Tag Archives: Corruption

Barker House, by David Moloney

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Barker House is a fictional work of interconnected short stories that follow the lives of nine Corrections Officers in New Hampshire. These are not short stories about a Corrections Unit; each story is about a moment in the life of a Corrections Officer.

All of the nine characters tell a solemn story; their unifying trait deriving from their job as a corrections officer. The reader is invited to briefly observe the officers and their day from a distance, since the stories are short and only go so far. Though each character works as an officer at Barker House, not all stories take place there. For example, one story takes place at a strip club.

This was an okay read. Most of the stories I thought were okay, though a few of them I thought were good. Overall, I felt like the novel was missing something that would bring it home.

Barker House is David Moloney’s debut novel. Visit his website.

Read BookPage’s review or Publisher Weekly’s review for Barker House.

Visit the publishers page for Barker House.

You can read an excerpt of Barker House near the bottom of this MVmag article.

https://youtu.be/VBV6GQcjVqY

Other writing by David Moloney includes fiction Dzole, Our Champion.

Follow David Moloney on Twitter.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. Opinions are my own.

|Purchase on Amazon| Goodreads Review|

Then The Fish Swallowed Him, by Amir Ahmadi Arian

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“The union is not a political organization. We just want our rights. We don’t care who is in the government.”

Yunus is a fourty-four year old bus driver in Tehran. Gathered at a bus drivers strike, things quickly intensify and chaos ensues. Violence breaks out and one thing leads to another. Yunus is arrested and sent to Evin Prison where he fights to hold onto the truth. The corruption of the justice system is exposed during his time in prison and later when he goes to trial.

“As soon as politics touches you, you are contaminated for good. It’s a virus that never gets cured.”

After he is arrested, stories alternate between interrogations and flashbacks. The flashbacks occur during the 1970’s-2005 for Yunus. Most flashbacks focus on his relationships. Though there are flashbacks, the majority of the book takes place in Evin prison.

His time in prison when he was alone without his interrogator made me slightly bored. For example, there were pages about his turd, masturbation, and another about a string. (Though very well-written pages about his turd.) At these moments, it felt like it was taking a long time to reach the resolution. The character Yunus is not a very interesting character. It’s hard to really make a strong connection with him because he is such an unremarkable guy. The political situation surrounding him keeps it interesting.

The prose is beyond beautiful. It is the star of the book and caused me to look forward to reading more. I loved Amir Arian’s use of language and will be looking for his next book.

Then The Fish Swallowed Him is Amir Arian’s first English novel. Read more about it here.

Read or listen to NPR’s interview with Amir Arian about this novel.

Then The Fish Swallowed Him made Book Riot’s list for the top 20 books to read in 2020.

Follow Amir Arian on Twitter.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. Opinions are my own.

|Purchase on Amazon| Goodreads Review|