Mar 282006
Case Histories is ostensibly a mystery novel, but it’s really about loss, the ways in which life can violently veer out of control, and how people endure in the wake of tragedies that rob them of the ones they love. The novel weaves together the stories of three separate families, each of them seeking ways to heal long-open wounds inflicted by another’s death or disappearance. While Kate Atkinson paints an unflinchingly bleak and desolate picture of human existence, she imbues the book with moments of dry humor–scattered asides and observations that her characters make in the midst of even the most horrific of circumstance. Like a lot of British writers, Atkinson understands that the world isn’t necessarily a good or safe place, but that sometimes people need to laugh in the face of its assorted cruelties.
I need to pick up my reading pace. Next up, Stephen King’s Cell or Ian McEwans’s Saturday, depending on my mood. I’m also looking for nonfiction recommendations.
Hi! New here because you were linked here.
So what kind of nonfiction are you interested in? I happen to have lots of suggestions from varying genres so let me know what you’re open to and I’ll recommend some.
Also, if you haven’t read anything by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker or Anne Lamott, get thee to a bookstore! (They’re mostly fiction – or what I call truth fiction ’cause there’s a little bit of truth and a little bit of story.)
Add Like Water for Chocolate on that list, too.
See? That’s what you get for asking an English major, lol.