Reviews by Tag: magical realism

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang is a fun, contemporary romance that dives into the struggles of class privilege and academic pressure. Alice Sun, a Chinese-American scholarship student at her Beijing international boarding school, feels invisible among her rich and influential classmates. To make matters worse, her parents have just confessed that they cannot afford tuition, even with the scholarship.

When book publicist Clementine inherits her late aunt’s apartment, she notices its strange anomaly— the apartment will occasionally slip back seven years in the past. One day, she walks into her apartment, stuck in the past, and meets a charming, mysterious man who might be her perfect match. But as the lines between past and present blur, she must decide whether love can defy time or if some things are better left alone. 

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is an amazing novel about four best friends—Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bridget—who, for the first time, spend a summer apart but remain connected through a magical pair of jeans that somehow fits each of their different body types perfectly. Carmen, who was excited to spend the summer with her father, is saddened to find he has a new family and seems to have moved on without her.

Following four siblings who have been told the exact day they will die, and how that shapes the outcomes of their lives, The Immortalists is a truly incredible book. Benjamin seamlessly takes you from the life of a troubled young man suffering through the AIDS crisis to his wild and free sister who dreams of becoming a magician. Their older brother feels responsibility for the family, and the oldest sister watches from her solitude as everything falls apart. 

Cordelia Mai Yin and four other women with the middle name “Mai” find an apartment with the help of a mysterious man. As a second generation Vietnamese immigrant in 1959 Los Angeles, Cordi struggles to find a job and earn enough money to live off. So when the man who helped the Mais, as the roommates dub themselves, offers them a way to make all their dreams come true through magic, they jump on the chance. But, “nothing good comes for free" (pg. 69) and as the Mais dreams and wishes come true, so does the price they must pay for them.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants follows four high school girls and their journey through a summer of discovery, excitement and friendship. Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bridget have been friends forever, and this summer is the first they will spend apart. As the group celebrates their last night together they discover "The Pants," a pair of magical jeans that somehow fit each of them. The pants help create their sisterhood. With ten rules and a declaration of self love, a special bond is created.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende is an enthralling novel following the lives of Clara del Valle and her family as well as Esteban Trueba. Allende’s epic follows the lives of the Del Valle family from the time that Clara is born and through the rest of her life.

Summary: A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab is a captivating fantasy novel set in a world with parallel Londons, each existing in a different dimension and possessing varying degrees of magic. The story follows Kell, one of the last Travelers capable of moving between these Londons, who smuggles magical artifacts between the worlds. When a forbidden artifact from a dangerous London falls into his possession, Kell becomes entangled in a perilous conspiracy that threatens the very fabric of the multiverse.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami is a complex contemporary novel with elements of mystery and magical realism. The story follows a young man named Toru Okada who, at the beginning of the novel, is told by his wife to look for their missing cat. His journey takes him from the suburbs of Tokyo to a supposedly haunted house to the bottom of a well to a strange dream world that somehow affects reality. In the process of looking for their lost cat, he loses his wife as well.

Vicious by V.E.