Is a good wife somebody who is exact in self-sacrificing and serving her family? Is a bad wife one who is crazy, perhaps while pursuing autonomy? These are the choices presented in the character of Marta Bjornstad in Emma Chapman’s How to Be a Good Wife (2013). We review this novel as part of the... Continue Reading →
My friend Amy has been telling me to read Siri Hustvedt for about two years now. I finally borrowed her copy of What I Loved (2003). I borrowed it on a Friday afternoon and by Monday morning I had finished it. I could not put it down. It isn’t a thriller. Yet there are some... Continue Reading →
Read previous chapters here. Chapter 14 Leda drives Walt to the physical therapist several times a week. His mobility seems to have improved, although lately he is less agreeable and more uncontrollable. His body is rejecting its treatment, telling him that he is no longer the master of it. This frustrates Walt, a man who... Continue Reading →
A disobedient wife, in the context of contemporary Tajikistan, is a wife who wants autonomy and acts on it. The Disobedient Wife (2015), beautifully written if somewhat disjointed in the transitions through time, is a strong statement of what women need and want in order to exercise their agency. We see this theme through the... Continue Reading →
Read previous chapters here. Chapter 11 Leda is cooking now. She knows Walt cannot eat solid food yet, but she feels better just using her hands to create something instead of watch somebody decline no matter what she does. She is chopping potatoes and loading them into her crockpot, hoping she will have the... Continue Reading →
Read previous chapters of View from the Pepper Tree here. Chapter 9 Leda wonders how her mother had ever dealt with the difficulties of raising so many children alone. Caring for Walt, his body weak and infant-like, reminds her of caring for a child. He cannot not roll over or sit up. He can... Continue Reading →
The ironic title The Happy Marriage (2016), a novel by Tahar Ben Jelloun, is not as ironic as it seems. On the surface, “that’s the weak point of our marriage: the lack of happiness!” (p. 108). While the narrative from the perspective of an old artist, who has had a stroke, is about his “horrible... Continue Reading →
Read Chapter 1 Read Chapter 2 Read Chapter 3 Read Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Walt is still lying in the futuristic-looking bed, tubes growing from his face and wrist. His eyes remain closed, no gentle flicker to indicate the peaceful sleep of dreamers. Leda stares at him with hard resolve, hoping the sense of being... Continue Reading →
Many years ago I fancied myself a budding author of fiction. I wrote a few novels, some finished and some half-finished. While I know now that I'm no novelist, and I know that my fiction writing is not the best, I do want to share it. So every Friday I will be sharing a chapter... Continue Reading →
Being afraid is exhilarating. I had just dashed up the carpeted stairs of our hundred-year-old house, pushing the laundry chute closed as I passed. I made it to my purple room and crashed into my dresser. I began scooping up all of the contents, throwing them into my small My Little Pony suitcase. I could... Continue Reading →
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 