This Bookshelf: 2020 Books
Links to All Steve Hopkins’ Bookshelves
Web Page
PDF/epub/Searchable
Link to Latest Book Reviews:
Book Reviews Blog
Links to Current Bookshelf:
Pending and Read
2020 Books
2020 Books
Links to 549 Books Read or
Skipped in 2020
2020 Bookshelf
2020 Bookshelf
Links to All Books from 1999
through 2020 Authors A-G
All Books Authors A through
G
All Books Authors A through
G
Links to All Books from 1999
through 2020 Authors H-M
All Books Authors H
through M
All Books Authors H
through M
Links to All Books from 1999
through 2020 Authors N-Z
All Books Authors N through
Z
All Books Authors N through
Z
Book of Books: An ebook of
books read, reviewed or
skipped from 1999 through
2020
Book of Books
This web page lists all 360 books reviewed by Steve Hopkins at http://bkrev.blogspot.com during 2020 as well as 189 books relegated to
the Shelf of Ennui. You can click on the title of a book or on the picture of any jacket cover to jump to amazon.com where you can
purchase a copy of any book on this shelf.
Key to Ratings:
*****
I love it
****
I like it
***
It’s OK
**
I don’t like it
*
I hate it
Title (Click on Link
to purchase at
amazon.com)
Author(s)
Blog
Date
Comments
Click on
Picture to
Purchase at
amazon.com
Out of
Mesopotamia
Abdoh, Salar
11/9/20
Endless. For an immersive mediation on
war, read Salar Abdoh’s novel titled, Out of
Mesopotamia. From the perspective of
protagonist Saleh, a journalist, we struggle to
make sense of those who are engaged in what
seems like endless war. With great skill,
Abdoh can be poetic and authentic in the
same sentence. We’re led into the darkness
of war where we find some form of
enlightenment about why we do what we do.
Most readers will finish this novel somewhat
weakened by proximity to the fragility of life.
Our Time Is Now:
Power, Purpose,
and the Fight for a
Fair America
Abrams, Stacey
11/24/20
Formidable. Stacy Abrams drew national
interest when she ran for governor of
Georgia and was beaten in a close race in
2018 by Brian Kemp, whom she claimed
suppressed Democratic votes. In her book
titled, Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose,
and the Fight for a Fair America, she
describes her life and the progress she’s
made in Georgia to register new voters and
build a Democratic force for change. Readers
of this book will find the story of a
formidable woman whose work over the past
decade in Georgia led to the state voting for
Biden in 2020, and as I write this, awaiting
the results of a runoff election on January 5,
2021 to select two U.S. senators.
Bleeding Out: The
Devastating
Consequences of
Urban Violence--
and a Bold New
Plan for Peace in
the Streets
Abt, Thomas
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Places and Names:
On War,
Revolution, and
Returning
Ackerman, Elliot
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Heap
Adams, Sean
7/15/20
Recovery. Sean Adams’ debut novel titled,
The Heap, pulls readers into an examination
of what we build, what collapses, and what it
takes to restore what is important. Los
Verticalés was a 500-story residential
building in the desert that has collapsed.
Protagonist Orville Anders works on a dig
site where he is looking for his brother,
Bernard, who survived the collapse and
broadcasts a radio show from the rubble
called the Heap. Adams explores what life in
Los Verticalés was like before the collapse,
and what was different for those on the outer
units who had windows compared to those
on the inner units who relied on digital
screens. The workers at the dig site form a
community of their own in CamperTown,
and Adams uses all three communities as
fodder for his satire. Many readers will find
this to be a compelling story, and others will
come away from it ready to reflect on the
creation of community life.
Amnesty
Adiga, Aravind
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Friday Black
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana
Kwame
6/10/20
Creative. There are twelve funny and crazy
short stories in the debut collection by Nana
Kwame Adjei-Brenyah titled, Friday Black.
These are sharp, finely written stories that
show off the author’s creativity and are likely
to delight most readers. There’s an emotional
range on display in this collection that packs
a punch. There’s dark humor, human failings
and issues galore. His writing surprised me
often, always had my full attention, and gave
me great reading pleasure.
Homeland Elegies
Akhtar, Ayad
12/9/20
Intense. If there was ever a year that
demanded the lamentations we find in a
finely written elegy, it is 2020. In his novel
titled, Homeland Elegies, Ayad Akhtar offers
an intense narrative about finding one’s
place in contemporary America, especially
for those raised in a different culture. The
novel draws us into the dynamics of a single
family and their problems and issues, which
provide a mirror in which we can see
ourselves and others. This novel is an
uncomfortable and cleareyed look at
capitalism and the current reality of the
American dream. There is raw
disillusionment on these pages, and
heartbreak. By the end of the novel, our
feelings for a father, a son, and for the
United States have commingled and we join
our voices in an intense song of lament at
our common predicament.
She Lover of Death
Akunin, Boris
5/26/20
Club. The eighth Fandorin mystery by Boris
Akunin is a novel titled, She Lover of Death.
A young and naïve protagonist, Masha
Mironova, arrives in Moscow at the
beginning of the 20
th
century and joins a club
of mainly poets who are enamored with
death. She becomes Columbine, wears a pet
snake, and before long finds herself next in
queue to commit suicide, thanks to the signs
she has received. Events are heading off the
cliff when Fandorin joins the club. Of course,
you’ll have to read the novel if you want to
find out what happens. Akunin plays with
words and names in this novel in ways that
will entertain many readers.
American Carnage
: On the Front
Lines of the
Republican Civil
War and the Rise
of President Trump
Alberta, Tim
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Catholic
School
Albinati, Edoardo
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Hell and Other
Destinations: A
21st-Century
Memoir
Albright, Madeline
5/26/20
Momentum. Madeline Albright’s memoir
titled, Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st-
Century Memoir, is packed with wit and
wisdom. This former Secretary of State tells
us of her life from 2001 to the present, a
period for her that was packed with deciding
what to do next and then after that, and then
something else altogether. Her momentum is
a force of nature as she accounts her life of
ongoing service and engagement. Her prose
is exciting, and her humor enchanting. Do
something or get out of her way.
