I am really not too sure how I felt about this book-it takes place in mostly the Great Depression era when Jim Crow laws were the order of the day in the South and Communism was feared and it's proponents lost their jobs etc etc etc. Henriette Greenberg was one messed up girl who couldn't quite find her way in the world--her parents--well lets just say her Mom knew how to throw a guilt trip and her Dad had a very bad temper when someone didn't agree with him--other wise her Mom ruled the roost. Henriette is trying desperately to find her way. She makes a lot of mistakes along the way and keeps going to her psychiatrist until she finally does the unthinkable and finds where she belongs and who she is. You will have to read this to find that out!
This was definitely reading outside of my comfort zone--which is the title of the guest post Maggie Kast wrote for my blog and will be live on 11/8. This author knows how to write and make the story come alive. It really is good to read outside the genres you normally do. Yes, I enjoyed this novel and look forward to her next one.
About the Book: (from Amazon)
Henriette Greenberg is one of the most captivating and compelling characters I have encountered in years. A woman who wants to invent culture from scratch, she dives into leftist causes, travels to Alabama to protest the conviction of the Scottsboro Boys, studies Apache culture in New Mexico, and struggles with her damaged sexuality through psychoanalysis and one-night stands that haunt her relationship with the man she truly loves. At one point in the novel, Henriette tells her lover, You should know who I am. Reader, you should too. David Jauss, author of Glossolalia: New & Selected Stories, Black Maps, Crimes of Passion and On Writing Fiction
Purchase the Book Here
About the Author: (from Amazon)
After a lifetime career in modern dance, Maggie Kast received a Master of Theological Studies from Catholic Theological Union and began teaching, choreographing and performing liturgical dance. She received an M.F.A. in fiction from Vermont College in 2001 and has published fiction in The Sun, Carve Magazine, Kaleidoscope, Nimrod International, Paper Street and others. Her essays have appeared in America, Writer's Chronicle, Image and others. A chapter of her book, published in ACM (Another Chicago Magazine), won a Literary Award from the Illinois Arts Council and a Pushcart nomination.
She is currently at work on a novel, I Never Knew You Had a Girl. An excerpt from this book, "Sleeping with Men," is forthcoming in an anthology on sleep, Seek It: Writers and Artists Do Sleep, to be released November 8, 2012 by Red Claw Press.
Website URL: maggiekast.com
Blog URL: http://www.ritualandrhubarbpie.blogspot.com
Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/magdance1
Twitter: @tweenworlds
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/hp/?dnr=zA9_R7IwxvqvfyKjWoynR9fyxdqvYeeAGYo
Skype: username: maggiekast
I received an ARC paperback edition of this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own honest opinions. For more information please check my Disclosure Statement. Our giveaways are in no way sponsored or promoted by Facebook.
8 comments :
Sometimes the uncomfortable to read books are the ones that really stick with you and i'd like to give it a go! I have been horrified by some books but they made me feel something and that makes it a good book!
I've found that reading something outside my comfort zone can be enlightening. I regularly read books by people in the opposite political party that I normally side with.
Sounds like an interesting read. I like to read stories of the olden times.
Michelle F.
I am intrigued and want to know more! This actually sounds like a novel I would enjoy. (I love the cover too!) Thanks for another great review, Miki!
I appreciate knowing that it might be outside my normal realm. I agree that it's great to step outside your comfort zone. Got to check that out.
Some of the best books I've ever read are ones that were outside my comfort zone. This one sounds like an interesting ready.
It's hard to read outside of your comfort zone sometimes. But the things you read really do stick.
Thanks to Miki and all the brave souls willing to read outside their comfort zones! Check out my guest post on Miki's blog today about my experience outside that zone, discovering "The Book of Strange New Things" by Michel Faber. It was definitely strange and new right up to the end, an eye-opener.
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