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Under the Net:A Chevron Ross Book Review

What drives Under the Net is the clever way Iris Murdoch uses elements of a mystery novel to develop her theme. Jake Donaghue, the narrator, is content with his role as a mediocre writer and book translator until forced to vacate his London flat. His search for new lodgings takes…
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October 21, 2022
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Evidence of Things Unseen:A Chevron Ross Book Review

Combining poetic narration, endearing characters and folksy dialogue, Marianne Wiggins paints a beautiful marriage portrait in Evidence of Things Unseen. Ray Foster, an amateur scientist and survivor of mustard gas poisoning in France, falls in love with Opal Fiske, daughter of a North Carolina glass blower, while visiting Kitty Hawk to…
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October 14, 2022
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Mort(e):A Chevron Ross Book Review

Novelists are cranking out apocalyptic sagas like link sausages these days. So it’s refreshing to find one that rises above hackneyed formulas to create a parable of faith and perseverance. Author Robert Repino ventures beyond George Orwell’s Animal Farm into new territory. Sebastian, soon to be renamed Mort(e), is content…
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October 7, 2022
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The Master and Margarita:A Chevron Ross Book Review

Let me admit up front that I could not have understood this novel without the introduction written by Orlando Figes that appears in the translation I purchased. Let me also suggest that if you decide to read The Master and Margarita that you read the introduction last. It’s much more…
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September 30, 2022
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: A Chevron Ross Book Review

I often review books from bygone eras because I admire the standards that make them classics. Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of discovering Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, from 1943. Modern authors can learn a great deal about writing from this book. Though its situation is commonplace – a…
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September 23, 2022
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Medicus:A Chevron Ross Book Review

Medicus is a leisurely and entertaining novel that imagines what a doctor’s life might have been like in Roman-occupied Britain. Gaius Petreius Ruso, newly stationed with the Roman legion in Deva, is confronted with the body of a murdered girl on the same day that he takes pity on a…
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September 16, 2022
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A Tribute to Author Peter Straub By Chevron Ross

Peter Straub died September 4, 2022 at age 79. For Halloween last year, I published my review of Ghost Story, my all-time favorite Straub novel. I am republishing it today for those who may have missed it. Like other horror stories, Ghost Story is couched in a claustrophobic environment of dread, suspense and terror.…
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September 9, 2022
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Zuleika Dobson:A Chevron Ross Book Review

Last year I did a brief review of this book for Goodreads. Sensing that I didn’t do it justice, I decided to read it again. Intended in 1911 as a caricature of Edwardian aristocracy, Zuleika Dobson serves today as a parable of people’s blind devotion to false idols, especially self-centered…
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September 2, 2022
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Transcendent Kingdom:A Chevron Ross Book Review

This novel is so breathtakingly good that I’m afraid my review cannot do justice to it. In less than three hundred pages, Yaa Gyasi escorts us on a desperate journey of personal trauma and disillusionment that only a person of strong character could survive. Gifty is such a person. The…
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August 26, 2022
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Trial and Error:A Chevron Ross Book Review

It’s refreshing to find writers who aren’t afraid to weave their faith into their work. Too many novelists reject God as a factor in their characters’ lives, as though He exists in a separate universe.  In Trial and Error, Robert Whitlow uses the story of a small-town lawyer trying to…
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August 19, 2022