“This past September at the age of 98, Ben Steele died in Billings, Montana. The length of his life was remarkable. The horrors he surmounted make it still more so. Steele’s life story offers profound lessons of tenacity, endurance, the power of creativity, and the value of dialogue and diversity that all of America…(Read More)
This “powerhouse list of fall 2016 fiction is for women, by women” — and includes Shining Sea: “If you’re looking for a big, beautiful family saga, look no further. But Korkeakivi (An Unexpected Guest) also examines how war and trauma are passed down and seen (or not seen, as the case may be) in generations…(Read More)
I love book groups and I love book pairings and everyone loves Homegoing, so I really loved seeing this idea on The Leaning Stack of Books’s review of Yaa Gyasi’s phenomenon novel: “Hello, book clubs! This would be an interesting book to pair with another inter-generational family story (for example, Anne Korkeakivi…(Read More)
The Rumpus says, “Shining Sea has an impressive scope, engaging prose, and compelling themes.” And Curled Up With a Good Book says, “Like stitches in a delicately laced quilt, Korkeakivi threads the complicated lives of Barbara and Francis through time, reflecting an intricate web of progress down through the decades.” To read more, look here…(Read More)
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says of Shining Sea, “This absorbing generational story, which follows the Gannon family from WWII to the present, explores complex dynamics and captures the mood of different decades in America. Korkeakivi’s cogent insight into family relationships and the impact of personal loss, as well as how the times…(Read More)
The Wall Street Journal invited me to recommend five books on the legacy of war, for its 5 Best column. I wrote about novels by John McGahern, Evie Wyld, Patrick Modiano, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Uzodinma Uweala. Amongst Women By John McGahern (1990) 1. The threat of imminent violence hangs over every page of this Irish…(Read More)
The Wall Street Journal asked me to recommend five books on the legacy of war. I chose novels by John McGahern, Evie Wyld, Uzodinma Uweala, Patrick Modiano, and Kazuo Ishiguro. To see the full article, please look here…(Read More)
Author Allie Larkin asks only three questions on her blog. But they are BIG questions: What do you create? Why do you create? What do you consume? To see my answers, please look here…(Read More)
The Common says of Shining Sea: “Korkeakivi’s prose is clear, honest, and unadorned throughout [and] she deftly handles the curves and swirls of many characters over a long period of time. … [S]he is at her most remarkable when flying high for the bird’s eye view, then swooping straight down into her characters…(Read More)
“Moving through the months, years, and decades, this sweeping novel gathers several lives’ worth in it, giving us a portrayal of an American family, and what that means to this particular clan.” Thank you, Read It Forward for choosing Shining Sea as one of your favorite August reads. To see the whole review, please look…(Read More)
