Thought Train to Pusan

Beirut Hellfire Society is more a book of moments and observation than an active plot, and as such lost me at times, despite the promising premise. It focuses on an undertaker named Pavlov in 1978 Beirut, as war rages throughout the city and surrounding areas. Amidst all the carnage and daily death, Pavlov finds himself in the employment of a mysterious group known as the Hellfire Society. His job is to secretly give them their last burial and rites, as they would otherwise be denied due to their religion, sexuality, and other activities. What presents itself throughout the novel are questions about ritual and our choices in the face of death that surrounds our every day in a senseless and unyielding way. The novel began in such a tender fashion, passing the torch from Pavlov’s father to his son, a way of respecting the lives of the dead despite their acceptance in greater society. And what a beautiful sense of community and closure this could have been. But as soon as the introductio...

Number 2 of my reads for the #CannonBookClub this June, and it’s a bit of a different tone from my previous read of The Disasters , but I have really enjoyed both so far! I Hope You Get This Message begins after earth unscrambles a message from an alien planet, stating that they will be deliberating whether or not to terminate earth within 1 week. While most of the world scrambles to bunker down or descends into chaos, this novel focuses on  three teenagers each with goals of their own, mostly centered around finding people or getting messages to where they need to go before the end of the alien deliberations: Jesse just wants to find a way to give his mother a better life, Cate is looking for the father she never met after her mother gives her a letter she meant to send to him, and Adeem believes he hears a message from his sister who left home on the radio and now searches to reconnect with her. Without giving too much away, we follow the journey of these three young ...