Title: Picking Bones From Ash
Author: Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: 978-1555975760
Genre: Fiction

From the back of the book:

Spirits lurk in the bamboo forest outside the tiny northern Japanese town where Satomi lives with her elusive mother, Atsuko. A preternaturally gifted pianist, Satomi wrestles with inner demons. Her fall from grace is echoed in the life of her daughter, Rumi, who unleashes a ghost she must chase from foggy San Francisco to a Buddhist temple atop Japan’s icy Mount Doom. In sharp, lush prose, Picking Bones from Ash traces the reverberations of these women’s decisions regarding the competing demands of their artistic gifts, family, and society.

My Review:

Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett is a beautifully descriptive debut novel about three women and the cultural and generational barriers that divides them.  Mockett’s characters come to life through her vision embodied in this graceful, yet illuminating work that examines postwar Japanese culture and how it impacted one family across a generation.  Readers journey with Satomi, a young girl in postwar Japan whose gift for piano protects her and her mother from exclusion from the mountain village in which they live.  From Japan, the journey leads to modern day San Francisco where Satomi’s daughter Rumi, with talents of her own, has lived much of her life under the assumption that her mother was dead.  Mockett blends a story about difficult decisions with supernatural forces embodied in Rumi’s visions that make for an entertaining and suspenseful reading experience.  Were it not for the supernatural forces invoked, I would have enjoyed the novel even more.  For a debut, Mockett has crafted an impressive tale that will likely generate much buzz among discussion groups and I can highly recommend Picking Bones from Ash for readers and discussion groups alike looking for well-crafted historical fiction.

To learn more about author Marie Mutsuki Mockett, please visit her website: mariemockett.com

I received a complimentary copy of Picking Bones From Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett from Graywolf Press. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

Title: The Last Brother
Author: Nathacha Appanah
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Paperback: 208 pages
ISBN: 978-1555975753
Genre: Historical Fiction

From the back of the book:

As 1944 comes to a close, nine-year-old Raj is unaware of the war devastating the rest of the world. He lives in Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, where survival is a daily struggle for his family. After a brutal beating lands Raj in the hospital of a prison camp, he meets David, a boy his own age. David is a refugee, one of a group of Jewish exiles now indefinitely detained in Mauritius.  When a massive storm on the island brings chaos and confusion to the camp, Raj is determined to help David escape.

Nathacha Appanah’s deeply moving novel, beautifully translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan, sheds light on a fascinating and unexplored corner of World War II history. 

My Review:

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah is touching, emotionally moving, and fascinating work of historical fiction that will become a book to keep on the shelf for years to come.  Appanah crafts an exceptionally beautiful story of Raj, a young boy living on the island of Mauritius during WWII and son of a prison camp guard, who meets David, a young Jewish boy exiled from Europe being detained at the prison.  While David has experienced the atrocities of WWII, Appanah gives a very appropriate contrast in the character Raj, who is completely oblivious to the war, yet has an overtly abusive father, giving Raj as much reason to loath his life in Mauritius. Readers will cheer for these boys as they encounter an opportunity for David to escape from his captors and will witness their pain, despair, and will to live as they fight for their survival.  Raj and David become known to readers by the beautiful writing that makes them truly authentic characters.  Told as a flashback from Raj some seventy years since, Appanah’s The Last Brother is an absolutely compelling book with much to offer readers.  I highly recommend The Last Brother to all readers and think for its historical coverage, it would spur lively conversation in book discussion groups.

I received a complimentary copy of The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah from Graywolf Press. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.