Review by Mrs. Dettling

An Abe Lincoln Award nominee for 2008.

Lisa See’s novel set in nineteenth-century China, is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of love and friendship. Lily and Snow Flower live in a remote area of the Hunan Province. At the age of seven, the two girls are paired in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. Snow Flower introduces Lily to the secret language of nu shu, a language developed by Chinese women more than a thousand years ago to keep their thoughts free from the influence of men. According to author Lisa See, nu shu “appears to be the only written language in the world to have been created by women exclusively for their own use.”

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Review by Mrs. Dettling

From the very first moment I began reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I had one thought floating around in my head, this is such a great book for guys! A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story written in a first person narrative, complete with drawings by graphic artist Ellen Forney, basketball, angry young men, and an unrequited crush.

Life has never been easy for 14-year-old Spokane Indian Arnold “Junior” Spirit. Junior is bright, very poor, an aspiring cartoonist, and the son of an alcoholic, living on a reservation in Wellpinit, WA. Junior never considers asking for more out of life until he has an angry outburst in math class that leaves him suspended. Junior’s math teacher visits him at home and inspires him to want more than the life of poverty that engulfs all the young Native Americans on the rez. Junior takes the advice seriously and enrolls in the all-white high school in a neighboring farm town. Junior finds himself an outcast in his own community and a curiosity in his new school.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

(Follow the above link to Amazon.com and scroll about 1/3 of the page down to watch a video clip of the author introducing his latest novel).

Review by Mrs. Dettling

Highly Recommended

I am eagerly awaiting the December release of the motion picture The Kite Runner even with all the controversy involving the young actors in Afghanistan. When the novel was first published in 2003 it caused such a sensation that I read it only because of all the hype it was creating. The hype was not exaggerated. The Kite Runner is the best book I have ever read.

Early this summer Khaled Hosseini released his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was so eager to read the new book that I purchased it the day it was released. Although this is not the best novel I have ever read, it has a great deal to say about the rights and condition of women in Afghanistan that can not be ignored. Like the first novel, this book takes place in a war torn Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns is the story of two women of different generations and class brought together by war and despair. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a feminine version of The Kite Runner. Instead of a story of fathers, sons and friendship, this is a story of motherhood, friendship and devotion. Critical to both novels is the element of enormous self-sacrifice. Even with its parallels to The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns stands on its own merits.