Special Coverage of Books by and About Powerful Women from the Editor’S Desk
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Featuring 315 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction, Children'sand YA Books KIRKUSVOL. LXXXVI, NO. 7 | 1 APRIL 2018 REVIEWS THE WOMAN ISSUE Special Coverage of Books by and About Powerful Women from the editor’s desk: Chairman Welcome to the Woman Issue HERBERT SIMON President & Publisher BY MEGAN LABRISE MARC WINKELMAN # Chief Executive Officer MEG LABORDE KUEHN [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Kirkus believes in women’s worth and the power of words. So CLAIBORNE SMITH [email protected] when our critic calls Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion “the perfect Vice President of Marketing SARAH KALINA feminist blockbuster for our times,” take note: The use of a word asso- [email protected] ciated with big-budget action movies targeting men isn’t accidental. Managing/Nonfiction Editor ERIC LIEBETRAU In fact, it’s the perfect choice for an expansive novel by an American [email protected] Fiction Editor author at the height of her powers. LAURIE MUCHNICK [email protected] The word “blockbuster” was conceived in the 1940s as a term to Children’s Editor VICKY SMITH describe an aerial bomb capable of leveling a large building. The more [email protected] Young Adult Editor Megan Labrise we write, publish, read, and review stories that honor the diverse expe- LAURA SIMEON [email protected] riences of female, trans, and nonbinary characters, the sooner we’ll level the patriarchal Staff Writer MEGAN LABRISE playing field. [email protected] Vice President of Kirkus Indie Centering on Greer Kadetsky and Faith Frank, feminists from different generations KAREN SCHECHNER [email protected] with distinct approaches to fighting for women’s rights, contains more The Female Persuasion Senior Indie Editor DAVID RAPP than the potential to sell a lot of copies and be widely read. It could be well-read, cultivating [email protected] Indie Editor the kinds of conversations between readers that can help shake systems of oppression in MYRA FORSBERG the #MeToo moment. [email protected] Indie Editorial Assistant KATERINA PAPPAS The Woman Issue is the first in a series of four special issues we’ll publish in 2018. In this [email protected] issue, you’ll find profiles of extraordinary authors giving women narrative agency across Editorial Assistant CHELSEA ENNEN genres: fiction writer Nafissa Thompson-SpiresHeads ( of the Colored People), cultural critic [email protected] Mysteries Editor Michelle Dean (Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion), children’s illus- THOMAS LEITCH Contributing Editor trator Thao Lam (Wallpaper), YA historian Winifred Conkling (Votes for Women!: American GREGORY McNAMEE Copy Editor Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot), and seven others. They’re complemented by three BETSY JUDKINS lists of books by women, for everyone, including a bevy of recent novels that boldly pass Designer ALEX HEAD the Bechdel Test. (Does your fiction include two female characters, talking to one another, Vice President of Kirkus Editorial CARISSA BLUESTONE about something other than a man? You pass.) [email protected] Senior Production Editor For anyone who’s skeptical about the need to dedicate an entire issue to womankind at LAUREN BAILEY this late date, look no further than “Field Notes.” This week’s column represents a trickle of [email protected] Senior Production Editor LAURA MONROE the spate of sexual harassment allegations recently brought by female colleagues of famous [email protected] Associate Production Editor male authors, editors, and illustrators. We can stop talking about it when it stops happen- CATHERINE BRESNER ing. Meanwhile, let’s take an indefinite break from stories that treat female characters like [email protected] Creative Lead plot devices, ornaments, or ciphers and contribute to this culture. Let’s rehabilitate the ARDEN PIACENZA [email protected] term “chick lit” or banish it for good. Let’s give “boy books” to girls and “girl books” to boys Website and Software Developer PERCY PEREZ so the next generation grows up never knowing there was any distinction. [email protected] Advertising Director MONIQUE STENSRUD Megan Labrise is a staff writer and the co-host of the Kirkus podcast, Fully Booked. [email protected] Controller MICHELLE GONZALES [email protected] for customer service or subscription questions, please call 1 800 316 9361 Print indexes: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/print-indexes Submission Guidelines: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/submission-guidlines - - - Kirkus Blog: www.kirkusreviews.com/blog Subscriptions: www.kirkusreviews.com/subscription Advertising Opportunities: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/advertising- Newsletters: www.kirkusreviews.com/subscription/newsletter/add Cover design by opportunities Arden Piancenza 2 | 1 april 2018 | from the editor’s desk | kirkus.com | you can now purchase books online at kirkus.com contents fiction young adult INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ...........................................................4 INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ........................................................127 REVIEWS ...............................................................................................4 REVIEWS ............................................................................................127 EDITOR’S NOTE.....................................................................................6 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................. 128 INTERVIEW: MEG WOLITZER ........................................................... 14 INTERVIEW: TANAZ BHATHENA ................................................... 132 INTERVIEW: NAFISSA THOMPSON-SPIRES .................................. 18 INTERVIEW: WINIFRED CONKLING .............................................136 INTERVIEW: ADRIENNE SHARP ...................................................... 22 SHELF SPACE: A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN ..................................... 144 LIST: NOVELS THAT BOLDLY PASS THE BECHDEL TEST .............26 indie MYSTERY .............................................................................................44 INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ....................................................... 145 SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY ......................................................... 50 REVIEWS ........................................................................................... 145 ROMANCE ............................................................................................51 EDITOR’S NOTE.................................................................................146 nonfiction INTERVIEW: MOHANALAKSHMI RAJAKUMAR .......................... 156 INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ..........................................................53 FIELD NOTES.....................................................................................166 REVIEWS ..............................................................................................53 APPRECIATIONS: BARBARA KINGSOLVER ................................. 167 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................... 54 INTERVIEW: MICHELLE DEAN ........................................................ 60 INTERVIEW: SLOANE CROSLEY ..................................................... 64 Sexual assault survivor and activist Chessy Prout, INTERVIEW: BERNICE YEUNG .........................................................68 with coauthor, Jenn LIST: CULTURAL CRITICS & FEMINIST SAINTS ..............................72 Abelson, shares her story LIST: WOMEN IN THEIR OWN WORDS ..........................................86 of refusing to be silenced as she exposed deeply children’s entrenched traditions INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ......................................................... 87 at her prestigious prep school. Read the review on REVIEWS ............................................................................................. 87 p. 139. EDITOR’S NOTE...................................................................................88 INTERVIEW: ROSHANI CHOKSHI ................................................... 96 INTERVIEW: THAO LAM ..................................................................100 Don’t wait on the mail for reviews! You can read pre-publication reviews as they are released on kirkus.com—even before they are published in the magazine. INTERVIEW: SOPHIE BLACKALL ...................................................104 You can also access the current issue and back issues of Kirkus Reviews on our MOTHER’S DAY & FATHER’S DAY PICTURE BOOKS ....................121 website by logging in as a subscriber. If you do not have a username or password, please contact customer care to set up your account by calling 1.800.316.9361 or emailing [email protected]. | kirkus.com | contents | 1 april 2018 | 3 fiction These titles earned the Kirkus Star: THE OPTIMISTIC DECADE Abel, Heather Algonquin (368 pp.) COMPULSORY GAMES by Robert Aickman; $26.95 | May 1, 2018 ed. by Victoria Nelson ............................................................................5 978-1-61620-630-7 MAD BOY by Nick Arvin ......................................................................5 In a comic debut, the lives of five THE LOST FAMILY by Jenna Blum ...................................................... 6 characters come undone at a remote Colorado summer camp. SOCIAL CREATURE by Tara Isabella Burton ..................................... 9 It takes more than 300 pages for first- time novelist Abel to reveal the meaning