A Long Petal of the
Sea
Allende, Isabel
4/9/20
Refuge. My frame of mind as I started
reading Isabel Allende’s novel titled, A Long
Petal of the Sea, involved feeling a little sorry
for myself. Disrupted by a stay at home order
to slow the spread of Covid 19, I felt thrown
off kilter by constraints on my regular
activities. After I few pages into this finely
written novel, I lost all sense of my situation
as I felt the plight of the protagonists
needing to leave Spain during the civil war
and becoming refugees in Chile. While at my
own home, I thought about the importance
of a sense of home in all our lives. Allende
explores a relationship from the 1930s
through the 1990s, and along the way, we
understand more about the nature of hope,
what constitutes belonging, and how love
grows over time and across obstacles. Fans of
well written literary fiction are those readers
most likely to enjoy this novel.
Afterlife
Alvarez, Julia
7/15/20
Sisterhood. Many novels help readers
answer the question: how to we live, now?
For Antonia Vega, the protagonist of Julia
Alvarez’ novel titled, Afterlife, this involves
finding moorings again, following her
retirement from teaching college and the
sudden death of her husband, Sam, the
beloved physician in their Vermont town.
Life has a way of injecting our “now” with the
next way to live. One of Antonia’s three
sisters has disappeared, so the siblings join
together to find her. Antonia also provides
refuge for a pregnant undocumented
teenager. Alvarez leads readers into lives that
are connected to one another as members of
the same human family, and our sense of
belonging relates to those closest to us and
all the members of our human family.
Whatever has brought us to this time in our
lives gives us the courage and wisdom to do
the next thing.
Djinn Patrol on the
Purple Line
Anaparra, Deepa
7/23/20
Missing. Disappearing children in Deepa
Anaparra’s debut novel titled, Djinn Patrol
on the Purple Line, will make your blood run
cold. Anaparra describes life in a city in
India, and what parents, police and children
do after children begin to go missing. The
descriptive prose offers a setting in vivid
detail, and the perspectives of different
characters draw us into what for most of us
will be an unfamiliar environment. The fine
storytelling propels us to turn pages as we
begin to care deeply about these characters,
especially the children.
A Warning
Anonymous
2/7/20
Credibility. Can you recall the time when
many medical doctors smoked? If such a
doctor warned a patient about the dangers of
smoking, do you think the advice would be
credible? After I finished reading the book
titled, A Warning, by an anonymous author,
I thought about the credibility of the writer
and how I could possibly assess it. This book
is an inside view of the Trump
administration by a senior official. The story
does not place Trump and his allies in a
positive light. Concerned citizens may be
aghast at parts of what is described on these
pages. Supporters of President Trump may
focus away from the content and toward the
author. My assessment is that it will take
time for historians to affirm or dismiss what
this book describes about President Trump
and those around him. In the meantime,
those readers looking for an insider’s
assessment of the White House will find one
view in this alarming book.
Salt Slow
Armfield, Julia
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Mostly Dead
Things
Arnett, Kristen
4/23/20
Taxidermy. Fans of literary fiction are
those readers most likely to enjoy Kristen
Arnett’s debut novel titled, Mostly Dead
Things. Narrator Jessa pulls readers into the
family grief following the death of her father.
As the title indicates, there’s a lot of death
around, and the taxidermy business is just
one part of it. The prose is finely written, the
characters complex and on the weird side.
All This Could Be
Yours
Attenberg, Jami
1/24/20
Legacy. Is Jami Attenberg’s novel titled, All
This Could Be Yours, just another tale of
family dynamics? Yes and no. Paterfamilias
Victor Tuchman lies dying, and daughter
Alex goes to New Orleans to be with her
mother, Barbra, and to uncover the secrets of
Victor’s life. Alex’s brother, Gary, decides to
stay in Los Angeles and not come to the
deathbed. Victor’s legacy is complicated and
takes different forms. Absent Attenberg’s
finely written prose, the outline of the story
would produce a big yawn in most readers.
As the secrets are revealed, we understand
the source and form of this family’s
dysfunction. For some readers, me included,
a depressing story about the Tuchman family
can lift one’s spirits. We’re all messed up in
some way or another, and we can survive
most of what life’s throws at us.
Bunny
Awad, Mona
1/10/20
Workshop. I’ve never been a fan of small
group sharing. You know, everyone sits
around in a circle and a variety of viewpoints
are expressed. Samantha Heather Mackey is
the protagonist of Mona Awad’s novel,
Bunny, and she’s a scholarship student, an
outsider in her MFA program at Warren
University. A powerful clique in her fiction
writing program call each other “Bunny” and
workshop moves to a whole other level after
Samantha is invited to join the clique. The
prose is clever and sharp, and the novel will
appeal to fans of finely written literary
fiction. Just don’t make us sit in a circle and
share.
The Age of
Illusions: How
America
Squandered Its
Cold War Victory
Bacevich, Andrew J.
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Anxious People
Backman, Fredrik
10/19/20
Bridge. No matter how well we think we
know another person, there is always more
to their story. In his novel titled, Anxious
People, Fredrik Bachman introduces readers
to a cast of characters who come together in
both planned and unexpected ways and end
up becoming a bridge for others to cross
from one way of being to another. A physical
bridge in the novel also provides a common
thread to pull the story together. Most
readers will laugh along with these
interesting and compelling characters, and
empathize with the anxiety that we share in
common as we face what the world throws at
us. If you’re looking to read a novel that will
help you feel good, consider reading this one.
Daylight
Baldacci, David
12/21/20
Search. The third installment of David
Baldacci’s series featuring FBI agent Atlee
Pine is a novel titled, Daylight. Pine and her
sidekick, Carol Blum, have left Arizona to
search for Atlee’s missing sister, Mercy. As
they follow leads, they stumble into the case
of another recurring Baldacci protagonist,
John Puller, and they combine forces to help
each other. The action proceeds rapidly, as
Pine and Puller utilize all their skills to
defeat opponents and get the answers they
are after. Fans of this series and crime fiction
are those readers most likely to enjoy this
novel.
