“Obasan” by Joy Kogawa

“Obasan” by Joy Kogawa tells the story of a part of modern history that is often overlooked–the internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians during WWII. The novel opens when Naomi, who is currently a schoolteacher in Canada in the 1970s, learns about the death of her uncle.  She rushes home for the funeral and to make [...]

Read Full Post »

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a classic of both African American and feminist literature. The novel tells the story of Janie Crawford as she recounts her life story to her friend Phoebe, describing her three marriages. Janie opens by talking about her grandmother, Nanny, who was a former slave.  Nanny’s [...]

Read Full Post »

“Island Beneath the Sea” by Isabel Allende

In “Island Beneath the Sea,” Chilean author Isabel Allende deviates from her usual setting of an unnamed South American country.  Instead, the novel takes place primarily in Haiti and New Orleans.  It is a tale of slavery, abuse, love, loss, sorrow, revolution, generation gaps, and incest.  (I definitely wasn’t expecting the incest…) The novel begins [...]

Read Full Post »

“The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende

I wasn’t quite sure what genre to categorize this book as, largely because it blends elements of multiple genres into a unique novel.  Is there a line between magical realism and fantasy other than the fact that magical realism tends to be written first in Spanish?  While “The House of Spirits” incorporates elements of magical [...]

Read Full Post »

“Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut

I just finished reading “Slaughterhouse Five” for the first time.  I should have read it years ago; in fact, I attempted to read it my freshmen year of high school, but then was mildly traumatized after reading that a soldier in the novel carried around a picture of a girl attempting intercourse with a Shetland [...]

Read Full Post »