The Burning Girl by Claire Messud

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Huck and Tom as 21st century girls. That seems to be how this novel starts, but it's not satire, and it morphs into a cloud of puberty, depression, memory, and the question of just how well we ever know anyone.

As I read this, I kept trying to remember if I ever felt this intensely about any of my friends when I was 12 to 15 years old, but while I had friends I enjoyed being with and respected for one reason or another, I don't think I ever did.

Messud has created two very interesting characters in this novel. One smart and curious, the other wounded and defiant.



View all my reviews

Zorro by Isabel Allende

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A fun book to read. Isabel Allende is one of my favorite living authors. She tells a very good story. I just like "hearing" her tell it.

"Zoro" reminds me a great deal of Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo." Although not advertised as an adolescent novel, that's how it strikes me.



View all my reviews

Collected Poems in English by Joseph Brodsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Over the years, I've read a poem here or there by Brodsky, but this was the first time that I've made a concerted effort to read a considerable amount of his work. I see now why his reputation has been so high. Brodsky certainly deserves his reputation as a major force in western poetry during the latter half of the 20th century. Where he may fall short is in that singular poem that one finds in Yeates, Eliot, and Frost that stands out above the rest. But the full body of work



View all my reviews