We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

In this Pen Hemingway-winning novel by NoViolet Bulawayo, 10-year-old Darling and her friends live in a small village made up of shacks lived in by families who were forcibly ejected from their homes by developers with bulldozers who razed their houses to the ground. The children make frequent treks to nearby affluent neighborhoods, taking fruit from the trees in front of the homes in order to ward off hunger. They make up games to keep themselves occupied and witness some terrible things, sharing the stories from a child's perspective. Eventually, Darling is sent to live with her aunt and her aunt's family in Detroit and she needs to learn new adaptive skills to survive in this place that has plenty of food, but is strange and filled with other challenges.

The story contains heavy, heartrending events told with innocent playfulness from a child's, and then teenager's, perspective. I was completely engaged by the language, which pulls the reader in and brings the book's descriptions to life in the imagination, whether Darling is hiding from violent trouble-makers in a tree in Zimbabwe, or sneaking to watch forbidden videos with her school friends in her aunt's basement in Michigan. It's a very worthy read that helps one understand in a real way the challenges of leaving your family and friends behind in a dangerous place with little promise, to move to a culturally (and geographically) colder, foreign place where there are daily risks to be aware of and success is far from assured.

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The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

A fantastic winter folktale, bleak and beautiful The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey Reagan Arthur / Back Bay Books The Snow Child is a beautifully written story inspired by a Russian fairy tale. In a rare moment of playfulness, a childless couple named Jack and Mabel lovingly create a little girl made of snow. The next day, the snow person is gone but Jack and Mabel begin seeing glimpses and finding evidence of a young girl in the woods near their homesteading cabin. Jack and Mabel have come to Alaska in the 1920s with hopes of a new start. They’re barely surviving on the return from their crops, farmed exclusively by Jack, while Mabel makes baked goods for a little extra money. They’re considering admitting defeat and leaving Alaska behind when new connections with others in the area, including the mysterious snow child, give them new hope. The atmospheric differences in the writing between the spare, exhausting, isolated despair of Jack and Mabel at the beginning ...

The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn

Vampires in the Club Kismet is a psychologist in Denver. She meets with a 20-something client, Midnight, whose parents insist on a counseling appointment because of Midnight's infatuation with the underground vampire culture in Denver's nightlife scene, particularly the crowd that hangs out at The Crypt, a popular goth/alternative dance club. Midnight insists that vampires are real and wants to become one; Kismet discovers Midnight is also a lonely individual whose mother is unavailable and whose father is a long-time untreated addict. Kismet becomes interested in the vampire culture and considers writing a book about the psychology of vampire wannabes. Then she meets Devereaux, the owner of The Crypt nightclub. After meeting Devereaux, and other not-near-as-pleasant night walkers who habitually terrorize others, Kismet doesn't know what to believe about whether or not vampires really exist. But she does know her feelings for Devereaux have magic intensity. This is a se...

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Medieval story of strong-willed nuns in a 12th-century English abbey In 12 Century England, Queen Eleanor sends her half sister (in-law), Marie, to a failing abbey where the nuns and other inhabitants are starving and for the most part miserable. Marie at first wants nothing more than to escape the harsh environment but she eventually refocuses on how she, with her skill, iron will, and visions, can turn things around for herself and those in her care. I love Lauren Groff's writing style and her many and varied stories. The first several pages of Matrix had a bit of the atmosphere of Hamnet, one of my favorite stories the year I read it, but it turned into something a bit more distant or remote for me once Marie reached the abbey, and stayed that way for one-third to one-half of the book. I read with renewed interest once Marie came into her power and started making vision-spurred changes at the abbey. Seems like a strong allegory for feminism, a thoughtful take on the challenges ...

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