Month: October 2023

By: Tracey Lange

RECOMMEND

TLDR: If you’re into family dramas with lots of secrets and dripping in dry wit then this novel is for you. Tara Connelly is newly released from prison following a drug trafficking incident, and is working on putting her life back together. It’s a fun look at a not-so-stereotypical-dysfunctional family.

The Longer Review: When I originally read the synopsis for this novel I thought for some reason it’d be based in The UK somewhere, so the fact that the main character had been imprisoned for drug trafficking felt like an interesting juxtaposition. This is actually based in the New England area and the “of County Down” relates to fairy tales that the Connelly’s Irish mother told them as children.

Tara Connelly has to put her life back together after being released from prison. That means trying to escape her charges, find work, and regain some normalcy. Her job search is not without challenges, and her past keeps coming back to haunt her, though for much of the time you aren’t quite clear on why. There are some interesting family dynamics among this family for certain. And learning how they each came to be the quirky adults they are was a nice little bow around this story.

By: Celeste Ng

RECOMMEND

TLDR: This wasn’t my favorite of Ng’s novels (I prefer Little Fires Everywhere), but it was worth a read, particularly if you enjoy dystopian novels. This follows a family of 3 as they’re separated following an uptick in anti-Asian rhetoric, politics, and ultimately violence.

The Longer Review: My first thought after beginning this book was that I couldn’t tell if this was based in the past or future. I found myself wondering if there was some part of American History that I missed, because the plot was so believable that it felt like I had. The Author’s note helped clear that up for me: it’s based in a totally fictional present day New England.

Bird (aka Noah) is a young boy whose mother has left without a trace following an increase of violence and conflict against Asian Americans due to recently passed legislation called PACT. He has no idea where she’s gone, or why, other than it likely has something to do with PACT. His curiosity is piqued when he learns that activists are using a line from one of his mother’s poems (“Our Missing Hearts”) to fight back against the removal and relocation of children of “violators” of the law.

There are definitely some interesting twists in this story, but overall it wasn’t my absolute favorite. Maybe simply because like The Handmaid’s Tale, it felt too real and too sad most of the time.