Original Sins, Alther's second novel, begins like Kinflicksin a small town in Tennessee, but instead of recounting the life and loves of one character, this broad-canvas book follows five characters from childhood into adulthood. They called themselves "The Five" and spent their childhoods tradin...
Before I start my review of Alther’s debut triumphant novel, let me put a list of novels with the same theme together with their publication date and some commentaries. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. (1973)Kinflicks by Lisa Alther. (1975)The World According to Garp by John Irving. (1978)Parachutes...
In this dazzling, hilarious memoir, best-selling author of Kinflicks Lisa Alther chronicles her search for the missing--often mysterious--branches of her family tree. Most of us grow up thinking we know who we are and where we come from. Lisa Alther's mother hailed from New York, her father from ...
With two young sons, a failed marriage, a job as an emergency room nurse that leaves her feeling paralyzed and hopeless, and a relationship with a woman that has entered its bitter final stages, thirty-five-year-old Caroline Kelley is more than ready to change her life. Motherhood, marriage, mono...
A while ago I mentioned here that I like stories about obsessive love. I'm not sure what it says about me that I do, but anyhow, this is one such story. It's obsessive, it's haunting and it's compelling, and gets four stars just for that. Once upon a time I'd have given it five, but no, it's not ...
They’re trying to drag a struggling turtle the width of a serving platter out of the pond. Last night they stretched a trot line baited with chicken necks across the pond. This morning fourteen forty-pound snapping turtles were thrashing from the hooks. I shudder, thinking about my recent laps in...
Snowflakes drifted down the mouth of the cave that overlooked his Peter Creek farm in Pike County, Kentucky. His leg ached at the site of its poorly healed break, but at least he had made it home from Catlettsburg in time for New Year’s. It was January 9, 1865, night would...