The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna: A Novel by Juliet Grames --- 445 pages including a Family Tree, a Preface and an Author's Note.

In Italian, stella fortuna means "lucky star." But as author Juliet Grames’s observes early in this, her debut novel:

"What a terrifying thing to call a little girl. There's no better way to bring down the Evil Eye than to brag about your good fortune; a name like Stella Fortuna was just asking for trouble."

And indeed in the course of her very long life, as related by her granddaughter, Stella seems doomed rather than blessed. From her childhood in the remote Calabrian village of Ievoli, at the toe of Italy's peninsular boot; to the last, lost years in a small white house in suburban Connecticut, tended by family who never understood her or, at the last, even remembered the person she was — Stella dodges strange and horrible deaths, and battles the subjugation of her life to the control of her father, her husband, her sons.

The author drew the inspiration for her story from her own, difficult grandmother, and suggests that many of us have similar stories of "difficult women" in our families. Perhaps we need to "unpack" these stories and discover what lies behind the difficulty.  Perhaps, like Stella, these women were just fighting for the right to control their own lives, to be recognized as a person with dreams and ambitions beyond what their families expected or demanded.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to listen to an interview with the author from lithub.com.

Click HERE to read the review from Criminal Element.com

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My Sister, the Serial Killer: A Novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite --- 226 pages including Acknowledgements.

Nigerian author, Oyinkan Braithwaite's debut novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer may be described as Nigerian Noir. The book is a black and edgy comedy about two Nigerian sisters. Korede, the elder, is the responsible, self-effacing sister who cleans up the messes made by her younger sister, Ayoola, who has a bad habit of killing her boyfriends.

But the book also has a serious point to make: both sisters are emotionally damaged because of the abuse they suffered at the hands of a vicious and controlling father, and a society that enables and encourages the subjugation of women. 

If you liked the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, you may enjoy this book too. It will be interesting to see what Oyinkan Braithwaite comes up with next.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to watch the video trailer for My Sister, the Serial Killer on Youtube.

Click HERE to read the review in the Washington Post.

Click HERE to read the review in the New York Times.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld --- 488 pages

Eligible is the fourth book in HarperCollins' "Austen Project" --- reinventions of Jane Austen's classic novels. The publisher has commissioned four (so far) popular modern writers to take on the challenge of updating Northanger Abbey (Val McDermid); Sense and Sensibility (Joanna Trollope), Emma (Alexander McCall-Smith) and now Pride and Prejudice (American author Curtis Sittenfeld).

Having received only tepid reviews for the first three, perhaps the publishing house hoped to resuscitate the project by upping the ante with an edgier American writer who has traded Austen's dry wit for the crude vulgarity of a reality TV show. Full disclosure: I have read several of Sittenfeld's previous books and came away unimpressed.

Critical opinion of Eligible seems to be divided, but this lifelong Austen fan was not amused. Jane is a placeholder and Liz lacks not only charm but brains as well. Texting --- the preferred form of communication here --- is a pallid substitute for Austen's repartee.

Thus far no authors have been announced to despoil Mansfield Park and Persuasion. Perhaps having done their worst, HarperCollins will quietly bury the corpses and move on.

Click HERE to read a review in the Denver Post.

Click HERE to read a review from a (hitherto) respected blog, austenprose.com.

Click HERE to read the interview with Sittefeld on National Public Radio (NPR).

MSCHMITT--- The Space Between Us, Jessica Martinez, 392

MSCHMITT--- The Space Between Us, Jessica Martinez, 392

Amelia has always been responsible for little sister Charly, but one night changes everything. The consequences send the both of them to live in Canada for the remainder of the school year, and friendships and family ties are changed forever.

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

Sisterland: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld --- 397 pages

This novel is getting a lot of rave reviews, and I did find it thought-provoking, although perhaps not for the reasons the author intended. For St. Louis readers, there is some fun in catching the many local allusions, a kind of literary poke at the insularity that many newcomers find either comical or exasperating. I have to wonder if Sittenfeld intended local readers to see this as another layer of the novel aimed just at them, since it seems to be satirizing the kind of subtext that such markers provide in our conversations. But is it just a quick way to place a new acquaintance in context, or is it stereotyping?

I don't read a lot of contemporary "literary" fiction, especially the kind that seems particularly aimed at affluent women and teens. This story is about identical twin sisters with "senses," Violet the rebellious one who embraces her differences, and Daisy/Kate the conformist one who just wants to be normal. Their lives folllow different trajectories, yet they can never quite repudiate the bond they share.

When Vi becomes a media sensation because she has predicted a major earthquake is about to hit St. Louis, Kate is torn between embarrassment and dread that her sister's "sense" may be right. Kate, despite being portrayed as a 30-something wife and mother, is essentially immature and self-absorbed, convinced the world revolves around her, and entirely uninterested in anything outside her own little bubble.