Clara's Reviews

From Muir to Shackleton to Twain to Wollstonecraft, this collection sparks the imagination with vivid landscapes, hilarious incidents, bizarre characters, poetic musings, suspenseful thrills, and more. As editor Mark Mackenzie writes, these travel writing classics are not only time capsules of the authors’ experiences of ‘long-gone worlds but also inspirations for generations of travelers, artists, conservationists, and explorers. - Clara

Journalist Alissa Quart investigates the increasing barriers and burdens forcing families with children out of middle-class security. Kids are a luxury item in an economy where the proverbial golden ticket to security—education—is more often a ticket to overwhelming debt, unpaid overtime, side gigs, and a lack of job security. Quark’s combination of research and diverse personal narratives is fascinating, relatable, and galvanizing. - Clara

Moraga is one of the most powerful voices of Xicana feminism. In this biography of her mother Elvira, she grapples with the struggles and erasure of women (especially of indigenous women) in the Mexican diaspora. Elvira is the strong, difficult backbone in Moraga’s life journey from the mixed-race Los Angeles household of her childhood to the hard-won “queer familia” of her present. A beautiful reclamation of language, memory, and culture. - Clara

This is the kind of science fiction that invites you to flex your imagination and think in creative swoops you weren’t yet capable of. Chiang isn’t tied down by genre. These stories swing from a Scheherazade-style storytelling to Asimov-esque self-reflective automata to Silicon Valley relationship turmoil. I don’t know if Chiang has answers about free will or the order of the universe, but these stories—no matter how wild or mundane—bring us closer to understanding our own existence. - Clara

In this warm, witty novel, two people reconnect 20-plus years after their disastrous, short-lived marriage and rediscover the friendship and parts of themselves they left in their ex-life. I smiled throughout McCauley’s delightfully delivered and always smart story about grabbing onto love with all you’ve got in whatever unlikely, unconventional place you find it. My Ex-Life is the antidote to whatever dreariness ails you.                                                                                  —Clara

Severance captures the unease of building a life while environmental disaster, inequality, and subsuming consumerism linger on the periphery. When an epidemic fever turns people into zombie automatons, Candace Chen—an office worker at a publishing production firm—must band together with other fever survivors to live in a post-Google, post-human apocalypse. Ma’s layered writing is as insightful and darkly funny as it is eerie.  

This is my favorite flavor of Ondaatje. Atmospherically reminiscent of The English Patient, Warlight stands on its own as a uniquely great coming-of-age story wrapped in a riveting spy mystery. Immerse yourself in London’s criminal underworld and the shadowy figures of postwar espionage. Taking you from the depths of the Thames to the heights of London’s rooftops, Warlight takes you on a delicious journey.  —Clara

If you loved The Historian or People of the Book this should be your next read. Dr. Voth, a modern-day historian, faces relationship troubles and "mandatory unpaid leave" while researching a unique manuscript from 18th century London. Jack Sheppard is an indentured servant who is ushered into a life of crime when he discovers the freedom of a pair of trousers. Part counter-history, part rollicking historical-thriller Rosenberg tackles transgender history and incarceration in this deeply satisfying mystery. - Clara

Naamah is an erotic, embodied story of trauma. As I turned every page I was blown away by the boldness of Blake's storytelling in this retelling of the biblical flood. Trapped on the ark for months after humanity is washed away by the rains, Naamah grapples with grief, duty, loyalty, and identity. Blake brings a poet's language to every beautifully surreal sentence and image. - Clara

Eerie in the best way with character relationships so well developed you forget the novel is pared down to just two voices. The Luminous Dead follows Gyre's solo journey through empty caves in deep space, with only the voice of her handler over the coms as back-up. Of course neither Gyre nor her handler are as they initially appear, and are the caves truly empty? Starling plays with universal human fears to ratchet up the tension for thrills and chills. - Clara