The Deafening by Itani writes great characters into perception. The hardships of war are captured in full grotesque nature with a moving narrative that follows the lives of a deaf woman and her husband who left home to join World War I. Details of human emotion are perfectly articulated through the writing and you will probably find yourself laughing or sobbing along at various points in the story.

Fantastic storytelling. Blackswangreen reads like the fountain of thought from a thirteen-year-old with dashes of profound realizations bubbling to the top in the form of short one-liner witticisms.

Lustful urges and raw emotions of an adolescent boy (Jason Taylor) are perfectly expressed through inexplicable and explicit sexual musings involving the girls in his life. The cast of characters is quite large, but entirely familiar. With a unique perspective on life, and great dialog, each of the characters comes into Jason’s world and leads him to further insights about adulthood.

David Mitchell also wrote another great book, Cloud Atlas.