Walk the Wire
Baldacci, David
5/26/20
Murders. The sixth Memory Man novel by
David Baldacci featuring Amos Decker is a
novel titled, Walk the Wire. Amos and
partner Alex Jamison are sent by the FBI to
North Dakota to investigate a murder. It
takes lots of pages of exposition for us to
know why this murder has brought in the
FBI, and even Amos Decker’s perfect
memory has trouble keeping track of the
mayhem at play in this novel. Layers of
secrets are eventually uncovered, to the
satisfaction of close readers who ache to see
every murder solved and the story brought to
a satisfying resolution. As a bonus to
Baldacci fans, the author brings characters
from another series, Will Robie and Jessica
Reel, to North Dakota to help out Amos and
Alex. Fans of crime fiction, this author, and
this series are those readers most likely to
enjoy this novel and this series.
The Killing Tide
Bannalac, Jean-Luc
4/23/20
Discovery. The fifth Commissaire Dupin
novel by Jean-Luc Bannalac is titled, The
Killing Tide. I thought a good mystery would
be ideal covid-19 reading, but instead I found
myself bogged down with Dupin in a difficult
case on an island where he did not want to be
(either). Every now and then I could smell
the sea air and salivate when the narrative
turned to Brittany food. Murders are
complicated in this installment, as is the
possible discovery of an object of great value.
Dupin and his team try to stay a step ahead
and are thwarted at every turn. Fans of crime
fiction and this series are those readers most
likely to enjoy this novel.
Snow
Banville, John
11/24/20
Fury. Now that I’ve read the crime novel by
John Banville titled, Snow, I remain unsure
about exactly what the writer is up to.
Banville had been writing crime fiction
under a pseudonym, Benjamin Black, often
imitating the style of Raymond Chandler. He
presented a terrific protagonist, pathologist
Garrett Quirke, and loyal readers enjoyed a
series of novels featuring the increasingly
complex Quirke. Banville has dropped the
pseudonym and pulled a minor character, St.
John Strafford, from one of the Quirke
novels and gives him a book of his own.
Detective Inspector Strafford has been sent
from Dublin to County Wexford to
investigate the murder of a priest. What
follows is the fury that is a consequence of
sexual abuse, both religious and class
divisions, and the influence of the Catholic
Church in 1957 when the novel is set. Instead
of being a well-structured crime novel with a
strong protagonist, or a finely written literary
novel, we have something of a hybrid which
may not satisfy fans of either genre. I was
entertained enough but remain a bit
bewildered by exactly what Banville was
trying to do here.
Ninth House
Bardugo, Leigh
1/10/20
Yale. If you have a high school junior
looking at colleges this year, read Leigh
Bardugo’s novel titled, Ninth House, before
heading to the Yale campus. In her first
novel for adults, prolific YA author Leigh
Bardugo uses her personal memories of life
at Yale to introduce readers to a strong
female protagonist, Alex Stern. We get secret
societies in spooky settings, both real to the
New Haven campus, along with ghosts and
magic. Some writers can’t quite blend the
real and the fantastic, but Bardugo does that
to great effect in this novel.
Eyes to the Wind:
A Memoir of Love
and Death, Hope
and Resistance
Barkan, Ady
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Man in the
Red Coat
Barnes, Julian
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Quitter: A Memoir
of Drinking,
Relapse, and
Recovery
Barnett, Erica C.
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
How Emotions Are
Made: The Secret
Life of the Brain
Barrett, Lisa Feldman
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Night Boat to
Tangier
Barry, Kevin
3/13/20
Criminals. There’s some magic in the
recipe Kevin Barry uses to assemble his novel
titled, Night Boat to Tangier. We have two
complex characters, Maurice Hearne and
Charlie Redmond, lifelong criminals. Barry
uses the setting of a waiting room at a ferry
terminal to place them in a melancholy mood
to reflect on their lives of crime. They are
waiting a long time for the arrival of
Maurice’s daughter, Dilly, who may be
coming or going from the terminal. Barry
pulls us from the present to the past as we
gradually revise our views of these two thugs.
When Barry adds booze, drugs and romance
to the recipe, and dialogue that sings, all the
pieces blend together.
Providence
Barry, Max
5/15/20
Intelligence. Fans of science fiction are
those readers most likely to enjoy Max
Barry’s novel titled, Providence. Humans
and the aliens they call salamanders are in a
war for the survival of their respective
species. Four humans are selected using
artificial intelligence to take the war to the
salamanders in a gigantic battleship
controlled by artificial intelligence. Barry
explores the roles of humans in this AI-
directed environment and presents a
thrilling and compact story. Barry also helps
readers think about the behavior of the
salamanders and the AI software and what
that means for humans.
A Thousand Moons
Barry, Sebastian
11/9/20
Continuation. In a novel titled, A
Thousand Moons, Sebastian Barry continues
exploring lives he introduced in his novel
titled, Days Without End. The protagonist is
Winona Cole, a Lakota Sioux orphan, raised
by Thomas McNulty and Thomas Cole,
former Union soldiers. The setting is
Tennessee after the Civil War. With finely
written spare prose, Barry leads readers to
fall in love with Winona, who is at the
receiving end of terror, cruelty and prejudice.
Barry helps readers come to terms with
aspects of our past and exposes the reality
behind comfortable myths. Winona is a
terrific character that this reader and many
others will remember for a long time.
The Herd
Bartz, Andrea
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
This Little Family
Bayard, Ines
9/19/20
Trauma. Steel yourself from being caught
in an undertow as you read Ines Bayard’s
debut novel titled, This Little Family. We
learn the irreversible action protagonist
Marie takes within the first few pages of the
novel. The remainder of the novel pulls us
into trying to understand Marie’s response to
the trauma of rape. As the light goes out of
Marie’s life, we find ourselves in the
darkness with her as she responds in the
ways that make sense to her troubled mind.
This finely written novel is difficult to read
because of the content. Those readers who
persist will find insight into the effects of
trauma and the choices that seem inevitable
but unnecessary.
Vacuum in the
Dark
Beagin, Jen
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Land of
Flickering Lights:
Restoring America
in an Age of Broken
Politics
Bennet, Michael
1/10/20
Earnest. Readers who care about American
politics are those who will be rewarded by
reading Michael Bennet’s book titled, The
Land of Flickering Lights: Restoring America
in an Age of Broken Politics. The US Senator
from Colorado (and presidential candidate)
weaves his personal story into his insider
view of the divisive state of politics. His
critique is factual and cogent. His
assessment is knowledgeable, and his
suggestions for change are reasonable.
