Author Archives: roryinkchild

The Dark Dark is the second book by Samantha Hunt that I’ve read, and it lives up the imagination and lyrical promise of Mr. Splitfoot. It’s a collection of magically realistic short stories linked by the slender threads of motif: swimming pools, deer women, motherhood. Hunt’s characters are complex individuals just trying to survive theirContinue reading “The Dark Dark”

Julia Fine’s What Should Be Wild is many things: a feminist fairy tale, a novel of supernatural horror, a sweet romance, a magically realistic family drama, an examination of mythology, a coming-of-age story, an ode to natural and human complexity, a literary acid trip. At its heart, however, it’s the story of trapped women. OurContinue reading “What Should Be Wild”

Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles is a series of short stories, all linked to a single great quest: man’s journey to Mars. We begin with humanity’s first bizarre encounters with the telepathic Martian natives, who are later wiped out by the point of extinction by chicken pox. Man soon sweeps across Mars, trying to replicateContinue reading “The Martian Chronicles”

Eve Ensler’s The Apology is the book equivalent into injecting acid (the devouring kind, not the trippy kind) into one’s veins. It tears you up inside and never quite goes away. She attempts to confront a childhood of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by detailing it through the eyes of her chief abuser–her dead father.Continue reading “The Apology”

The premise of Munmun by Jesse Andrews is deceptively simple. In this world, size is directly proportionate to one’s bank account. Big people flourish, little ones die fast. Our hero, Warner, is trying to stay alive and get some money (munmun) for himself and the people he loves. However, his story is revealed to beContinue reading “Munmun”

The Only Plane In The Sky by Garrett Graff is an oral history of 9/11, built almost entirely from the testimony of those whose lives were changed together by one terrible day. Graff shares the stories of victims struggling to survive, first responders facing a threat like no other, politicians overcoming fear in order toContinue reading “The Only Plane In The Sky”

Glorious. That is Samantha Hunt’s Mr. Splitfoot in a word. The writer’s lyrical prose (an overused compliment, but the only one who fits) threw me for a loop. The imagery is lush and imaginative; what kind of genius can picture a tree sprouting from a pregnant woman’s navel? Hunt takes seemingly familiar themes–abuse, family, faith,Continue reading “Mr. Splitfoot”

When I first heard of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, I thought of long-winded declarations of love and droopy-eyed girls swooping across the moor–sort of like Gone With The Wind with a touch less racism. Instead, what I found was a deeply complex about how dysfunction and trauma reverberate through the ages. The author isContinue reading “Wuthering Heights”

Tim O’Brien’s In The Lake of The Woods is a shattered story about a shattered man. Our hero/antihero/villain, John Wade, is confronting the latest of a litany of traumas: the loss of his wife, Kathy. How she died–and whether John played a role–is unclear to everyone, including him. But this story is far from aContinue reading “In The Lake of The Woods”

Gary Paulsen’s The Rifle is a small book with a big message. It starts with the creation of a truly magnificent rifle at the dawn of the Revolutionary War, when guns really were a vital source of protection or currency. However, its careful construction fails to save its creation or its buyer from death, causingContinue reading “The Rifle”