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Author:  Amy Bloom

Pages:  256

Published:  August 2007

Geographical Setting:  New York, Seattle, Alaska

Time:  1920s

Summary Brevis:  After Lillian’s family is killed in a Russian pogrom, she comes to America to make a new life for herself.  When she finds out that her young daughter may still be alive, she sets off on a new journey to find her.

Although this is a fairly short book, its dense and polished prose keeps it packed full of imagery, emotion and action.  But don’t let that fool you, it is quite fast paced and follows the format of a quest story.  At the story’s heart is a detailed character study.  On her quest, Lillian comes across many other secondary characters who are extremely well drawn and entertaining (most characters are given a back-story as well as a “future-story”).   Although tragic, Bloom does inject the story with some humor but overall the book has a foreboding and suspenseful tone.  It is truly the characters that make this novel unique and memorable.

Recommended Audience:   This book is totally accessible.  If you like contemporary or historical fiction or character studies, give this one a shot.

Similar Works:

The Kite Runnerby Khaled Hosseini - if you liked the straightforward prose and the immigrant angle, try this book.

The Inheritance of Lossby Kiran Desai - immigrant fiction appealing but you want a little more to chew?  Desai’s book is a tragic and beautiful character study, similar to Away.

A Very Long Engagementby Sebastien Japrisot - if what you really liked about this book was the quest and you enjoyed the tone (thought provoking, foreboding, character driven), try Japrisot’s truly lovely novel.   

Author:  Tim Dorsey

Pages:  273

Published:  August 1999

Geographical Setting:  Florida

Time Period:  1997

Summary Brevis:  A suitcase with $5 million in stolen insurance money is the object of multiple characters’ desire, leading them to cross paths, often violently and hilariously,  in a madcap adventure across Florida. 

This is a very fast paced book with tons of adventure, drugs and violence.  There are a lot of characters involved, some in minor ways, but most pop up frequently within the story so it helps to attempt to keep track.  Some of the characters are well drawn and some are not but all are more like caricatures than real people.  This does not necessarily take away from the book, but rather fits in nicely with the gritty, action-oriented prose.  The adventures are reckless but also violent (often incorporating dark humor) and sexually explicit.  The language is strong and frank. 

Recommended Audience:   Dark humor aficionados (death by Levi 501’s, anybody?) who like a bit of suspense, armchair adventure seekers and Florida enthusiasts who don’t mind or prefer the grittiness. 

Similar Authors:

Carl Hiaasen - for madcap adventures and the Florida setting.

Harry Crews - if you want to up the black humor and bizarre elements and/or change setting, Southern Gothic in this case.

Laurence Shames - a kinder, gentler read for those who like the Key West setting but prefer less sex and drugs.

If you really enjoyed this book, main character Serge A. Storms shows up in Dorsey’s other books.

Author:  Lisa Lutz

Pages:  358

Published:  03/2007

Geographical Setting:  San Francisco, CA

Time Period:  present

Summary Brevis:  All but one member of the Spellman family, including twelve year old Rae, are employed with Spellman Investigations.  Unfortunately, their PI expertise is generally employed upon each other or eldest sister Isabel’s current boyfriend. 

An easy fast paced read starring a quirky family of private investigators determined to check up on each other as much as the strangers they are tailing.  Only Isabel and Rae (the youngest sister) are well developed but the rest of the family provides humor and a general sense of the strangeness of the family.  Although there is a lot of PI work and two separate missing persons cases to provide some mystery and suspense, the story is mostly domestic and focuses on the relationships between family members.  The novel is written in unembellished prose with realistic dialogue.  It made me laugh out loud. 

Recommended Audience:  If you like your mysteries less straightforward and with a sense of humor, this is a great book.  Alternately, it is a good choice if you enjoy dysfunctional family novels and would like to try something different and not as dense as, let’s say, The Corrections.

Similar Authors and Works:

Janet Evanovich - if you love Isabel, the sassy female main character in this book, try Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.

Bad Manners by Marne Davis Kellogg - if you like the humor/mystery combo but would like something with an older protagonist (less drugs, ex-boyfriends, etc.), this first in a series may be the route to take.

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon - if you want to abandon the mystery but stick with the dysfunction and humor, this British family might be just what you are looking for. 

If this book is exactly what you love, look for the sequel, Curse of the Spellmans, due out in March. 

 Author:  Junot Diaz

Pages:  352

Published:  09/2007

Geographical Setting:  Brooklyn, Dominican Republic

Time Period:  1950’s -1990’s

Summary Brevis:  The story of Oscar, his sister, his mother and the fuku (an ancient curse) that has followed them from the Dominican Republic to New York and takes the blame for their tragedies and heartache. 

I would define this novel as a detailed, quirky multiple character study.  It is domestic, episodic, and non-linear; jumping in time and place to relate the different presents and pasts of the Wao family.  The fuku curse is the source of multiple tragedies but one of the great triumphs of the novel is that the narrator is able to relate these episodes with humor.  It is Diaz’s unusual, conversational, modern style sprinkled with Spanish phrases that makes this unusual pairing work on multiple levels.   There are several sci-fi and fantasy literary references (if you aren’t a “ghetto nerd” like Oscar, don’t worry, unfamiliarity with Tolkien won’t take anything away from your reading experience).  In addition there are abundant historical details mostly about the Dominican Republic’s brutal dictator Trujillo.    I, like every other critic I’ve read, loved this book.

Recommended Audience:  Someone who enjoys “experimental” writing, who likes a little bit of history mixed into their novels (although not necessarily in a straightforward manner) and who doesn’t mind bits of Spanish.  If you are a voracious reader of contemporary/literary fiction, read this book.

Similar Authors/Works: 

Jonathan Safran Foer - if what you loved about this book was its unique writing style, Foer could also be categorized as “experimental” and modern.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai - a less than rosy (okay far less than) look at immigrants in America and how national/cultural events affect one’s persona and beliefs.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Thier Accents by Julia Alvarez - looking for a more traditional novel about Dominican immigrants in New York?

In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez - perhaps your interest in Trujillo and the Dominican Republic was piqued?  Try this novel, based on a true story, of three sisters who plot to overthrow the dictator.