Underrated Reads

An UnderratedRead Revisited: Mother Of – Lauren Coffin

Posted on October 6, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Meredith Mayes is facing the unthinkable. Her husband and son died in a car crash ten years ago. Now, her other son Percy has been penned with the nicknames “The Minor Street Monster”, “The Ann Arbor Assassin” and “The Michigan Strangler”. Percy tortured and killed twelve women from 1993 through 2013…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged dark fiction, serial killers | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisisted: The Cowboy Bible and Other Stories – Carlos Velázquez (Translated by Achy Obejas )

Posted on October 4, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The sacrilege I’d committed two hours earlier of breaking dozens of records proved irrelevant. The Cowboy Bible didn’t respond either. I tore at it, implored it, cursed it, and still failed.” These are the words of a luchador and in this opening story “The Cowboy Bible”. In this case the bible…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged humor, Mexican literature, short stories | Comments Off

The Delivery – K.M. Halpern

Posted on September 28, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Was it better to be sad in a world that made sense or happy in a world that did not.” When forty-six-year-old Wilbur came home from work one day, his grumpy, over-bearing wife Sarah informed him that he received a heavy crate, of which the delivery men brought down to the…

Posted in More fiction | Tagged 1950's, book reviews, humor, short books | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Third Hotel: A Novel – Laura van den Berg

Posted on September 24, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The foundation of horror is a dislocation of reality, a dislocation designed to reveal the reality that has been there all along, and such dislocations happen all the time. “ That was according to the fictional Yuniel Mata, director of Revolución Zombi , the first horror movie ever made in Cuba.…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged cinema, Cuba, death, grief, Havana, Latin America, surrealism | Comments Off

Things I Have Withheld – Kei Miller

Posted on September 20, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…the place where I have always felt most comfortably gay is in Jamaica. In Jamaica, I know the language and the mannerisms of queerness. In Jamaica, I know how to dance. In Jamaica, I do not have to constantly translate my sexuality into mannerisms and speech and dances that sometimes feel…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Immigration, Short stories, Social Justice, World Literature | Tagged Caribbean literature, gender, LGBTQ, race | Comments Off

In Celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month

Posted on September 18, 2021 by J D Jung

( by JD Jung) To commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) in the United States, we at UnderratedReads want to re-introduce you to a sample of the exceptional "underrated" books written by Latin American authors that we have featured on our site. We are also including two memoirs written by Mexican…

Posted in Let's talk | Tagged book reviews, Colombia, Cuba, immigration, Latin American Lit, latinx, Mexican literature, Mexican-American, Mexico, Peru, South America | Comments Off

Beware the Mermaids – Carrie Talick

Posted on September 12, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Don Jung) What happens when you are content with your current life, but circumstances force you to make unexpected changes? Fifty-seven-year-old grandmother, Nancy, thought she was happy, but then caught her husband with another woman on their yacht. This wasn’t a one-time occurrence. This had been going on for years. However, he doesn’t…

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction | Tagged boats, divorce, friendship, infidelity, sea, women's fiction | Comments Off

The Dark Remains – William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin

Posted on September 9, 2021 by J D Jung

(reviewed by JD Jung) October 1972, Glasgow –Detective constable Jack Laidlaw is reassigned to the Glasgow crime squad. Though he has a sixth sense on what is happening on the streets, the higher ups feel he needs “handling”, as he carries a reputation of going rogue. Hence, he is assigned to Detective Sergeant Bob Lilley.…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers | Tagged British crime, Glasgow, noir, Scotland | Comments Off

The Total FilmMaker – Jerry Lewis, Foreword by Maltin Leonard

Posted on September 2, 2021 by J D Jung

(Review and poem by Betty Jo Tucker) Way back in the 1950s and 60s, I was an avid Jerry Lewis fan. I enjoyed watching his silly characters doing nonsensical things in movies like “The Delicate Delinquent,” “The Nutty Professor” and “Cinderfella.” It was great fun to see his slapstick comedy and to cheer him on.…

Posted in Non-fiction, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged comedy, film, Filmmaking, Jerry Lewis, movies | Comments Off

Here, Right Matters: An American Story – Alexander Vindman

Posted on August 30, 2021 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Regardless of any impact on the president, the domestic and foreign policy consequences, or personal costs, I had no choice but to report what I’d heard. That duty to report is a critical component of U.S. Army values and of the oath I’d taken to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.”…

Posted in American Politics, Bios and Memoirs, History, Immigration, Non-fiction, Politics and Social Justice, Reviewers' Top Picks, World Issues | Tagged Donald Trump, ethics, immigration, impeachment, military, Russia, Soviet Union | Comments Off