by Ali Sethi |
REVIEWED BY JOANNA POWELL
NOVEL
Much as Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan, this timely first novel, told through the eyes of a boy grappling with adolescence, brings to life the tumult of Pakistan. Part travelogue, part history lesson, the story takes place primarily during the heady 1990s of Benazir Bhutto. Following narrator Zaki Shirazi and his female cousin Samir Ali through their upbringing in a feisty matriarchal household in Lahore, the author, a Harvard-educated Pakistani native, captures a critical time of change in his homeland: Rickshaws rattle by Pizza Huts; boys buy bootleg liquor, while Islamic fundamentalism percolates in the mosques. As Zaki and Samir mature, the stark disparities between girls' and boys' opportunities in education, work and marriage become poignantly clear. Though the novel lacks a riveting central plot, individual vignettes, especially those detailing female characters, are powerful and vivid, providing insight into a country that is increasingly pivotal on the world stage.
by John Updike |
REVIEWED BY KYLE SMITH
STORIES
At the closing bell of life, what stands out? In a final collection of short stories, Updike, who died in January, sends a series of Updike-like narrators out to contemplate mysteries that must be left unresolved. Amid feuding lovers and fractious families, he discovers the purest, most illuminating moments. Tiny details—such as the shocking, first-time-ever sobs of a dad sending his son off to Harvard in the title story, or the junk of generations buried in the yard in "Personal Archaeology"—convey regret, but also understanding. "The more intelligent [people] were, the less they had to say in extremis," supposes one protagonist. Updike disproves that with these beautiful if wrenching tales.
by Mark Seal |
REVIEWED BY ANDREW ABRAHAMS
NON-FICTION
Acclaimed for the African wildlife films they made together in the '60s and '70s, Alan and Joan Root were a seamless fit—he, the gregarious one, was the creative force behind the lens; shy Joan handled all the details. But off- camera, as Seal's richly detailed portrait shows, things were far messier. In 1982 Joan became part of a "tortured love triangle" involving Alan and a nurse named Jennie Hammond; Jennie's possessiveness killed the Roots' working relationship. ("Cannot be at the Serengeti at the same time as Alan," Joan wrote a friend. "As if," author Seal notes, "their shared presence on a 5,700-square-mile plain would cause Jennie to explode.") After their 1990 divorce, Joan became a fierce conservationist whose alienation of local poachers may have caused her death: In 2006, at age 69, she was shot dead in her home in Kenya. Thanks to Seal's meticulous re-creation, her extraordinary life lives on.
by Jen Lancaster |
REVIEWED BY RENNIE DYBALL
MEMOIR
After three laugh-out-loud memoirs chronicling her adult adventures in unemployment, city living and weight loss, Lancaster looks back at the poignant moments of her youth—and what she was wearing while living them. The result is a hilarious tribute to her early fashion obsessions, from a fully adorned Girl Scout sash ("I'm in it for the badges, not some arcane code of ethics") to her first brand-name bag, "Liz" (as in Claiborne). A treat for fans and new readers alike, Plaid is like that dreamy pair of heels that are somehow both comfy and chic. It's familiar—there's no shortage of the author's signature acerbic wit—while still totally fresh.
'I wanted to show how, even in times of national turmoil, people keep living their lives—thinking of money, love, freedom...'
>THREE REASONS TO PLAN THAT ROAD TRIP
DELICATE EDIBLE BIRDS by Lauren Groff Nine disparate stories about women to tug at your heartstrings, by the author of The Monsters of Templeton. Read by actress Susan Ericksen.
LOOK AGAIN by Lisa Scottoline Mary Stuart Masterson's precise diction builds suspense in this tale of a reporter investigating a missing-child case that may be linked to her own adopted son.
APOLOGIZE, APOLOGIZE! by Elizabeth Kelly Narrator Jeff Woodman's skill with accents gives color to this rousing coming-of-age story about a boy who finds balance in a chaotic Irish family.
>by Ayelet Waldman |
REVIEWED BY JUDITH NEWMAN
ESSAYS In essays on issues ranging from breast-feeding to homework to "giftedness," Waldman (notorious in the blogosphere for writing that she loved her husband more than her kids) examines her own struggles with maternal choice and the nagging sense that she's not living up to expectations. She talks with great candor about one of the most hard-to-admit conditions of early motherhood: the boredom. (To her own feminist mother's consternation, she quit her job to be a full-time mom: "I never let her know that within a week ... I had already begun to lose my mind.") Many find Waldman's honesty hard to take. For some of us it's hard to live without.
>• Photographer Brigitte Lacombe looks back at some of the celebrity moments captured in her new book, Anima/Persona.
APPLE VALLEY, ca. 1979 Mary Tyler Moore, Robert Redford and Donald Sutherland: "This was on the set of Ordinary People. Redford directed. He was on top of his world as an actor and had an aura around him which was rather intimidating to me."
LONDON, 1999 Twiggy and Kate Moss: "I think they were happy to be photographed like this, both being aware they were 'the one' at different times. I kept the shoot bare. This is what interests me—not the artifice, but the opposite—I want to see the soul."
VERSAILLES, 2005 Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst: "The set of Marie Antoinette. It was a wonderful-looking scene. I was happy to have Sofia in the photo with Kirsten. Sofia in her contemporary clothes ..."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
