Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, published in 2004, is a multigenerational novel about identity, immigration, family, and the complicated process of finding a place between two cultures. Spanning several decades, with parts set in both India and the United States, the novel follows the Ganguli family as they build a new life in America while remaining
Narrated by expatriate librarian John Wheelwright, John Irving’s poignant 1989 novel follows his lifelong bond with Owen Meany, a fiercely intelligent, mysteriously tiny boy with a permanent all-caps, high-pitched voice. Convinced he is an instrument of God, Owen foresees the exact date and heroic nature of his own death. The narrative elegantly alternates between 1987
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This 2023 award-winning debut novel by Amanda Peters is an introspective examination of grief, family bonds, and the long-lasting trauma of Indigenous separation. The narrative spans nearly fifty years, following the aftermath of a devastating kidnapping that shatters a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia. In July 1962, a Mi’kmaq family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine,
John Irving’s The Hotel New Hampshire, published in 1981, is a sprawling, darkly comedic, and eccentric family saga that explores the resilience of love, the necessity of illusions, and the chaotic nature of fate. Narrated by John Berry, the novel follows the unorthodox lives of the Berry family, led by their optimistic yet delusional father,
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