All posts tagged: We Are Called to Rise

Nothing in Life is a Rehearsal

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It didn’t take me long to love this book. The first 50 pages were a bit slow, but once I got to know the characters and the story line started coming together, I was hooked. Avis, Bashkim, and Luis are the center of this tale. Three people who don’t know each other when this story begins, but whose lives become intimately entwined by the end. The book opens with Avis, stark naked while discovering her husband’s been cheating. And while that’s by far the most awkward moment of this story, all three characters have many moments of vulnerability, forced to come to terms with the parts of life that leave us gasping for air. I did guess the ending, but this wasn’t the type of book where a big plot twist is the whole reason for reading. We Are Called to Rise is about the characters–their losses, but more importantly, their triumphs. If you didn’t read along with us this month, be sure to add this one to your TBR pile. And have a tissue …

Happily Ever After

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Back again, to review our August beach read: We Are Called to Rise. Admittedly I finished this book a little while ago and I’ve read two books since so some of the details are a little fuzzy. But overall, I liked this one. I do think I had some high expectations going into it. I’d heard from a few people who’d already read it that they really enjoyed it, and the description intrigued me. I love books where diverse lives intersect, for better or worse. Speaking of which, if you haven’t read Bright, Shiny Morning you should definitely put it on your TBR list. Anyway, like I said, I went into this with some high expectations, and I don’t think they were quite met. But I guess I’m a tough judge. I liked the book but I didn’t love it, and I think I was expecting to love it. There were just a few things in the way of me falling in love with it: the story was interesting, but a little predictable, and the characters were well-written but I …

August Book

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Lettering Image by Katherine C. Hello and happy beach read month! We’re here to announce our book for August: We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride. The author is a community college teacher in Las Vegas, and this book is her first novel. Published in April 2015, We Are Called to Rise tells the story of Avis, Bashkim, Luis, and Roberta. Four very different people living very different lives in Las Vegas. These lives—a young immigrant boy, a middle-aged housewife, a military veteran, and a social worker—all converge into one uplifting story. Or so we’ve heard. It seems to us like it might be kind of like a literary version on the movie Crash. We’ll have to read and see. But the few people we know who’ve read it have loved it! So that bodes well. “This is a story about families—the ones we have and the ones we make. It’s a story about America today, where so many cultures and points of view collide and coexist. We Are Called to Rise challenges us to think about …