Reviews for Historical Stories of American Pioneer L

The average rating for Historical Stories of American Pioneer L based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-06 00:00:00 Lisa Dunka This book is more a series of short stories with recurring and interconnected characters than it is a novel. Here in a tiny town in Portugal, the poorest province in the poorest nation in (Western) Europe, are assembled a cast of characters who are locals, tourists and émigrés, mainly from Britain. One would think the locals couldn't wait to leave this abandoned corner of the earth, and some are trying to leave. But one local has returned from a decade as a cook and bartender in the Portuguese emigrant community in Provincetown, Massachusetts and he has no intention of ever leaving his Portuguese village again. One of the other émigrés is an alcoholic author. One émigré family from Britain that features a pot-head father, a lost, clueless son, a promiscuous mother and a promiscuous underage daughter, is so dysfunctional they could star in their own TV reality show. The underlying theme seems to be you can run but you can't hide -from yourself - even in a small rural village in a foreign country. The Blue in the title, (from the blue in the Portuguese azulejos tiles) is a give-away - these are depressing stories filled with angst and anomie. One could argue that depressing small-town stories constitute their own genre: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson; Village by Robert McAlmon; Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, and Tales from the Mountain by Miguel Torga - also set in Portugal - all come to mind. Ali gives us depressing but short, brilliant stories. But the final chapter featuring a "feel-good" village festa can't erase all that comes before and seems a bit disingenuous. The author, a native of Bangladesh, living in London, shows us personally as well as by her characters just how globalization is impacting even remote corners of the world. top photo of the village of Marvao in Alentejo from 123rf.com bottom photo of the village of Monsaraj in Alentejo from istockphoto.com

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-24 00:00:00 Mary Hasty I really liked Monica Ali's debut novel 'Brick Lane' but I was worried before I started reading this. It often happens that writers who had a popular debut novel decide to stick to the formula and produce book-club-riendly watered down versions of their debut. Luckily, that's not the case here. Monica Ali did not want to be locked writing endless 'sari & curry' family sagas. She broke free and did something very brave, that is, completely departed from her debut. 'Azuelejo Blue' is more of a short story collection disguised as a novel which takes place around a small village in Portugal amongst ex-pats, tourists and locals. This sort of structure is a difficult thing to pull off, and I see from reviews that it didn't appeal to many people. Personally, I thought it was it quite well done. Monica Ali trusts her reader enormously. She doesn't explain anything and leaves everything for you to figure out. There is no telling here, just showing. Yes, occasionally it can be confusing but ultimately very satisfying. I would take this over any book whose author assumes I am a halfwit. The cast is very rich and diverse, the writing is superb, and Ali is an extremely imaginative author which is one of the main characteristic I look for in a writer. It wasn't a perfect book, I felt that Ali should have put more oomph in it but I give her well deserved four stars and I know she has that perfect book in her. (I am not sure if it is that Diana book though).