Bennet exudes earnestness on every page of
this book, and whatever your political
allegiances, you may find something
worthwhile to consider after reading this
book.
The Vanishing Half
Bennett, Brit
8/19/20
Twins. Certain choices can define how our
journey through life plays out. The twins in
Brit Bennett’s novel titled, The Vanishing
Half, choose different paths, and readers get
to enjoy each sister’s life as the consequence
of their difference choices. Sometimes we
define ourselves, and other times we become
identified by others as being a certain way.
Sometimes a reinvention of identity can
involve an erasure of the past to maintain the
integrity of one’s new identity. Bennet
explores the lives of identical twin sisters
from the 1950s through the 1990s as one
sister chooses to be identified as White while
her sister allows herself to be identified as
Black. Bennet encourages readers to
immerse ourselves into these disparate lives,
as she demands that we think about racial
and gender identity with an open mind.
I’ll Be Seeing You
Berg, Elizabeth
12/17/20
Aging. Novelist Elizabeth Berg has written a
memoir titled, I’ll Be Seeing You, which
focuses on the family dynamics as her elderly
parents faced the need to leave their home
and move into an assisted living facility.
While this is the story of one family, Berg
helps us see ourselves and own families in
this story, thanks to fine writing and candor
about the range of positive and negative
emotions, especially while trying to care for
another from a long distance. The
introspection in this memoir leads to insight,
and guilt leads to peace. Whatever your stage
in personal aging or in caring for those who
need assistance at the late stages of life, this
memoir will lead to your personal reflections
about love and caring and the different forms
that takes over time.
The Confession
Club
Berg, Elizabeth
3/6/20
Support. The third novel by Elizabeth Berg
set in the town of Mason, Missouri is titled,
The Confession Club. Once again, Berg pulls
readers into the lives of loveable characters
and exposes the richness of friendship, love,
and the support of others. Fans of the series
will enjoy the return of beloved characters,
supplemented by new and fascinating new
ones. Berg is one of those authors whose
writing leads us to feel good about ourselves
and our neighbors, with all our shortcomings
and imperfections.
I Hold a Wolf by
the Ears
Berg, Laura van den
9/22/20
Unhinged. I restricted myself to one story
per day while I read the collection of eleven
short stories by Laura van den Berg titled, I
Hold a Wolf by the Ears. I often took a walk
after finishing the story of the day, and found
myself often agitated, or somewhat unhinged
like many of the characters in this collection.
Walking off the story cleared my brain. Van
den Berg strips away everything from these
characters except close examination of their
fears. After we see these fears, and feel some
part of the pain of suffering, something
changes and we observe what’s beautiful and
see life transformed. There’s no easy way out
of tough stuff for any of us. With van den
Berg as a guide, we somehow get through the
tough part and come out with strength ready
for another day.
Trump and His
Generals: The Cost
of Chaos
Bergen, Peter
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Lake of
Learning
Berry, Steve
4/16/20
Cathars. I know very little about the
Cathars, so when I picked up Steve Berry’s
novella titled, The Lake of Learning, I knew
he’d teach me something, especially by his
inclusion of author’s notes separating fact
from fiction. Recurring protagonist
Cassiopeia Vitt is back, and while Cotton
Malone makes just a brief cameo, fans of the
series can see Vitt at her best as she finds
herself in possession of a valuable key to a
Cathar treasure. Readers who like action
novels and are open to learning a thing or
two about events in 13
th
century France are
those most likely to enjoy this novella.
The Warsaw
Protocol
Berry, Steve
7/6/20
Blackmail. Leave it to protagonist Cotton
Malone to be in the right place at the right
time. Or is it the wrong place at the right
time? In the fifteenth installment of the
Malone series by Steve Berry, a novel titled,
The Warsaw Protocol, Cotton happens to be
present for the theft of a sacred object, so he
leaps into the fray to catch the thieves and
recover the object. Almost immediately,
Stephanie Nelle invites him back for a short-
term job. What follows is an adventurous
plot that involves securing items that are
planned to be used to blackmail the
president of Poland. Politics, villains, castles
and a salt mine are all in the mix for readers
of this entertaining action novel.
Doing Justice: A
Prosecutor's
Thoughts on
Crime,
Punishment, and
the Rule of Law
Bharara, Preet
6/10/20
Overview. Criminal justice fans will enjoy
the readable primer by former U.S. Attorney
for the Southern District of New York, Preet
Bharara, a book titled, Doing Justice: A
Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime,
Punishment, and the Rule of Law. As a
reader would expect from a well-organized
attorney, the book is structured coherently in
four sections: inquiry, accusation, judgment
and punishment. Through clear writing and
interesting case stories, issues in criminal
justice come to life on these pages as does
love and respect for the rule of law.
The New One:
Painfully True
Stories from a
Reluctant Dad
Birbiglia, Mike
9/8/20
Vulnerability. Every expectant parent has
been told that having children will change
their lives forever. The naïve among us may
minimize this fact or warning. My bride still
reminds me that over four decades ago when
she was pregnant with our firstborn, I
assured her that we would still be
spontaneous after we become parents. Stop
laughing. Comedian Mike Birbiglia will bring
some laughter to readers of his book titled,
The New One: Painfully True Stories from a
Reluctant Dad. Other parents will admire his
vulnerability about the darker sides of his
experience and feel some relief that their
own experience isn’t singular. So often there
are expectations of what we “should” feel
about our newborn children, and when we
may not experience those feelings, we may
feel alienated. Birbiglia’s candor and
willingness to talk about the dark side may
help other parents appreciate that not
everyone feels the same things in the same
way at the same time.
The Good Spy: The
Life and Death of
Robert Ames
Bird, Kai
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Secret Guests
Black, Benjamin
10/19/20
Princesses. John Banville, writing as
Benjamin Black, imagines young Princess
Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret,
being sent from London to rural Ireland in
1940 to escape the bombing. In his novel
titled, The Secret Guests, Black helps readers
see aspects of the personalities of Elizabeth
and Margaret as children that resonate with
their later lives. The action is set in
Clonmillis Hall, the estate of the Duke of
Edenmore, who could use funds to keep up
the estate which has seen better days. The
girls are in the care of a secret agent, Miss
Celia Nashe, and an Irish detective. There’s
an interesting cast of characters, some drama
and tension, and the kind of hijinks and peril
that should have prevented such a scheme as
hiding the princesses from ever taking place.
