Literary Sojourn 2018

Sojourn 2018 Authors and Bookies

Authors at Sojourn 2018	Bookies who attended
Charles Frazier	Judy Bush
Tayari Jones	Suzanne Rigby
Alice McDermott	Nora Ruppert
Claire Messud	Renee Norton
Kamila Shamsie	Kay Jackson
Colum McCann	Susan Rigby

2018 Book Reviews by the Bookies

Author	Book	Bookie	Grade	Review
Charles Frazier	Varina	Judy	C	This was so boring I couldn't finish it! I tried so hard, but the style and writing and plot were ALL terrible!
Tayari Jones	An American Marriage	Judy	A	This was so beautifully written. I wanted to re-read several passages just because they were so insightful! The plot also kept you wanting to know what the ending would be!
Alice McDermott	The Ninth Hour	Judy	A-	I enjoyed hearing Alice explain the parallels of giving up your life for someone. I also liked the kindness of the nuns. It had a hard ending, but it was the best you could do after all they went through.
Claire Messud	The Woman Upstairs	Judy	C	I really hated it! The writing was good and fluid, but everything about the plot was terrible! I felt like it was a condemnation of single women around the world. That they are unable to interact freely in society without making up imaginary scenarios. The cruelty was unbearable!
Kamila Shamsie	Home Fire	Judy	A	I really enjoyed this book, because it seemed to show in a natural way how kids get lured into Muslim extremism. It was beautifully written, although I hated the sense of dread I had throughout! The ending was sad, but what do you expect?
Tayari Jones	An American Marriage	Nora	A	This book made me so much more aware than I was of what it feels like to be Black in the US. I am reading another book that relates to the same theme called The Hate U Get, and I can hardly read more than a few pages at a time, it's so upsetting. When I saw these stories on the news, I never thought too much about them, but what would it be like to have to tiptoe through ones life just because one looks "suspect".
Alice McDermott	Charming Billy	Nora		I read this a few years ago and I recall finding it to be a bit of a downer. The usual Irish angst story!
Kamila Shamsie	Home Fire	Nora	B	Shamsie did a pretty good job of presenting all sides in the terrorist game. The only ones who come off as creeps are the actual terrorist recruiters who prey on young men (and women, presumably). She did a pretty good job of generating empathy for the families who are regarded as outcast enemies in Britain and she even did a decent job of making the foreign secretary seem less a politician and more of a thoughtful policy maker. B
Colum McCann	Let the Great World Spin	Suzanne	A	I thoroughly enjoyed the way this story was told, interweaving a single day in the life of multiple people on the day a tightrope walker performed miraculously. It was the best book I read this year.
Tayari Jones	An American Marriage	Suzanne	A	The story was well written with characters caught up in a terrible situation. Even though it was a social issue book on incarceration of black men, it was written in such a way that you were rooting for him to have a succesful life and his wife to find happiness. I appreciated that the idea of racisim was not pushed upon you. I thought the three perspectives of the story was a wonderful to understand what the characters were thinking and why they did and reacted the way they did. Loved the book and am excited to read more by this author.
Kamila Shamsie	Home Fire	Suzanne	B	I liked the timely topic of terrorism and immigrants and how to balance security with our own civil rights. I did not know it was based on Antigone. It was presented in such a way that I felt compassion for all of the characters, even the teenager who was talked into joining ISIS, or the Home Secretary who was stuck between duty and family. The ending was tragic, but inevitable. You knew it was not going to end well. It was very well written and engaging.
Claire Messud	The Hunters	Suzanne	C+	Two novellas combined in one book with quirky characters in strange circumstances. They grew to become rather endearing, but the book was easy to put down and did not stay with me.
Alice McDermott	The Ninth Hour Someone	Suzanne	B B-	I read Someone first and it was rather slow moving, but the characters were well developed in the Irish Catholic community in Brooklyn. However, I read "The Ninth Hour" right after and it also took place in an Irish Catholic community. The interplay of selfless versus selfish acts was interesting among the backdrop of the nuns in a nursing convent. The story did do some back and forth between past and present family members, which was at times a little tricky to follow. Not a very upbeat book.
Tayari Jones	Silver Sparrow	Renee	A	Interesting story with lots of insights into black culture. Very well written, great author.
Alice McDermott	Someone	Renee	C	Forgettable, not characters that interested me very much.
Claire Messud	The Burning Girl	Renee	B	Well written story with interesting characters.
Kamila Shamsie	Home Fire	Renee	A	Excellent story with many timely topics of interest to consider. Very well written
Claire Messud	The Woman Upstairs	Nora		I read the Woman Upstairs a few years ago and had mixed feelings about it. Again, seems like it was a bit of a downer with people using each other under the guise of friendship.
Colum McCann	Transatlantic	Nora	A-	writing is inspired and McCann does a good job of weaving multiple stories over two centuries into an integrated story.
Kamila Shamsie	Home Fire	Kay Jackson	A	Loved it. Great food for thought.
Tayari Jones	An American Marriage	Kay Jackson	A	Good companion book to "The Love U Hate."