The Book Club: Oliver Twist’s villain is reimagined in ‘Fagin the Thief’

Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein Doubleday Editor s note The opinions of the smart well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables So we urged them and all Denver Post readers to share their mini-reviews with you Have any to offer Email bellis denverpost com Barbara Ellis Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein Doubleday Character reimagining has given us Elphaba from Wicked The Wizard of Oz and James Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Epstein presents the backstory of Jacob Fagin Dickens much-loathed villain in Oliver Twist Alternating between and in Victorian London this story humanizes Fagin and shows him to be a somewhat sympathetic character although still a manipulative mentor to young thieves The original story was branded as antisemitic due to Dickens descriptions of the prejudicial norms of society in those times This story of Fagin highlights the cruelty of discrimination the plight of the poor and the importance of role models Readers are left with the questions Is it acceptable to feel sympathy for an evil man and Is morality only for the rich It is not necessary to have read Oliver Twist to enjoy this book It stands on its own as a historical novel with excellent descriptions of th-century London and brings the characters of Oliver Twist to life stars out of Terry Romer Denver Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven Penguin Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven Penguin Family dynamics propel this fast-paced novel The Samuelson family in Altadena Calif endures an unwieldy casserole of experiences and emotions from the s to the s Don t let the humor lull you The pivotal event is the accidental death of a son at who is a continuing presence in the family In a fairly brief novel Huneven garnishes the story with surprises detailing her characters with precision and a sure hand My favorite is Phil the dad but the entire family is memorable primarily due to their foibles Huneven is an author I ll read again stars out of Neva Gronert Parker Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico translated by Sophie Hughes New York Review of Books A young Italian couple digital nomads seek adventure and the beautiful life within the expat group in edgy experimental Berlin in the early st century The author explores the impacts of a life spent largely on social media isolated from one s physical circumstances the dissonance for example between a perfectly curated apartment and the messiness of lived reality the transitory nature of friendship within this youthful mobile tribe and even how the intangible cool vibe of one moment can prove fleeting and nonreplicable A gem beautifully translated stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen translated by Alice Menzies Vintage Books Six months ago Bo was forced to move his ailing wife into a nursing home because he could no longer care for her Now his -year-old son asserts that Bo s beloved elkhound must go for the same reason Bo s response I fantasize about cutting him out of my will making sure he doesn t get a penny This situation might not sound like much of an upper but Bo s sensitive humorous and unflinching determination to keep his dog makes for a page-turner When stripped of almost everything what s left Plenty Bo would tell us There s not a false note in this book This debut novel by a Ph D novice researching masculinity norms won the Swedish Book of the Year Award stars out of Michelle Nelson Littleton King of Ashes by S A Cosby Flatiron Books Years ago our hero left behind his broken blue-collar family in Richmond Va to join the Black bourgeoisie in Atlanta and a heady career as a wildly fruitful financial adviser A family exigency brings him back home where he assures everyone that he will fix everything He is soon pulled into an underworld of drugs violence escalating dangers and missing bodies Can he face his family s secrets Can he indeed fix everything Cosby doesn t shy away from gritty details or warts-and-all characters in this noirish novel No easy fixes and no tidy endings here stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver