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Joe by Steve Rubin
Sept. 6, 2012, Kindle Edition
“Joe” is a thrilling and fast-paced story that weaves together the threads of imagination, technology and eclectic relationships into an artisan’s novel that is impossible to put down. Steve Rubin’s writing style is uniquely his own – giving an insight into his characters that keeps the reader deeply involved to the last page. This novel is a great read – so much so that the Kindle App will remain on our “other” reader devices – just in case Mr. Rubin writes a sequel…
Review by: St. Bride’s Literary Group (October, 2013)
Joe Elliot is an aspiring novelist who’s latest effort is a fictional tale of technological marvel: a system of computers, satellites and machines that scans the entire planet. It’s called ‘W.E.B.’ The‘Worldwide Electron Band’ and it tells the operator everything about anything or anyone. The ultimate ‘Big Brother’ machine.A wealthy, eccentric artist reads an early draft of ‘W.E.B.’ and decides that she wants to build one; a smaller, personal version to create ‘the ultimate piece of modern art’ a system that scans visitors and can tell them anything, even the most minute details, about their lives. Others begin to spy on the system as it is being built. Their equipment creates conflict, inadvertently spawning a whole new type of artificial intelligence which brings others into the mix, men who are not interested in the art and only seek control over the technology. A laugh-out-loud funny, unique, character-driven story. Agent and publishing inquiries welcome.
Filed under Fiction
The Conditions of Love by Dale Kushner
The Conditions of Love by Dale Kushner, 2013
Kushner’s writing consists of equal parts reverence for the human condition and sympathy for the pain that is a necessary part of that condition. This novel is an engrossing read and difficult to put down.
—Kitty Drexel, EDGE (full review » )
—Josh Mallory, Bookreporter (full review » )
—Kendall Weaver, The Associated Press (full review » )
—Booklist
—Kirkus Reviews
—Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Red Thread
—Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy and The House on Fortune Street
—Janet Steen
—Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening and As Far As the Heart Can See
—Eileen Pollack, Zell Professor and Director of the MFA Program at the University of Michigan, author of Paradise, New York and Breaking and Entering
The Conditions of Love traces the journey of a girl from childhood to adulthood as she reckons with her need to break from society’s limitations and learns to reconcile with her fate and transcend the past.
“Can this wise, funny, quirky, poignant novel really be Dale Kushner’s debut? She got everything just right—characters who you will never forget and a palpable yearning for love that you will feel in your gut. Bravo!“
-Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Red Thread
“An immaculately written, enthralling and passionate debut.“
-Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy and Eva Moves The Furniture
Kushner has a divine understanding of the ties that bind people in relationships.The Conditions of Love is rife with truths about man’s equally selfish and selfless need to experience love in its many forms. Eunice might be the central player, but the hero of this tale is Love. Eunice experiences many kinds of loss. Before and after each misadventure she seeks solace in the stable relationships of her past and present: Mr. Tabachnik, a kind neighbor; her adopted guardian, Rose; Sam, a misguided role model. Although she may often be lonely, Eunice does not experience the destitution of abandonment. Kushner’s writing consists of equal parts reverence for the human condition and sympathy for the pain that is a necessary part of that condition. This novel is an engrossing read and difficult to put down.—Kitty Drexel, EDGE (full review » )
With her debut novel, The Conditions of Love, poet Dale M. Kushner has created a layered examination of love in all its forms and how it impacts and shapes one girl in the late 1950s and early 1960s from childhood to maturity.. . .This is a book that begs to be read slowly. Kushner’s history with poetry serves her well. Her prose causes the reader to slow down and relish the words. She utilizes the five senses throughout the book, which gives the reader a sense of real intimacy with Eunice. She beautifully recounts the physical act of Eunice’s neighbor, Mr. Tabachnik, putting on an opera record, and then she tops it by describing the powerful music washing over a young Eunice.The Conditions of Love is an engaging story written in a lyrical style. It’s a stunningly self-assured novel for a debut, and it leaves the reader hoping that Kushner will write a second. —Josh Mallory, Bookreporter (full review » )
