Casey's Reviews

Danny and Maeve grow up in a mansion bought by their father for their mother, who finds nothing but emptiness within its walls. When their mother flees and their father remarries, the house becomes a battleground for inheritance and belonging. Once again, Ann Patchett shows us that she is a master in creating multilayered family novels that speak volumes about our need for connection and understanding. This book will sit proudly on my bookshelf amongst my other Ann Patchett novels, each shining new light on her marvelous storytelling skills. - Casey

Jacqueline Woodson is a national treasure. Her books make an impact, not only through her characters but because the act of reading her work is transformative. Her latest adult novel, Red at the Bone, is no exception. Woodson charts the history of one Brooklyn family as they grapple with an unplanned teen pregnancy and the decisions made that impact generations to come. Their family story—how much they are there for each other and for themselves—is a universal story about how we give and receive love. It is beautiful and honest, heartbreaking and poetic, and one of my favorite books of the year. - Casey

The Sweetest Fruits, Monique Truong is a brilliantly fictional retelling of the life of the Greek-Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn told through the stories of the three women, across multiple continents, who changed the direction of his life. This book is the best type of storytelling- one that connects to all senses, through journeys in time and place, and where the decisions and reflections of these women speak to the push and pull of women’s needs throughout time. A creative and beautiful tale. - Casey

Sarah Broom’s memoir of her family in New Orleans—and the house that defined them while it was standing and as it was torn apart during Hurricane Katrina—is a searing portrait of identity, politics, race, and class. The urban history of New Orleans seeps both literally and figuratively through their family’s home and their tale of survival is a powerful story of displacement and connection throughout generations. This book is a must-read biography of our time. - Casey

We are long overdue to have the perspective of women who lived through and impacted important moments in history. Varina, by brilliant Cold Mountain novelist Charles Frazier, aims to give voice to Varina Howell, the wife of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis, during the last days of the Civil War. As we watch her flee both her failing marriage and the bounty on her head, we witness her struggles with complicity and prejudices in the darkest moments in our nation’s history. A great addition to historical fiction.                                          —Casey

On just about every best-of-the-year list in 2018, The Mars Room still never quite got the attention it deserves. Romy—a woman who is serving a life sentence for murder in an all-women’s jail in the Central Valley—tells with total honesty, surprising humor and gritty reality, the fate of women who have never gotten a fair shake in life. Incarceration, abuse, and justice are just a small sample of the important issues addressed in this novel, but it is Romy’s voice and her tenderness that leave you breathless as you witness her plight.                            —Casey

Julia Phillips is an author to watch. She beautifully transports us to a region of the world, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Northern Russia, that I had never heard of and now can’t stop thinking about. The stories of the women there—their family dynamics, their hopes and fears, the economic and cultural divide of various communities—are not only about this place but ultimately about the universal struggle women have in determining how to live with the expectations placed on them as women. A remarkable debut. - Casey

Two Irish families, living side by side in suburban New York, are tied by the similarities of their path into the neighborhood and by a tragic event of a single night that reverberates across multiple generations for decades. Mary Beth Keane paints a subtle portrait of families dealing with mental health issues and long-held secrets, and the desire for connection across those divides. The result is a deeply felt and immersive novel, one that ties you not only to the characters but ultimately to their lessons for life. Perfect for fans of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng and one of my favorite reads this year. - Casey

Seeing few examples in literature, Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love; The Signature of All Things) set out to write a book about promiscuous girls “whose lives are not destroyed by their sexual desires.” Meet Vivian Morris, a naïve 19-year-old, dropped into the middle of the New York City theater scene in the 1940s. The drama, energy, and spirit of the city weaves into the unfolding of her identity. You’ll never forget this cast of characters or the ways in which Vivian struggles to claim her life as her own. This will be one of the most talked-about, big-hearted, immersive novels of summer. - Casey

Don’t miss our event with Elizabeth Gilbert on June 12th at the Rio Theatre!

In a remote Mennonite community in the late 2000's, more than 100 girls and women were sexually assaulted as they were drugged at night, and then told that it was demons who visited them instead of the real culprits—the men of the colony. Miriam Toews takes real life events and creates a fictional world in which the women—uneducated and without decision-making power—come together over two nights to decide whether to fight or flee in order to save themselves and their daughters. In quiet desperation, these women discuss philosophy, faith, relationships and their needs, and ultimately reclaim their agency as individuals and their role in a community of women. This is a book you will never forget. - Casey