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An Intro to Marie NDiaye & a Morrison Mystery
May previews, Toni Morrison's Recitatif, Marie NDiaye's The Witch, and more ...
BookBrowse Highlights
Hello Readers!
This week, our members discuss the latest from Jesse Q. Sutanto. Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block follows a woman who enrolls in culinary school to save her collapsing marriage and finds it to be more than she bargained for.
Our First Impressions pick Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is an intense literary thriller about a Harvard law school applicant who doesn’t take rejection well, to say the least.
In Editor’s Choice, we cover International Booker nominee The Witch by Marie NDiaye, which explores ordinary themes of family and parenting in some very unordinary ways.
Plus, check out a “beyond the book” article—accompanying our coverage of Mieko Kawakami’s Sisters in Yellow—about school non-attendance in Japan, a featured reader review of Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, and a whole lot of May releases!
Thanks for reading,
The BookBrowse Team
Book Club Discussions
Discussions are open to all! If you’d like to participate, you can do so by creating an account here. Please note that discussions can contain spoilers.
Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto
From the Jacket A nearly divorced trophy wife enrolls in culinary school to win back her husband, only to find a fresh start in the unlikeliest of places in this new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. From the Discussion “I loved this book. I finished it in two days. Ms. Mebel was the kind of character you cared about and I had to find out how she got to where she needed to be.” —Cheryl_T |  |
“Ms. Sutanto is a wonderful writer and describes surroundings and people with great wit and beautiful sentences. Every page is a delight.” —Kathleen_M
See what people are saying in response to this question: Mebel discovers that cooking provides a “sense of peace” and that it calms “the usual cacophony of noises” in her mind. (p. 107) Does this ring true for you? Are there activities you engage in that clear your head in a similar manner?
First Impressions
Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu
“A SLOW burn psychological thriller, the book depicts how unreasonable societal expectations and ‘self-inflicted’ pressure can derail reason and bring out ‘the dark side’ of one's nature…Elizabeth Zhang has spent the last four years at Columbia waiting to be accepted into Harvard law school. She has high test scores and grade points. So when she's rejected and another girl, Laura Kim (with less distinction), is accepted, Elizabeth is astounded and upset. She sets out to find out what she did wrong and learns, from her counselor, she's ‘boring.’ This sets Elizabeth on an obsessive course to get Laura to lose her scholarship, so she can get in…Elizabeth is a character you somewhat love to hate.” —JanineS |  |
“If you're looking for a book that makes you say, ‘Whaaaaat?’ out loud every few chapters, this is it. I loved it.” —Charity M. (Herndon, VA)
“The ending alone has enough fodder for a good book club discussion, not to mention the entirety of the book. This is a must read!” —Christine B. (Lilydale, MN)
Editor’s Choice
The Witch by Marie NDiaye
Marie NDiaye is one of the most famous writers in Europe and has rumors of a Nobel win swirling around her, yet many American readers have never heard of her. But several of her books have been published in Jordan Stump's translations from the French in recent years, and this new novel, The Witch, originally released in 1996, has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize (her work was also nominated for the prize in 2013 and 2016). The English-speaking world may finally be catching up, so now is a great time for American readers to become familiar with NDiaye's work. |  |
And The Witch, while not necessarily reflective of her latest writing, is a short, condensed display of some of the most notable and memorable qualities of her novels, and therefore a more-than-suitable introduction. The story is thoroughly steeped in modern French society—in neighborly rumors and gossip, in class aspirations and pretensions, in female solidarity and lack thereof—so readers of realist literary fiction who aren't immediately sold on reading a story about "a witch" won't necessarily stumble over the magical elements. … continued
Review by Elisabeth Cook
Beyond the Book
Futoko (Non-Attendance) and Free Schools in Japan
In Mieko Kawakami's novel Sisters in Yellow, the three girls at the story's center all quit school. Protagonist Hana Ito was consistently bullied. Ran Kato left high school because it was too far to travel on her bike, and then she entered beauty school and worked at night, but she missed classes, earned failing grades, and quit. Momoko Tamamori attended private school, but her affluent family fat-shamed her and she ran away. Before 1992, school refusal in Japan was called tokokyohi, or "resistance," and was considered a mental illness. The language changed in 1997 to futoko, or "non-attendance." … continued Article by Valerie Morales |  |
Reader Reviews
Got something to say? On BookBrowse, you can write your own review for any book! Go to the Reader Reviews tab to get started. Reviews are published upon approval, and we regularly feature the best recent reader reviews. Below is one example. |  |
Recitatif by Toni Morrison “This is the story of Twyla and Roberta, who are both eight years old, frightened, and lonely. Their mothers have taken them to the St. Bonaventure shelter for what amounts to four months. Twyla and Roberta become roommates, and because they are shunned by the others, they become fast friends. The story continues far into the future when the girls meet again by chance four times as adults—the first time passing rudely like strangers and the rest of the times like the best friends they were all those years earlier. |  |
This is the puzzle for readers: One of the girls is White. And the other is Black. But Morrison never tells us which is which, and so many of the ‘hints’ she provides could go either way.” —Cathryn Conroy
May Previews
We know it can be tough to keep up with all the new books coming out every month, so we do the hard work for you. We've carefully selected 100+ of the most noteworthy books publishing in May and are continually updating our selections—check them out and get yourself on the library waitlist ahead of the crowd! BookBrowse members can see, sort, and download the full list of previews for all months. Non-subscribers can view books up to the current month and a limited selection of future months. |  |
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