Writer Kseniya Melnik moved with her family from Magadan to Alaska when she was 15. In this collection of short stories, she deftly introduces readers, who most likely are unfamiliar with Siberia — home of the Gulag prison camp system, to the people of the cold and remote city of Magadan in the Russian Northeast. The stories are set in the post-Stalin years, from the 1950s with the Khruschev thaw, through the Brezhnev stagnation and into the age of Glasnost and Perestroika. These are not […]
Undying Faith and Friendship
Once I find an author I like, I find all of his/her books and read away like a crazy person. I never expected to say that of Willa Cather. But seriously: she’s The Best. Death Comes for the Archbishop covers the saga of bringing the Catholic faith to the American Southwest through the eyes of French bishop, Jean Latour and his best friend Joseph Vaillant. They endure hardships, uncharted territory, language barriers, and cultural barriers to bring church to the Mexicans and Indians living in […]
We, the youthful sinewy races–Pioneers!
All the past we leave behind; We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world, Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march, Pioneers! O pioneers! ~Walt Whitman, “Pioneers, O Pioneers!” I just finished O Pioneers! and it was one of the most inspiring, stirring books I’ve read in a long time. The words of the poem, when paired with the novel, illustrate a brave and confident group of people who took chances and paid prices for their dreams. Alexandra […]