Spring is a time of awakening and revival. The books we reviewed here center on overcoming trauma, awakening desires, and redeeming oneself. In other words, the kind of rebirth that a person experiences at least once in their life. The outcome may be triumphant, and it could also look simply like going on with life with loved ones. We hope you find a book you enjoy from this list.
Seven child soldiers, now teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, battle one last time. Told through each of their perspectives, the story may be hard to follow at first, with seven voices to distinguish. One interesting choice that Chee makes is to narrate in second person, putting the reader in each child soldier’s shoes. We see how their past battles have scarred them, changing the way they see everything. They initially distrust each other, having fought on the opposite sides. However, each soldier reaches deep within their soul to find what strength they have remaining in them. Fans of “Seven Samurai” and “The Magnificent Seven” will enjoy this story that packs an emotional punch. — Yvonne Su
Grace Loh Prasad’s father worked in Bible translations and was Prasad’s bridge — linguistically, and in all other ways — to the country they are from. But when he passed away, she became like an island unto herself. Prasad’s memoir is about her experiences and the larger pattern of immigration and the making and unmaking of a family.
The memoir begins with Prasad’s visit to Taiwan in 2000, a pivotal point in Taiwanese history. Prasad describes her grief from that point to now as she lost her nuclear family one by one: her mother, her brother, and her father. Readers who have lost loved ones may find their own experiences affirmed in Prasad’s narration. It’s hard losing one’s family, and even more so when you couldn’t be there during their last days (weeks, months, years). Prasad is honest about how dying happens gradually, and we often feel that we’ve lost the…
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