The Conditions of Love is the debut novel of Dale M. Kushner, a poet and writer in Wisconsin. It moves slowly and gingerly during its opening section when Eunice is a preteen, and it might easily be viewed at the start as a coming-of-age book for a younger set of readers. But by the end of that section, when facts-of-life shocks begin to strike, it turns into a moving, at times jolting, saga.Kushner’s scenes, like her characters, are expertly sketched, vivid and memorable. . . . Engrossing to the end, this is a fine first novel. —Kendall Weaver, The Associated Press (full review » )
Eunice grows up fighting for love from the people who should love her unconditionally but is bolstered by love from unexpected sources…Eunice is a lonely, artistic girl who grows into a temperamental young woman whose strength and capacity for love belie her tough upbringing. This is poet Kushner’s first novel, and her roots show; passages describing even the bleakest Midwestern landscapes are artfully drawn. A coming-of-age story that wonderfully combines literary style with heartbreaking plot twists and still manages to be uplifting— —Booklist
A teenage girl endures fire, flood and the loss of her parents in this bracing, oddly uplifting debut.Kushner seems to have taken more than a few lessons from Joyce Carol Oates about both crafting a novel with a broad scope and putting female characters through the wringer. But there’s also a lightness to Eunice’s narration that keeps the Job-ian incidents from feeling oppressive—she’s observant, witty and genuinely matures across the nine years in which the novel is set… Kushner is remarkably poised for a first-time novelist, offering an interesting adolescent who’s possessed of more than a little of Huck Finn’s pioneer spirit.A fine exploration of growing up, weathering heartbreak and picking oneself up over and over. —Kirkus Reviews
“Can this wise, funny, quirky, poignant novel really be Dale Kushner’s debut? She got everything just right–characters who you will never forget and a palpable yearning for love that you will feel in your gut. Bravo!” —Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Red Thread
“In The Conditions of Love Dale Kushner portrays with wonderful empathy a young girl’s journey towards adulthood. Kushner has an amazing sense of character and not only her heroine, the fearless Eunice, but everyone that Eunice encounters comes vividly to life as she struggles first to accommodate herself to her mother’s tumultuous feelings and then to make her own way in the world. An immaculately written, enthralling and passionate debut.” —Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy and The House on Fortune Street
“Dale Kushner’s novel The Conditions of Love traces the journey of a girl from childhood to young adulthood as she reckons with her parents’ abandonment, her need to break from society’s limitations, and her overwhelming desire for spiritual and erotic love. At an early age Eunice encounters the difficult truths of loss and disappointment, and through an innate sense of her own worth, she perseveres. At once a fable and a realistic portrait of a sensitive and determined young girl, The Conditions of Love is funny, heartbreaking, and gorgeously rendered. In Kushner’s storytelling readers will find the wisdom of an author who has considered both the formidable depths and the transcendent potential of the human spirit.” —Janet Steen
“Dale Kushner is a remarkable mix of passion and perception. As a storyteller, she has the ability to let the mysterious force of life show itself through the smallest piece of dirt or doubt. Her depth and experience surface through her writing as a wise companion to help us on our way.” —Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening and As Far As the Heart Can See
“I’ve already praised Dale Kushner’s novel to so many friends that they keep asking why they can’t find it in the bookstores yet. I would tell you that it’s the next Housekeeping, but that might imply The Conditions of Love is derivative in some way, which it most certainly is not. Kushner’s novel offers what most readers crave—characters about whom we care very, very deeply, emotions conveyed without irony or shame, beautifully lyric prose, a strong sense of place… and wisdom, that very rare thing in a novel – or real life – wisdom. Even in the toughest market, this book is sure to find many loyal and loving readers.” —Eileen Pollack, Zell Professor and Director of the MFA Program at the University of Michigan, author of Paradise, New York and Breaking and Entering
Filed under Fiction
Eyes Behind Belligerence
Eyes Behind Belligerence
By K.P. Kollenborn (Lulu.com, 2011)
Historical Fiction
Reviewed by Miss Lynn’ s Books & More
Written in five parts the book is an epic tale of how the Japanese living in America on Bainbridge Island, Washington suffered undue humility and harassment when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The main story centers around two boys Jim and Russell, their families and how the Japanese community is affected by the war.