They may have been safer under the
bombing than in Ireland. I think Banville
enjoyed writing about something he thinks is
plausible, and readers who enjoy imaginative
historical fiction may delight in spending
time with his imagination.
Three Hours in
Paris
Black, Cara
5/5/20
Yank. Why did Adolph Hitler spend only
three hours in Paris in June 1940? Cara
Black offers one reason in her finely written
spy thriller titled, Three Hours in Paris. An
American woman named Kate Rees with
great shooting skill has been recruited by the
British to parachute into France to
assassinate Hitler. As with most spy novels,
nothing is ever quite as straightforward as
that, so when Kate’s mission fails on one
level, her Yank ingenuity leads her toward
success of another kind. A talented Nazi
detective named Gunter hunts Kate with his
great skills. Black develops these characters
and others with depth, while never easing
the tension or relaxing the plot momentum.
Fans of well written crime or spy fiction are
those readers most likely to enjoy this novel.
The Peanuts
Papers: Writers
and Cartoonists on
Charlie Brown,
Snoopy & the
Gang, and the
Meaning of Life
Blauner, Andrew
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
A Wealth of
Pigeons
Bliss, Harry and Steve
Martin
12/21/20
Collaboration. Now more than ever, most
of us can use a good laugh. One place to find
humor is in the cartoon collection by Harry
Bliss and Steve Martin titled, A Wealth of
Pigeons. This book is a collaboration
between a talented New Yorker cartoonist
and a renowned humorist. The result of this
effort led me to laugh a lot. There’s nothing
more exposed than a single cartoon panel: it
either delivers the goods or it flops. These
panels hit far more than they miss, and I
found the tonic on these pages to be a perfect
elixir to close out a distinctly unfunny year.
Someone Will Love
You in All Your
Damaged Glory
Bob-Waksberg,
Raphael
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Room Where
It Happened: A
White House
Memoir
Bolton, John
12/9/20
Paintball. John Bolton settles scores and
brashly positions himself as the smartest of
all in his book titled, The Room Where It
Happened: A White House Memoir. The
image I had while reading this book was
Bolton holding a paintball gun and shooting
at targets including Jim Mattis, Stephen
Mnuchin, Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and
many others. I also had an image of the
multiple yellow legal pads on which he
recorded snippets in real time while working
at the White House in preparation for this
book. While some memoirs offer humble
perspective, this book has Bolton’s raw ego
on display on every page. Readers interested
in public affairs are those most likely to
appreciate this contribution to recent
political history.
Original Prin
Boyagoda, Randy
4/23/20
Antics. The pace begins with a sharp hook
of a first sentence in Randy Boyagoda’s novel
titled, Original Prin. “Eight months before he
became a suicide bomber, Prin went to the
zoo with his family.” With that opener, the
antics begin and continue nonstop for
another 225 pages, the first installment in
what is intended to be a trilogy. Protagonist
Prin is a middle aged academic at a failing
university and he has been diagnosed with
cancer. One minute he is a practicing
Catholic, and the next he prepares to become
a terrorist. I don’t have a clue where the next
installment will lead Prin and the rest of us,
but this opener was fun to read and will
appeal to those readers who enjoy satire.
The Cat and the
City
Bradley, Nick
11/17/20
Tokyo. Nick Bradley’s versatility shines in
his book titled, The Cat and the City. Set in
Tokyo, we follow a cat in a changing
landscape through tattoos, manga, footnotes
and other unusual locations. We find
ourselves connected at one section and
estranged in another. We long to belong and
then we desire an escape. There’s always
more to city life than a casual observer can
ever see, and Bradley takes us to places in
Tokyo that we might have never imagined,
let alone visited. Along this journey, the
vignettes explore many aspects of living at its
best and worst.
American
Moonshot: John F.
Kennedy and the
Great Space Race
Brinkley, Douglas
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
No Place to Die
Broadfoot, Neil
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Desk 88: Eight
Progressive
Senators Who
Changed America
Brown, Sherrod
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Galway Girl
Bruen, Ken
1/24/20
Falcon. Protagonist Jack Taylor is back in
the fourteenth novel by Ken Bruen to feature
him. Titled Galway Girl, Jack finds himself
the target of a team of young killers, led by a
woman named Jericho. Bruen takes the
bleak and darkens it, but don’t let that
discourage you from visiting Galway. Each of
the killers has a separate beef with Taylor.
Just when I felt I had settled in with the old
Jack Taylor, he up and leaves Galway briefly
and learns to be a falconer. Bruen uses the
falcon to great effect, and Jack soars like the
bird in this novel.
Make Russia Great
Again
Buckley, Christopher
10/19/20
Audience. I’ve been a fan of Christopher
Buckley’s satire for many years, so I was a
key part of the target audience for his book
titled, Make Russia Great Again. For many
people in 2020, laughter has become a rare
commodity. Political partisans are fighting
hard this presidential election year, and
some readers will perceive this book as
another form of anti-Trump propaganda. For
those readers who appreciate political satire
and are open to laughter even about figures
they support, this book is packed with wit
and perfectly aimed plausible takes on
contemporary American politics. I was
entertained once again by this display of
Buckley’s humor.
Dirt: Adventures in
Lyon as a Chef in
Training, Father,
and Sleuth Looking
for the Secret of
French Cooking
Buford, Bill
5/26/20
Essence. Readers with any interest in food,
France, people, stories and relationships will
find many things to enjoy while reading Bull
Buford’s book titled, Dirt: Adventures in
Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and
Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French
Cooking. My taste for this book started when
I read Buford’s excerpt in The New Yorker
about a baker named Bob in Lyon, France.
When this book was released this month, I
was prepared to devour it, and I did. Buford
makes it all look easy. What he does is cook
down people and stories until he uncovers
the essence. It takes a while to realize that
what we get in this book is the distillation of
many years of his engagement with chefs,
cooking, and writing. I encountered chef
Michel Richard from his Citronelle
restaurant in Washington and thought of
him as a creative and whimsical
restauranteur. I learned, as Buford did, that
the late Richard was a traditional French
chef, who avoided cooking those things that
he had not yet found a way to make better
than the traditional method. His dishes were
rooted in tradition and made better thanks to
his skill and creativity. That’s just one
example from this book. Buford uses self-
deprecating humor to move the story along,
and his family’s experience to balance work
and home life as he tried to learn all he could
about French cooking. Pick your favorite
menu item: the view as husband, father,
apprentice chef, mentee, writer, friend; and
savor this book’s richness.
