaking history of modern Russia.”
“Poems like these are as two-sided as Vuong’s title instrument: a zither plucked and plucked, played upon and snatched away. For every touch of warmth and musicality, she admits something of the unknown or apparitional.”
“Nakamura’s treatment is nuanced and thoughtful, avoiding a veritable minefield of harmful stereotypes to deliver genuine characters with heart…A tightly plotted conspiracy novel that blends seamlessly with its superbly developed setting.”
“…the intimate representation of bipolar disease and addiction, the normalization of queer characters, and the nuanced depiction of aromantic male-female friendship make this an exciting read.”
The full review will be available on August 1, 2023.
You Were Watching from the Sand
The debut short story collection by Haitian-born, South Florida-raised, Harvard graduate Juliana Lamy, vividly portrays adolescent life and dreams in Miami’s Haitian community. Gritty, bizarre, and poetic, the stories speak from each narrator’s often-unexpected viewpoint, bringing to life what are usually grim, challenging personal situations. In one, boys steal from rich whitefolks’ homes. In another, after a girl molds a clay figure, they come alive and become her close friend. And in another a boy is kidnapped for ransom by other Haitians…. Throughout, we see a talented young writer beginning to strut her stuff and promising more to come.
Synopsis: On the eve of Earth’s collapse, young Marisol Blaise is taken to live on an underwater ‘mersation’ known as Aqueous with parents not her own. There, she must compete in the trials, grueling tests designed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each trainee, hoping to be assigned to the all-male elite diving team known as the Cuviers.
Desperate to prove to herself, the residents, and all of her parents, dead and alive, that she is worthy of this prestigious placement, she works tirelessly to shatter misogynistic beliefs, only to discover that it was not only the men who constrained her — A much uglier untruth exists.
Critique: “Aqueous” by new novelist Jade Shyback is the first volume of her new and ground-breaking fantasy series.
Translator Bell offers a long-overdue introduction of German poet Sessner to English-speaking readers…Over the course of this collection, Sessner’s inclination toward enjambment and sparse use of stanzas encourage readers to trust the speakers, and the poems always lead to a striking close. The stark form belies intricate layers of actuality and vision.
This debut collection by Fairbanks poet and musician Warren presents the reality of living as a nonbinary person, with poems responding to childhood confusions, to societal pressures and cruelties, and to finding love and community. The book title and the poem “Binder” both relate not only to flattening one’s chest but to being constrained by the expectations and remarks of others.
Reality shifts and reforms in disquieting and disorientating ways in MacLeish Sq., the latest novel by Dennis Must, as the unlikely hero recognizes that he has reached the final phase of his life and reluctantly embarks on a metaphysical odyssey that leaves him questioning the nature of his current existence and reevaluating the sins of his past.
Aside from these mind-boggling elements, the major strengths of MacLeish Sq. are Must’s innovative stylistic approach and masterful use of language, both of which appear to be informed by a deep knowledge and appreciation of literature. He weaves a distinct air of mystery into the mundane activities and discussions of John and Eli, and his construction of memorable secondary characters is second to none. Moreover, the text of MacLeish Sq. is complemented by the inclusion of a number of vivid and unsettling illustrations by Russ Spitkovsky, which add to the unreal nature of the story.