The novel begins with Jim trying to deal with the suicide of his older brother and years after still blames his father, Jim is more the quite type while Russell is more outgoing. As they say opposites attract each other and no matter what Jim and Russell always seem to connect in one way or another. With the advent of the war, the families start to suffer persecution. Their stores are vandalized, they have to turn over anything that could harm or incriminate them in any way, weapons, knives and down to even including 2 way radios. Now they have arrested all the men and the rest of their families are being transported off the island leaving their homes, bank accounts and belongings behind for looters to take advantage of.
As they are all transferred to a relocation camp, that could be in all reality a lesser form of a concentration camp, this is where they will being till the war ends. Here is where Jim and Russell and their families are now living along with about 10,000 other Japanese families. With a watchtower at either end there is no chance for escape as they have to deal with the sand, the heat, meager meals, no privacy and a guard that would just as soon shoot them all as to have to look at them. As with any form of camp, problems arise, families go against families, gangs form, friendships either part or strengthen and romance can blossom. So goes the lives of Jim and Russell as they both manage to keep their friendship throughout.
A year after the advent of Pearl Harbor, the camp is showing signs of political unrest. There are riots, people accusing each other of wrong doings. Americans against each other. Those for and those against. As the military sets into to recruit members for a segregated combat unit, Jim aand Russell both enlist, Russell to prove his loyalty to America. As he fights against his own country , Jim being disloyal is sent to a different camp .Hopefully this will help him to grown up and become a loyal American.With the end of the war and families returning back to Bainbridge Island, Jim and Russell vow to remain friends. While Russell goes off to college, Jim has finally learned to forgive his father for his brothers suicide and decides to remain in Bainbridge. Now is the time to start their lives over and try to regain back the respect from the community that they had lost years earlier.
This is a long book but a very interesting novel. For those that lived back in that time and read this book it will bring back memories, memories of hating and being hated. For the younger generation they can read but really not understand what it was like. I have to say the author did a wonderful job on researching the book before writing it.I just touch on a bit of the subject contained in this book. There is much more that one needs to read to reach the full impact of the novel. Recommended for all who like to read factual books based on actual events.
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In Caddis Wood by Mary François Rockcastle
In Caddis Wood by Mary François Rockcastle
Published by Graywolf Press, 2011
Forgiveness and letter pancakes. Without forgiveness families shatter. With forgiveness and well-worn traditions like letter pancakes for breakfast – they can survive the most excruciating betrayals and tragedies. In Caddis Wood is the intimate story of a 35-year marriage and the delicate state of human nature juxtaposed with the natural landscape that cradles the home of Hallie and Carl Fens.
Mary Rockcastle took more than 10 years to string together the life of a marriage rocked by disappointment and buttressed by love (author appearance, 12/13/2011, The Bookcase, Wayzata, MN). The story is written in third person allowing the distinct perspectives of Hallie and Carl to resonate through the narrator. Their life flows from present truths that are both bridged and shored up by a history that has eroded the family on some fronts and at the same time has reinforced the most critical parts of its foundations. The story is perfectly paced and, like a deeply rooted marriage, difficult to see end under any circumstance.
In Caddis Wood is a beautifully crafted novel. Taking the time to experience it ~ is time well spent.
Reviewed by Krystal Brown, St. Bride’s Literary Group
St. Bride's Literary Group 