The Back Channel:
A Memoir of
American
Diplomacy and the
Case for Its
Renewal
Burns, William J.
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Toil and Trouble
Burroughs, Augusten
1/10/20
Witch. The latest memoir by Augusten
Burroughs is titled, Toil and Trouble. His
being a witch is one of the less strange
aspects of this finely written and witty book.
As with earlier books, he scrapes pieces of his
life to reveal the power of love in our lives
and the many ways in which we are all
powerless. This memoir focuses on domestic
life and his move to the country to an old
house. He finds grist to mill with his terrific
descriptive language in telling readers about
hired workers, neighbors, dogs, storms,
memories, storms, jewelry, diet and more.
Cygnet
Butler, Season
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Before You Go
Butler, Tommy
11/9/20
Imperfect. I enjoyed the charming
celebration of life in all its messiness as I
read Tommy Butler’s debut novel titled,
Before You Go. Protagonist Eliot Chance
becomes everyman as we see him on his
journey through a life which could easily be
ours. What seemed to be a design flaw in the
creation of the human species turns out to be
the secret of our survival and the path to a
good life. Butler captures our existential
longing and the ways in which we try to fill in
the holes in our lives. The prose is finely
written, and the insight into human behavior
is wise.
I Have Something
to Tell You
Buttigieg, Chasten
10/19/20
Candid. It won’t take readers very long to
read the memoir by Chasten Buttigieg titled,
I Have Something to Tell You. He writes
about his life with candor, humor, and an
absence of embarrassment about his naivete
and his struggles. There’s kindness and
warmth in every chapter, and a cheerful and
endearing embrace of the adventures so far
in his unexpected life.
Trust: America's
Best Chance
Buttigieg, Pete
12/21/20
Process. Former South Bend Mayor and
nominated Secretary of Transportation Pete
Buttigieg taps into the zeitgeist in a book
titled, Trust: America's Best Chance. He
describes that the most important work of
our time ahead is the restoration (or
creation) of trust among all citizens. He
explores the steps and the process that we
could use to make trust work again in
American life. We need to place trust in our
institutions, in each other and in our fragile
experiment in democracy. New networks of
trust need to be established to pull us
together to address the most important
issues of our time, including climate change,
racial justice and economic justice. I found
myself thinking of the many times in my life
when others placed their trust in me, and
when I extended my trust to others. I
reflected on those times when my trust in
someone was abused, and the challenge of
trying to rebuild trust once it was lost.
Readers interested in our democratic society
and in public policy are those most likely to
enjoy reading this timely book.
How Charts Lie:
Getting Smarter
about Visual
Information
Cairo, Alberto
3/26/20
Primer. General readers looking for a
primer on how to interpret visual
information should consider reading Alberto
Cairo’s book titled, How Charts Lie: Getting
Smarter about Visual Information. Cairo
explains and illustrates a variety of ways in
which visual images can distort data to sway
those who see the images. Armed with the
information from this book, readers can
become skilled at spotting distortions as well
as using good visuals to convey complex
stories effectively and honestly. Since I’ve
created and read thousands of charts over
decades, I didn’t learn anything new from
Cairo. Many readers will have their eyes
opened in more ways than one after reading
this book.
For the Record
Cameron, David
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Only Truth
Cameron, Julie
11/24/20
Trauma. Threat looms over protagonist
Isabel Dryland in the novel by Julie Cameron
titled, Only Truth. Scarred by an event
earlier in her life that she cannot remember,
Isabel and her husband, Tom, are making a
fresh start in the country. Something about
their new home doesn’t seem quite right.
Cameron structures the novel in two time
periods, allowing readers to understand the
past trauma to Isabel and the current real
threat. Isabel’s nemesis could be any number
of men, and Cameron lets each reader
consider who in the cast of characters
represents the lurking threat. Fans of crime
thrillers are those readers most likely to
enjoy this entertaining and creepy novel.
Brooklyn, The
Once and Future
City
Campanella, Thomas
J.
5/5/20
Hardscape. If you’ve ever lived in
Brooklyn, as I have, you know that your
heart can and will break. In his book titled,
Brooklyn, The Once and Future City, Thomas
J. Campanella offers a large and loving
picture of this special place. He focuses a lot
on the physical space: buildings, parks,
roads, while keeping the interest of readers
through the heroes and villains of each time
period he explores. If you love Brooklyn,
you’re likely to enjoy reading this book, and
will wish Campanella told more about the life
and love you know has penetrated this place
for centuries.
The Weight of a
Piano
Cander, Chris
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Hunter’s Moon
Caputo, Philip
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Alienated America:
Why Some Places
Thrive While
Others Collapse
Carney, Timothy P.
3/26/20
Community. In his book titled, Alienated
America: Why Some Places Thrive While
Others Collapse, Timothy P. Carney, makes a
strong case that discomfort and alienation by
some Americans may be less about income
equality and more about social isolation. He
describes what he found across the United
States as he reported on this story: more
Americans are or feel alone. The building
blocks of community like churches, sports
teams and volunteer organizations provide a
foundation for a strong and engaged
community life. In places without those
support networks, individuals feel alienated
because they lack the bonds that tie them to
others. I write this review on the fourteenth
day of sheltering in place to slow the spread
of Covid-19. I live in a community where I do
not feel isolated. I’m now six feet or more
away from neighbors and friends, but I can
feel the solidarity of all of us acting for the
common good. Reading Carney’s book
helped me appreciate what I have in the
community where I live, and I now better
understand the plight of those who feel no
social support from their own communities.
Black Sun Rising
Carr, Matthew
9/19/20
Blood. In Matthew Carr’s novel titled, Black
Sun Rising, protagonist private detective
Harry Lawton gets a plum assignment in
London to investigate a murder in Barcelona
and the circumstances surrounding a
mysterious large payment made by the
victim shortly before death. Set in 1909, the
novel captures all the atmospherics of that
time period. Harry uncovers other mysteries
in Barcelona involving murders in which the
victim’s blood has disappeared. As the case
progresses, we feel anxiety with Harry and
his epilepsy, and we learn about the
scientists who were promoting eugenics at
that time. Readers who enjoy complex crime
fiction with great plot twists are those most
likely to enjoy this novel.
