Fiction Reviews: Week of 7/14/2008

Tag : classic yarn


Egyptian author al Aswany weaves a vivid tapestry of clashing cultures in post-9/11Chicago. Dr. Ra'fat Thabit, an Egyptian-American professor at theUniversity of Illinois Medical School, has burrowed deep intoAmerican culture, but finds his identity threatened after hisrebellious daughter falls under the sway of a shady boyfriend.Ra'fat's colleague, Dr. Muhammad Shamay, retreats from his Americanwife into extended reveries of his life in Cairo in the 1970s whenhe was young and in love with a revolutionary. His histologystudent, Nagi Abd al-Samad, really wants to be a poet. Nagi beginsa relationship with an American girl named Wendy (who just sohappens to be Jewish). Meanwhile, Shymaa Muhammadi, a medicalstudent who wears a veil, finds her traditional values under siegewhen Tariq Haseeb, another Egyptian med student, begins seducingher with dogged persistence. The characters are beautifullyrealized—Ra'fat's family trouble is especially welldone—and though their cumulative effect is muted, each of thestory lines is individually compelling. (Oct.)

In her affecting debut, Spechler raises the question of whether, inrescuing others, we risk ruining ourselves. Thirteen years afterthe abduction of youngest child Alena at the age of six, theremaining members of the Kellerman family are still deeply damagedby their shared loss. The irresponsible oldest daughter, Bits,seeks out random sexual encounters with near strangers to fill thevoids in her life. Son Ash, meanwhile, dabbles in a variety ofcompulsive behaviors before settling on Orthodox Judaism, cuttinghimself off from the rest of the family and moving to Jerusalem.The mother, Ellie, enlists the help of a charismatic stranger tohelp save Ash from what she views as a cult, and when Alena'sremains are discovered, Bits determines to bring Ash home for theirsister's long-overdue memorial service. Told in alternatingchapters by Bits, Ellie and Ash, the narrative is notable in largepart for how little these family members actually interact with oneanother despite the drama that confronts them all. Though theending is overly tidy, Spechler's debut raises provocativequestions about religion, violence and the resilience of familiesand individuals. (Oct.)

Argentine Birmajer presents a complicated tale of politicalintrigue revolving around Javier Mossen, a 32-year-old JewishArgentine journalist obsessed with sex, the one who got away andlooking out for number one. Mossen is reluctantly writing a Sundayfeature on Elias Traum, a Jew and former Argentine revolutionarynow residing in Israel and recently returned for a visit. When hegoes to meet Traum at the airport, Mossen is assaulted and Traumkidnapped. Traum is later dumped naked but alive on the side of theroad, and a terrified Mossen is so relieved his subject survivedthat he finds himself being drawn in by the activist's tales ofpolitical intrigue and heroism. When he realizes he's beingfollowed, and his editor suddenly warns him away from Traum, Mossenbecomes fearful, and then suspicious. Though the focus ispolitical—so much so, readers may becomeconfused—Argentine sexual attitudes also form an importantthread, allowing Birmajer to indulge in some macho, misogynisticcharacterization and more than a little casual denigration of gays.Still, Birmajer skillfully explores the importance of Judaism incontemporary Argentina through an unlikely friendship and acrackerjack conspiracy plot. (Oct.) The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters
Lorraine López. Grand Central, $12.99 paper (326p) ISBN978-0-446-69921-1

Lopez's engaging novel chronicles how four sisters' lives areshaped by the early loss of their mother and their belief that theywere granted magical abilities upon the death of an enigmatic lovedone. Bette, the eldest Gabaldón sister, is a preteen in thelate 1960s when Fermina, the family's beloved and very oldhousekeeper, dies, and Bette and her sister Loretta tell theyounger girls, Rita and Sophia, that Fermina gave them all specialpowers. As the siblings grow up, they long for more informationabout the mysterious Fermina, particularly as their supposedtalents continue to manifest: Bette is a preternaturally good liar;Loretta can heal animals; Rita can offhandedly hex people; andSophia can make people laugh. The author skillfully writes fromdifferent points of view and teases out Fermina's background in asatisfying way as the sisters try to learn more about her story.Lopez establishes herself as an excellent storyteller with thismultilayered tale of sisterhood, growing up, self-awareness andhonoring history.

Winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, McNett's neat,chipper collection of seven stories uncovers surprising, tendermoments in the lives of Midwestern farm dwellers. Gordon, therecently divorced, forlorn and none-too-clean bachelor protagonistof “Wishbone,” has let himself and his old farmdeteriorate to such a point that the goth girls on the school bushave started a wicked rumor about him and his ponies.“Catalog Sales” finds two middle school–agesisters of divorced parents trying to navigate their painfuladolescence while at the same time having to make the appallingacquaintance of their father's pretty, much-too-young-for-himPhilippine fiancée. McNett's enormously appealing titlestory pursues an elderly member of the church, Mr. Bob, as hebotches the care of the minister's beloved, incontinent beaglewhile the minister and his family are away on vacation. Bob doesn'tlike or share the minister's sense of blessed entitlement, and heeven concludes he is helping the minister's overburdened wife afavor when he loses the dog. There is graceful movement and candorto McNett's work, and a palpable sense of possibilities. (Oct.)

Mystery novels, ever in need of fresh points of view, are given tostrange genre hybrids like Fuller's debut novel: part investigativeprocedural, part narrative of American slave life. Cassius, asecretly literate slave on a Civil War–era Virginia tobaccoplantation, is determined to track down whoever killed his mentorand surrogate mother, Emoline Justice, a free black woman. Makingliberal use of his limited freedoms, Cassius takes to the road,playing the obvious disadvantages of life under the yoke to hisfavor. Along the way, he encounters slave traders, UndergroundRailroad conspirators, Confederate soldiers, Northern spies and awide assortment of African-Americans, slave and free. Fuller, ascreenwriter, has palpable sympathy for his African-Americancharacters, and Cassius's encounters with othercharacters—like the haunted slave owner Hoke Howard—arethe book's strongest parts. Unfortunately, Fuller's solid plotdoesn't carry the novel through to its end, and, despite sourcingthe work of historians Eugene Genovese and John Hope Franklin, thenovel gives off a distinct whiff of unreality.

Kiriyama-winner Aslam ( Maps for Lost Lovers ) takes an ambitious and moving look at the human cost ofAfghanistan's war-torn reality. Marcus, a British doctor, livesnear Jalalabad and quietly mourns the loss of his Afghan wife,their grown daughter and his hand to the Taliban and tribalwarring. His houseguests includes Lara, a Russian woman searchingfor the truth about her soldier brother's disappearance, and David,a formerly zealous CIA operative whose love for Marcus's murdereddaughter binds him to the older man as they search for her missingson. There's a tremendous tension in the first half of the book asthe connections between the characters and the country are builtup, and Aslam exploits the setup perfectly when a cast of youngercharacters—a fervent jihadi, a charismatic but arrogantAmerican soldier, a rebellious local schoolteacher—arrive atthe house and bring danger with them. Lyrical but not overwritten,the novel creates an unflinchingly clear picture of a country whosehistory of strife is still being written.