They might not be the best of 2007 — some of them aren't even a product of 2007, though that's when I read them — but these are the top books that blew me away over the past year.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: The author of The Kite Runner recently released this follow-up, the story of two generations of women and how their lives intertwine over the backdrop of war after war in their beloved country of Afghanistan. It's an absorbing story of hope and hope dashed, giving a peek into a culture I knew little about, but whose country my country is sending soldiers into.
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam: His interconnected stories following a group of medical students as they become doctors are both finely realized, self-contained morsels and part of a larger, satisfying whole. The stories revolve around the personalities of Ming, Fitzgerald, Sri, and Chen, their careers, passions, and obsessions - which are not necessarily three distinct things. Their romantic entanglements and professional dilemmas are presented with an almost clinical detachment that paradoxically doesn't take away from the emotions brewing under the surface. If there's such a thing as scientifically poetic, Lam's style fits that description.
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson: The prologue, a scene of a childhood game between brothers, perfectly illustrates the relationship of silent, responsible Arthur — the one his mother depends on — and his charismatic, reckless little brother Jake — the one his mother loves. It's a relationship that's irrevocably changed by an incident on the titular bridge, complicated by the arrival of the beautiful Laura, and that comes to a head in the charged climax, decades later. The book spans Arthur's Depression-era childhood on a farm in remote northern Ontario, through the devastation of World War II as seen from the home front, and into the 1960s life of young Ian, who begins to work on Arthur's farm as part of his attempt to escape from the expectation that he will become the next Dr. Christopherson.
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky: The tragic history of the author and the book's delayed publication nearly overwhelm the story itself, but it's a story that defies overshadowing. Written about the occupation of France during World War II by an author who was concurrently living the experience, the two novellas that comprise Suite Française offer an unsentimental, cutting vision of French society in a time of chaos, defeat, and moments of grudging normalcy. That Némirovsky could process the events of her time to write with such insight and precision is miraculous. That she wouldn't live to finish the planned five-part novel, the ending to which she couldn't yet fathom, is tragic.
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