Ха Цзинь3.4 "In Waiting, Ha Jin portrays the life of Lin Kong, a dedicated doctor torn by his love for two women: one who belongs to the New China of the Cultural Revolution, the other to the ancient traditions of his family's village. Ha Jin profoundly understands the conflict between the individual and society, between the timeless universality of the human heart and constantly shifting politics of the moment. With wisdom, restraint, and empathy for all his characters, he vividly reveals the complexities and subtleties of a world and a people we desperately need to know."--Judges' Citation, National Book Award
"Ha Jin's novel could hardly be less theatrical, yet we're immediately engaged by its narrative structure, by its wry humor and by the subtle, startling shifts it produces in our understanding of characters and their situation."--The New York Times Book Review
"Subtle and complex--his best work to date. A moving meditation on the effects of time upon love."--The Washington Post
"A high achievement indeed."--Ian Buruma, The New York Review of Books
"A portrait of Chinese provincial life that terrifies with its emptiness even more than with its all-pervasive vulgarity. The poet in [Jin] intersperses these human scenes with achingly beautiful vignettes of natural beauty."--Los Angeles Times
"A simple love story that transcends cultural barriers--. From the idyllic countryside to the small towns in northeast China, Jin's depictions are filled with an earthy poetic grace--. Jin's account of daily life in China is convincing and rich in detail."--The Chicago Tribune
"Compassionate, earthy, robust, and wise, Waiting blends provocative allegory with all-too-human comedy. The result touches and reveals, bringing to life a singular world in its spectacular intricacy."--Gish Jen, author of Who's Irish?
"A remarkable love story. Ha Jin's understanding of the human heart and the human condition transcends borders and time. Waiting is an outstanding literary achievement."--Lisa See, author of On Gold Mountain
Фредерик Буш0.0 An immensely powerful story, The Night Inspector follows the extraordinary life of William Bartholomew, a maimed veteran of the Civil War, as he returns from the battlefields to New York City, bent on reversing his fortunes. It is there he meets Jessie, a Creole prostitute who engages him in a venture that has its origins in the complexities and despair of the conflict he has left behind. He also befriends a deputy inspector of customs named Herman Melville who, largely forgotten as a writer, is condemned to live in the wake of his vanished literary success and in the turmoil of his fractured family.
Delving into the depths of this country's heart and soul, Frederick Busch's stunning novel is a gripping portrait of a nation trying to heal from the ravages of war--and of one man's attempt to recapture a taste for life through the surging currents of his own emotions, ambitions, and shattered conscience.
Кен Калфус0.0 With the publication of his first story collection, Thirst -- also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year -- Ken Kalfus made "a dazzling debut," emerging as "a major literary talent" (Salon.com). Now, in this eagerly anticipated follow-up -- drawn from his four years living in Moscow and traveling the breadth of the Russian landscape -- Kalfus creates unforgettable etchings of individual lives throughout a century of turbulent history, in tales that range from hair-raising to comic to fabulous. Imaginative, densely detailed, and consistently rewarding, PU-239 And Other Russian Fantasies is a brilliant showcase for "one of the most interesting writers working today" (The San Diego Union-Tribune).
Элизабет Страут3.9 Элизабет Страут сравнивали с Джоном Чивером, Стейнбеком и Рэем Брэдбери, называли "Ричардом Йейтсом в юбке" и даже "американским Чеховым"; она публиковалась в "Нью-Йоркере" и в журнале Опры Уинфри "О: The Oprah Magazine", неизменно входила в списки бестселлеров по обе стороны Атлантики и становилась финалистом престижных литературных премий PEN/Faulk-nеr и Orange Prize, а уже известный российскому читателю роман "Оливия Киттеридж" был награжден Пулицеровской премией. Великолепный язык, колоритные типажи, неослабевающее психологическое напряжение обеспечили ее книгам заслуженный успех, начиная сразу с дебютного романа "Эми и Исабель", который заслужил сравнения с "Лолитой" Набокова и был экранизирован телестудией Опры Уинфри. Итак, вдова Исабель Гудроу приводит пятнадцатилетнюю дочку Эми к себе в контору, чтобы та подрабатывала под неусыпным надзором матери. Они едва разговаривают, а некогда прекрасные золотые волосы Эми уродливо острижены. Местные кумушки-сплетницы, с которыми Исабель так и не подружилась за много лет жизни в городке, теряются в догадках о том, какая черная кошка пробежала между Исабель и Эми. Дело же в том, что Эми чересчур доверчиво реагировала на то внимание, которое оказывал ей новый учитель математики, остроумный бородач мистер Робинсон. Поначалу его знаки внимания были достаточно невинны, и могло показаться, будто он просто пытается разговорить и приручить юную дикарку. Мать не на шутку обеспокоена ее поведением, тем более что недавно в городке бесследно пропала девятилетняя девочка.
Лили Так0.0 "A Joan Didionesque heroine . . . in Graham Greene's Far East . . . a telling portrait of a woman, a marriage, and a culture."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Claire, the young bride of a government contractor, arrives in Bangkok with her husband on March 9, 1967, the day U.S. planes begin bombing runs on North Vietnam. At a dinner party, she meets and befriends Jim Thompson, the real-life American entrepreneur and founder of the Thai Silk Company. Weeks later, on Easter Sunday, Thompson vanishes without a trace in the Thai highlands. As the political implications of Thompson's disappearance surface, Claire becomes increasingly obsessed with his fate. Her quest into what happened, fueled by the longing and loneliness she feels in an exotic land marked by growing unrest, leads to a tragic truth that becomes a metaphor for two cultures in collision. Written in powerful, arresting prose, this taut suspense novel further establishes Lily Tuck as a major voice in literary fiction.
"Swift, sharp, and elegant . . . Reading Siam is like having your senses brushed by silk."--John Casey