Something Deeply
Hidden: Quantum
Worlds and the
Emergence of
Spacetime
Carroll, Sean
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
An Unlikely
Journey: Waking
Up from My
American Dream
Castro, Julian
9/22/20
Opportunity. There was one individual I
really wanted to meet after reading Julian
Castro’s memoir titled An Unlikely Journey:
his mother. This no-nonsense loving person
propelled Julian and his twin, Joaquin, to
superior educational opportunities at
Stanford and Harvard, and on to roles of
service for others at high levels of
government. This is a quintessential
American story, and also a Latino
assimilation story as big as all Texas.
Whether you’re politically aligned with
Castro’s views or not, reading this memoir
will give you renewed hope in how the
American dream remains alive.
Fifty-Fifty
Cavanagh, Steve
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Thirteen: The
Serial Killer Isn't
on Trial. He's on
the Jury.
Cavanagh, Steve
1/2/20
Serial. While the novel by Steve Cavanagh
titled, Thirteen: The Serial Killer Isn't on
Trial. He's on the Jury., is the third book to
feature conman turned lawyer Eddie Flynn,
this was my first exposure to the character.
Flynn is the ideal protagonist: troubled and
complex and talented. Fans of crime fiction
will love this novel’s plot involving a smart
serial murderer who has been outsmarting
the justice system. For his latest killing, he
has gotten himself a seat on the jury of a trial
of someone he framed for murder.
Squeamish readers may find the graphicly
described violence disturbing. The characters
are complex and interesting, the plot
exciting, and the premise intriguing. This
may be the first novel I’ve seen with a
descriptive subtitle, which is clever and
appealing.
Twisted
Cavanagh, Steve
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Furious Hours:
Murder, Fraud,
and the Last Trial
of Harper Lee
Cep, Casey
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
If I Had Your Face
Cha, Frances
7/15/20
Image. Frances Cha’s debut novel is titled,
If I Had Your Face, and features four young
women in Seoul struggling to find their place
in the world. Cha helps us understand the
choices faced by women in Korea and how
image can be something with which one is
never satisfied. Readers can identify with the
well-drawn characters and can feel the power
of friendship and love that leads them
through difficulties. Gender inequity in
South Korea is portrayed with raw and
unblinking imagery and stories. Economic
inequality adds to the struggle for these
characters both in terms of the cost of
looking one’s best and in being able to raise a
child. Some book clubs will find this debut
novel will open broad conversations about
contemporary issues.
Fight of the
Century: Writers
Reflect on 100
Years of Landmark
ACLU Cases
Chabon, Michael and
Ayelet Waldman
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
As Long As We
Both Shall Live
Chaney, JoAnn
6/10/20
Marriage. Fans of crime thrillers will love
the intensity of JoAnn Chaney’s novel titled,
As Long As We Both Shall Live. Matt tells
park rangers that his wife, Marie, fell off a
cliff. Detectives suspect Matt of murder. And
we’re off. Just when we think we’re sure that
Matt killed Marie, we think there might be
something else going on. Chaney keeps us
thinking and reading as she never lets up.
What is it about marriage that leads people
to the very edge?
Cesare
Charyn, Jerome
8/5/20
Madmen. Open up Jerome Charyn’s novel
titled, Cesare, and be prepared to be caught
up in life and death decisions in Berlin
during the Second World War. A young naval
cadet named Erik unwittingly saves the life
of Admiral William Canaris, the head of
German Military Intelligence. Set amid the
horror of Nazi atrocities, the novel riffs on
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, making Erik the
character of Cesare, and Canaris the mad
doctor. Readers join in a nightmare situation
where madness rules as they try to hide and
protect Jews from the death camps. Erik’s
loyalty to Canaris drives much of the action.
Madness increases when the setting changes
to Theresienstadt. Historical fiction can take
us to places and times that can be perceived
as better or worse than our current ones.
While this novel is one that takes us to a
much worse time and painful places,
Charyn’s fine prose and imagery pull us
along until we have had enough and must
escape the madness and return to the
relative sanity of our homes.
Imaginary Friend
Chbosky, Stephen
1/10/20
Biblical. There’s a battle between good and
evil that rages throughout the seven hundred
pages of Stephen Chbosky’s novel titled,
Imaginary Friend. Readers can choose the
lens through which one reads this book. The
horror lens will focus attention on all of the
truly gruesome scenes in the novel that will
test the strongest stomachs for grisly images.
The small town lens allows readers to focus
on the cast of characters in a community who
are weathering the normal ups and downs of
life and who contain elements of good and
evil within them. I chose the biblical lens in
which protagonist Christopher can be viewed
in a savior role and the roles of Eve and the
Virgin Mary appear in the text. Chbosky
focuses on the binds that hold us in fear and
what it takes to be free. The devil is at play in
the world and his wily ways entice us to align
with him. Pick your lens and settle down for
chills and frights in the woods and possibly
take time to reflect on the ways in which your
freedom is constrained and what you can do
about that.
The Bishop’s
Bedroom
Chiara, Piero
4/16/20
Sultry. The cover of the late Piero Chiara’s
novel titled, The Bishop’s Bedroom,
announces the contents with clarity. Sailing
around Lake Maggiore and seeing the fine
houses invites a rise in sexual tension as a
cast of sultry characters tack around each
other supported or stalled by the winds of
attraction. Set in 1946 in Northern Italy, the
atmosphere that Chiara offers pulls readers
into that place and time with great skill. The
opaque characters lie to one another with
ease, and readers are the observers of the
loose bonds that new relationships provide.
One can almost feel the rubbery nature of
idleness that imbeds in their lives that
summer following the world war. I read this
novel in winter in Chicago and within these
pages, everything was sultry.
