Magical Realism

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“Author Hisashi Kashiwai is able to craft beautiful, heartfelt stories for his characters . . .”

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“The narrative, and its narrator, remain elliptical to the final page.”

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Recommended reading for those looking for a more lighthearted take on a region riven by suffering and war.

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“A tavern maid’s-eye view of epic fantasy is an appealing concept, but in the end, it feels like that eye is looking in too many directions at once.”

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Daughters of the Wild has an intriguing, deeply marketable premise: oppressed and repressed girls, isolated from the outside world, “tending a mysterious plant called the Vine of Heaven” i

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Boys of Alabama is a beautiful book that carries the reader along on a tide of rich, eloquent language.”

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“Ta-Nehisi Coates has long been among America’s most clear-eyed scholars of race and racism. The Water Dancer is a masterpiece built within that clarity.

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“The final playing-out of the struggle for the future of Xibalba and the mortal world is satisfyingly both personal and mythic, in a way that rings true to the principles of the cosmology f

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"Combining satire, magical realism, and Salman Rushdie’s signature vibrant prose, Quichotte has twists and turns that linger long after the final page."

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“Etter has created that rare beast: an effective, startling poetic novel. Its story is coherent and progressive; Cassie herself is intensely sympathetic.

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“The writing is brilliant, building from a deceptively plain beginning few paragraphs to sophisticated prose that leaps off the page.”

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The stories in Ha Seong-Nan’s Flowers of Mold are an acquired taste. Fortunately, taste for them can be developed awfully fast.

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Cecelia Ahern’s collection of short stories titled, Roar, couldn’t be better timed.

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“what is most important about this, the last of Brabcová’s gifts, what makes it deserving of a place in the most minimalist of bookshelves, is its honest, overwhelming beauty, its celebrati

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“Gingerbread is a phenomenal book, haunting and dark and ravenous.”

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“Vanderah ’s beautifully human story reminds us that sometimes we need to look beyond the treetops at the stars to let some light into our lives.”

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“Schweblin delivers an unadulterated emotional impact—she succeeds, time and time again.

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“One part coming of age tale, one part contemporary magic school, and a sizable part dark reality, Vita Nostra is a beautiful, aching, nearly debilitating fantasy that bruises, and

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“Where the paintings lurk unfinished and revealing, Killing Commendatore is over-written and obtuse. Murakami has written far better books than this one.

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Sabina “Bina” Tremper is a 17-year-old girl in trouble. She’s also a very troubled girl, self-sabotaging every relationship and engaging in reckless, thoughtless acts.

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“an homage to Moby-Dick and a fitting continuation/conclusion of Ahab’s story.”

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“a most unique interpretation of an age-old and beloved fairy tale”

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“an offbeat, occasionally absurd but haunting tale of life, death, heartbreak, and ultimately, redemption . . .”

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Be careful what you wish for, because you may get it, is a very famous saying.

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A good translation can make or break a book. It’s entirely possible for an exquisite novel to be perceived as lacking, inaccesible, or plain not good enough when translated into another language.

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