The Elliott Bay Book Company

Can an individual and a society ever heal from a violent past? This is the question Sherman Alexie left me pondering after readig this devastating and beautifully crafted book. What is read as a wild ride into the darkness of America's violent past (and present), through the eyes of a 15 year old Irish/Indian boy eventually leads the reader to the realization that we all have a profound responsibility for one another. Flight did a thorough job of shaking me to the core yet leaving me with hope.

In Nam Le's first collection, each story has a scope and depth one might expect from a veteran writer. They include a struggling Vietnamese American writer in Iowa, an assassin in Colombia, small-town life in Australia, an American woman visiting Tehran, and more. These stories traverse more than the complexities of geography; they stare straight at imperfection, disconnection, age, cultural clash, and the limitless possibilities for life in an infinitely varied by strangely congruent human world. A lesser writer would get lost in creating a book of these grand expanses, but Nam Le has the empathy and unique talent to master it.

The Member of the Wedding is one of the most perfectly crafted stories I have read. Everything in this short novel belongs here, not a word more. I read it on a cold rainy day but McCullers took me to the hot lethargy of summer with Frankie, a restless twelve year old driven mad with the transitions, obsessions and philosophizing bringing her into adolescence. McCullers beautifully situates what symbolizes childhood and the limitless adulthood Frankie longs for, which brings a wonderful richness to a story so delicately mastered.