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   The American Dream has always included the idea of satisfying employment and upward mobility, but a new book by Deepak Singh sketches out a less rosy reality.

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Latest Posts in Books

Book Review: Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson

A wealthy young man known as “Abel” flees the revolution in Venezuela around 1840 and embarks on an adventure in the wild, uncharted jungles of Guyana. The jungles are inhabited by lush forests, mountains and rivers that are pristine, untouched. Wild animals never before seen appear within the infinite walls of the “green mansions.” The most magnificent being of all is the beautiful and wild Rima, a young woman who speaks in a strange, lilting language only known to birds and her lost tribe. While Abel’s journey is fraught with peril: gold hunting, warring bands of native tribes, petty rivalries, superstition, and magic, he becomes forever smitten with Rima.

 


Book Review: The World is Made of Glass by Morris West

I have always been riveted by the World is Made of Glass because the characterization, plot, pacing, and story is superb. Magda as the brilliant sociopath, medical doctor and wealthy society diva, is an incredible depiction of a woman who has major contradictions in her personality. While her strength seems over-the-top, she is still entirely credible and unforgettable as a woman who does want to develop compassion and a conscience, but is clueless as to how to begin the journey to get there.


Book Review: Essayism by Brian Dillon

In Essayism, Brian Dillon dispels the notion that the essay is an excuse for not being able to commit to a long-term project. Some essays, for example, On Being Blue by William H. Gass or Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, are over a hundred pages, hardly the output of an uncommitted, dilettante writer.


Book Review: Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

There is a lot going on in Amsterdam that has little to do with either the Dutch city or the death of Molly Lane. Ian McEwan deftly weaves multiple leitmotifs that are subtle and breathtaking. Aside from being a brilliant writer, Ian McEwan is downright clever. Amsterdam is well worth the read and deserving of the 1998 Booker Prize.


Book Review: Perfection by Vincenzo Petronico

Millennial couple Anna and Tom are two halves of the same dull leaf, vaguely similar, almost mirror images of one another, too afraid to be unlike one another. The author states, “Anna and Tom weren’t free to be themselves or rather free to reinvent themselves.” Together they amble through glossy high-tech design careers, while living the good life in trendy Berlin. They vacation in hotspots, do stints in Portugal and Sicily, always suffering from existential pain and the petty inconveniences of modern life. Yet the pics they posted on Facebook show an alternate reality—they weren’t really miserable; they were smiling and having a good time!