The Hero
Child, Lee
3/6/20
Story. In a rare foray into non-fiction,
prolific author Lee Child offers fans a short
book titled, The Hero, that summarizes the
long history of the story and the hero, in both
oral and written traditions. This long essay
helps readers think about Child’s recurring
protagonist, Jack Reacher, in the context of a
very long storytelling tradition. Some of the
quirky asides were as fascinating as his core
premise. Now that I’ve better versed in the
context, I’m ready for the next Reacher
installment.
The Sentinel
Child, Lee and
Andrew Child
12/17/20
Russians. For the twenty-fifth installment
in his Jack Reacher series, author Lee Child
has teamed up with his brother, Andrew, a
fellow writer, for a jointly written novel
titled, The Sentinel. The roaming Reacher
takes a pause in his nomadic life when
something interesting catches his attention.
Soon after arriving in a town near
Pleasantville, Tennessee, Reacher observes
Rusty Rutherford, an IT manager, stumble
into an ambush. After Reacher intervened
with his skills and saved Rusty, his interest is
piqued. Before long, he’s sticking around
running across Russian spies and a
ransomware attack with a secret objective. I
found the slower pacing of this installment to
be different from the earlier novels, but the
plot and entertainment value remained
satisfying for this reader.
The Night Tiger
Choo, Yangsze
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Greenwood
Christie, Michael
11/9/20
Legacy. Where have we come from and
where are we going? In his novel titled,
Greenwood, Michael Christie displays four
generations of the Greenwood family and the
island and forest legacy that connects the
family members. We find love, loss, success,
failure, and climate change. We find wealth
and poverty, exploitation and stewardship.
Christie plumbs the many different ways that
we care for each other and our environment,
and the ways we hurt each other and
squander our inheritances. The prose is
finely written, and the novel will appeal to
those readers who are patient with frequent
shifts in time periods, and a meandering way
of getting to know the people and places. I
was enchanted by this novel, the complexity
of the characters, and the vivid life of the
forest.
The Body in
Question
Cimint, Jill
4/23/20
Dalliance. Jill Cimint makes thinking about
mortality and morality flow on the pages of
her novel titled, The Body in Question.
Protagonist Hannah, also known as juror C-
2, finds herself with mixed feelings about
being sequestered on the jury of a
sensational murder trial. As the possibility of
a dalliance with Graham, juror F-17, unfolds,
she rationalizes this as a last fling, and
minimizes any effect of this affair on her
much older husband. Mortality inhabits
every page of this novel, and the moral
choices predictably lead to consequences.
Cimint writes with great efficiency in this
novel, and her insight into human nature
unfolds with wisdom as the narrative
progresses. There’s really nothing casual
about a dalliance when Cimint gets her
hands on it.
The Basic Laws of
Human Stupidity
Cipolla, Carlo M.
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Second Sight
Clifford, Aoife
4/9/20
Revelations. Patient readers who can enjoy
the slow simmering as a crime novel builds
gradually are those most likely to enjoy Aoife
Clifford’s novel titled, Second Sight. Set in
Australia, protagonist Eliza Carmody,
returns to her hometown and stumbles into
family secrets and revelations. The
connection between crimes in the present
and ones from the past make this novel
complex and interesting. The search for the
truth is worth the slow pace because there
are rewards to be found when secrets are
revealed.
Daddy
Cline, Emma
12/21/20
Underneath. Emma Cline plumbs what’s
beneath the surface of the lives of interesting
characters in her short story collection titled,
Daddy. In each of the ten stories, Cline finds
a way to touch the wounded place, or to
home in on the key turning point that
disturbs a life. As we read, we find
authenticity underneath a veneer. Things are
never as they initially appear. Fans of finely
written literary short stories are those most
likely to enjoy this collection.
The Boy from the
Woods
Coben, Harlan
9/19/20
Secrets. Can you think of a better name for
a person who was found in the woods as a
child and had no memory of his past than
“Wilde?” That’s the name of the protagonist
of Harlen Coben’s exciting novel titled, The
Boy from the Woods. Three decades after he
came out of the woods, another child has
gone missing, and now Wilde has been asked
by a recurring Coben character, Hester
Crimstein, to help find that child. Wilde
agrees and finds himself returning to an
uncomfortable place and he’s focused on
revealing the secrets that have been kept for
a long time. The story is engaging, the plot
has just the right twists, and the characters
are compelling. Fans of Coben and crime
fiction are those readers most likely to enjoy
this novel.
You Never Forget
Your First: A
Biography of
George
Washington
Coe, Alexis
8/25/20
Lively. If reading about dead people from
earlier centuries isn’t high on your list of
priorities, try picking up a copy of Alexis
Coe’s lively and funny book titled, You Never
Forget Your First: A Biography of George
Washington, and learn that reading about
dead people can be entertaining. With
playful wit, Coe dispenses with the many
myths about Washington, and presents a
different view of the person behind the
heroic marble façade. She carefully curates
those aspects of his life that bring the man
down to earth from a remote pedestal. This
breezy and cheeky book entertained me
thoroughly.
Middle England
Coe, Jonathan
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Death of Jesus
Coetzee, J.M.
7/6/20
Orphan. I’m undecided whether or not to
recommend that you must read J.M.
Coetzee’s two novels titled The Childhood of
Jesus and The Schooldays of Jesus before
you read the third novel, The Death of Jesus.
Normally, reading a series in sequence leads
to greater understanding. For these three
novels, there’s no understanding, only lots of
questions. The main question that David, the
now ten-year-old protagonist, asks in this
novel is: Why am I here? While Simon and
Inez act as if they are his parents, he is an
orphan, as we all are, since at some time we
are all alone in the world with our
unanswered questions about the meaning of
life. I’ve read all three novels, and feel
unsettled, which is probably the best
outcome achievable from these unusual and
finely written novels.
Four Friends:
Promising Lives
Cut Short
Cohan, William D.
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
When No One Is
Watching
Cole, Alyssa
11/24/20
Rejuvenation. There’s something fishy
about the gentrification in progress in a
Brooklyn neighborhood, and Alyssa Cole
pulls us into a complicated scheme in her
novel titled, When No One Is Watching.
Protagonists Sydney and Theo represent the
contrasts in the neighborhood as they
alternate as narrators: the longtime resident
and the newcomer. Both narrators face
major challenges that become complicated as
they uncover the unsavory and illegal ways in
which neighborhood rejuvenation has
accelerated. There’s crime and exploitation