Author Archives: mkevane

Reading novels from Tanzania, in anticipating some travel for work there in coming months. Enjoyed this sprawling saga on a boy who grows up in Kilwa, half-Indian half-African, ends up becoming a successful doctor in Canada, and returns 30 years … Continue reading →

My brother suggested this novel. It is well worth reading, though it demands a very lot from the reader. Old God’s Time, by Sebastian Barry is high literary fiction about a dreadful subject. (Barry is Irish.) The fogginess of protagonist … Continue reading →

A very (very) short book, which is the only reason I read it. You learn a little, you laugh a little, you cry a little. Well, maybe not… It is just a succession of battles (boy there were a lot) … Continue reading →

This is popular history, a narrative based on letters and records uncovered in various archives. I found it plodding, though the essence of the tale really helps one understand some aspects of the Atlantic world in 1767. Two “princes” related … Continue reading →

Read this book in two nights, mostly skimmed the last third as it moved to a fairly predictable conclusion. A multiverse semi-thriller. Was remarking the other day that once Nolan introduced, in Interstellar, the visual of the multiverse, at the … Continue reading →

The pastiche or collage graphic memoir by Nora Krug, Belonging, traces her increasing curiosity about her family’s involvement in supporting the Nazi Party and the persecution of Jewish people in the 1930-45 period. Was her grandfather a reluctant follower, compromising … Continue reading →

I am almost finished with the 3rd part of this four-part experimental novel, and it is possible I will never read the last part. It turned into a slog. The first part is a “sensational” novel about the main characters, … Continue reading →

Just So Happens, by Fumio Obata, is a lovely muted watercolor graphic novel leaving the lingering impression of melancholy and longing. The story is more an impression- just ordinary things that happen, and the hints of deeper meaning remain just … Continue reading →

It becomes a bit tedious, Green Hills of Africa, by Ernest Hemingway, does, especially for a vegetarian. A lot of meat, a lot of gratuitous killing of animals for no reason. But the writing is as usual a master class … Continue reading →

I hard a very hard time finishing This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It is a set of letters between two time travelers from the future. They are semi-omniscient (they can inscribe … Continue reading →

I randomly picked up this short novel, Ernest Gaines, The Tragedy of Brady Sims, in the library. It is set near Bayonne, Louisiana. Spare prose; ugly reality of African-American life and race relations. It could be 1950, it could be … Continue reading →

Excellent retelling of the Greek myth, from Circe’s point of view. She is a sympathetic character, who evolves over the course of the novel. Miller keeps the story moving along. It is refreshing. The denouement is full of dread, yet … Continue reading →

Last week I read Rocannon’s World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions. Some of her recurring themes of loneliness and simplicity are there, but these were clearly first attempts, and not really that great. Certainly not as good as … Continue reading →

Has to be the laziest writing this side of typing, but not going to disrespect the sheer volume of interesting information about the development and applications of CRISPR. I have little idea about the science, and know enough to see … Continue reading →

The Corner that Held Them, by Sylvia Townsend Warner, traces 50 years of a small Benedictine convent in England during the time of the Black Death (1349-82), through the acts and thoughts of many of the nuns (and the men, … Continue reading →

A very messy, moody “mind-bendy” intersecting story. Maybe modeled on Michael Cunningham’s styles and themes? I slogged (sorry) through to almost the end and then just skimmed. I suppose there is an audience for this, but it was not me. … Continue reading →

My sister recommended V.V. Ganeshananthan’s novel “Brotherless Night.” It is a very straightforward “historical fiction” account of a young woman’s experiences during the Tamil Tiger civil war against the Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka. The reader learns a bit of … Continue reading →

We read and discussed for my neighborhood book club. Highly recommend. Looking forward some day to being in the Gulf of Mexico, walking along a beach, drinking some coffee, walking streets of New Orleans, and having my digital voice assistant … Continue reading →

I tried. I really did. and I wanted to like it. I really did. And maybe I thought I learn something; more dubious about that, but still a possibility. Failed. Total. The writing is godawful. Robinson’s intent is in the … Continue reading →