The Namesake

The Namesake

Rating:  The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri. Houghton Mifflin Company (2004), 291 pages. This is a very well-written book in which nothing happens. Now, I have no gripe against a quiet book in which the point is merely to appreciate its evocative and...
To Siberia

To Siberia

Rating:  To Siberia, by Per Petterson. Picador (2009), 246 pages. (Originally published in Norway in 1996.) The unnamed narrator in this book dreams of moving to Siberia when she grows up. She has read all about it, has studied photographs of it, and at the...
The People’s Act of Love

The People’s Act of Love

(This review first appeared in February of 2007) Rating:  The People’s Act of Love, by James Meek.  Canongate (2005), 391 pages. This is a very strange story with a particularly tangled and complicated plot. It takes place in a small village in Siberia...