Review by New York Times Review
THE NICKEL BOYS, by Colson Whitehead. (Doubleday, $24.95.) Whitehead, a Pulitzer winner for "The Underground Railroad," continues to explore America's racist legacy in this powerful novel about a serious student who dreams that college might lead him out of the Jim Crow South. Instead, he's wrongly arrested and sent to a brutal reform school modeled on a real institution. MY PARENTS: An Introduction/THIS DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU, by Aleksandar Hemon. (MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28.) In a two-part memoir, Hemon shows how Bosnia and its wartime strife have shaped a life of exile for his family in Canada. APPEASEMENT: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War, by Tim Bouverie. (Tim Duggan, $30.) This book about Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy in the 1930s is most valuable as an examination of the often catastrophic consequences of failing to stand up to threats to freedom, whether at home or abroad. THE CROWDED HOUR: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century, by Clay Risen. (Scribner, $30.) This fast-paced narrative traces the rise of Roosevelt into a national figure and something of a legend against the backdrop of the emergence of the United States as a world power. THE ICE AT THE END OF THE WORLD: An Epic Journey Into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future, by Jon Gertner. (Random House, $28.) Gertner approaches Greenland via the explorers and scientists obsessed with it, then uses the country to illuminate the evidence for climate change. GRACE WILL LEAD US HOME: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness, by Jennifer Berry Hawes. (St. Martin's, $28.99.) This magisterial account of the 2015 hate crime and its aftermath, by a Pulitzer-winning local reporter, delivers a heart-rending portrait of life for the survivors and a powerful meditation on the meaning of mercy. MOSTLY DEAD THINGS, by Kristen Arnett. (Tin House, $25.) The "red mess" that Arnett's narrator finds in the family's taxidermy workshop early in this debut novel is not the inside of a deer - it's her dad, who has committed suicide. The book balances grief with humor and lush, visceral details. LANNY, by Max Porter. (Graywolf, $24.) In this rich, cacophonous novel of English village life - equal parts fairy tale, domestic drama and fable - a mischievous boy goes missing. NOUNS & VERBS: New and Selected Poems, by Campbell McGrath. (Ecco/HarperCollins, $24.99.) McGrath, who has spent decades exploring America and its appetites, is an especially exuberant poet; his work celebrates chain restaurants, rock music and the joyful raucous stupidity of pop culture. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 4, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
It was an act that shocked even the most hardened in a nation assailed by mass shootings: nine members of the historical Emanuel AME Church were cruelly shot down within the sanctuary of its four walls on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. They were murdered just for being Black. Journalist Hawes, who covered the massacre for the Charleston Post and Courier, recreates in heartbreaking detail the events of that dreadful day. More important, she meets the survivors and family members and tells their stories while also exploring how the broader community was affected. One of the most remarkable outcomes of the trial was that some of the family members offered their forgiveness to the killer, though Hawes makes it abundantly clear that reactions varied. Some screamed at the defendant, she writes, calling him evil. Several hoped he burned in hell for eternity. Others called him a coward, an animal, a monster, even Satan. In a welcome touch, Hawes includes the full text of Barack Obama's eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, senior pastor at Emanuel and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate. With empathy and kindness, Hawes bears witness to one of the most horrific incidents in recent American history.--June Sawyers Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist Hawes delivers a wrenching account of the 2015 massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. In chilling detail, Hawes describes how Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old killer, devised and carried out his plan, murdering nine African-Americans and sparing one victim so she could "tell the story." Hawes depicts Roof as a deeply disturbed loner with Confederate vanity plates. Many details are hard to read--Roof pulling the gun while study group members had their eyes closed for a prayer, bullet-pierced Bibles, the 911 call from the scene. As a local reporter, Hawes brings fresh insight into how this violent act impacted the community, leading South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to call for the removal of the Confederate flag from Capitol grounds and reigniting national debates about race relations and gun violence. The narrative follows the survivors, which makes for painful but moving reading; the book derives much of its power from following survivor Felicia Sanders--who ultimately switched to another church after being disappointed by Emanuel AME's handling of the aftermath--and the grief of those whose loved ones were among the nine killed. This devastating work brings to vivid life the forces set in motion by the shooting (June)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
On June 17, 2015, the deaths of nine African Americans attending prayer service at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, made national news. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hawes, who has written for the Charleston-based Post and Courier for more than a decade, goes beyond the headlines to document the story of the unrepentant murderer, Dylann Roof, along with the 2017 trial in which Roof received nine consecutive sentences of life without parole. The author touches on the actions of former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, and her decision to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds three weeks after the shooting as well as the presence of Barack Obama singing Amazing Grace at the funeral. More than that, Hawes shows how families affected by gun violence are living in the aftermath of the trauma, and how the three survivors have dealt with the tragedy. VERDICT A groundbreaking, accessible work of investigative reporting that spans a variety of topics, including gun violence and the historic role of the Emanuel AME Church. It will appeal to general readers interested in these topics, as well as historians and political scientists.-William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An award-winning journalist delves into the events surrounding the 2015 massacre of nine people at Charleston, South Carolina's historic Emanuel AME Churchand how the community recovered after the horror.Hawes, who writes for the Charleston-based Post and Courier and has won the Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award, among other honors, begins with the heart-rending details of Roof's crime, describing the victims, the church, and the fateful night during which the perpetrator infamously completed his plan to create a sensation of racist violence. Though often difficult to read due to the emotional magnitude of the material, Hawes' book describes the crime in compassionate, detailed, and engaging prose. Shockingly, even after the crime, the pain for survivors and victims' families was far from over. Inept church leadership would make a mockery of Emanuel's story through poor pastoral choices, questionable use of donations, and an utter disregard for the needs of those most closely connected to the tragedy. In addition to the bungling next steps of their beloved church, survivors had to endure Roof's trial, a lengthy and painful reminder of the horrors of that day. Hawes is a talented storyteller, recounting every phase of this saga while focusing on the individual tales of survivors and family members. She also examines the forgiveness some parishioners offered to Roof, which captured the nation's imagination in the weeks following his crime, and she paints an impressively detailed portrait of the shallow criminal, whom she memorably describes at one point as "a gargoyle come to life." Hawes dispassionately examines the larger issues surrounding the tragedy, including the debate over the Confederate flag, fringe white supremacist groups, and urban racial tensions, all against the backdrop of one man's evil choice. Perhaps most impressively, the author does not let her subject drag her into pontificating; instead, she maintains her journalistic poise and balance amid a highly emotional storyline.At once horrifying and inspiring, engaging and thought-provoking, this is a definitive must-read about the Charleston tragedy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
