Saturday, March 19, 2011

What is Bathsheba Monk reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Bathsheba Monk, author of the recently released novel Nude Walker.

Her entry begins:
I am reading and loving Susan Straight’s Take One Candle Light a Room. Besides the beautiful language and dialects (Creole, street), I get the feeling that Ms. Straight knows these cultures intimately—cultures that are hidden to me—and so I am reading to find out about that, as well as to find out what happens to the characters, i.e. is she going to save her godson? The real question: Is it possible to save someone else? And she absolutely nails the guilt/ambition/nostalgia of those who chose to leave their familiar life behind and wing it alone in the world, forfeiting their...[read on]
Among the early praise for Nude Walker:
"Given its disparate cast of characters—soldiers, strippers, a Native American shaman, a born-again Bible thumper and a crazed pill popper—Nude Walker should be a muddled mess. Instead this novel about the son of nouveau riche Lebanese immigrants and the daughter of New England aristocrats, who fall for each other after serving in Afghanistan, is a pitch-perfect portrayal of class warfare in small-town U.S.A. Monk is a sure-footed storyteller who comically, affectionately, poignantly maps the emotional minefields of the northeastern heartland—and the heart."
--More Magazine

"An allegory of old society confronting a new world, and a rollicking good read."
--Kirkus Reviews

"...Monk's authority (she hails from Pennsylvania and served in the Army) and a winning mix of humor, mysticism, and sympathy for people adapting to a swiftly changing world make for an appealing tale."
--Publishers Weekly
Read an excerpt from Nude Walker, and learn more about the book and author at Bathsheba Monk's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Nude Walker.

Writers Read: Bathsheba Monk.

--Marshal Zeringue