Fiction Analysis

Listen to this audio analysis of 1984 by George Orwell, a cautionary novel about the abuses of totalitarian government. It tells the story of 39-year-old Winston Smith, a lowly bureaucrat who tries and fails to fight back against his oppressive overlords.

Vinegar Girl, a novel by Anne Tyler, is a loose retelling of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Set in modern-day Baltimore, it follows 20-somethings Kate and Pyotr as they plan a marriage of convenience. Pyotr needs a green card so he can continue working with Kate's father on a scientific breakthrough. Kate needs a life beyond caring for her father and sister. As the couple sort through the logistics of their sham wedding, the line between fact and fiction starts to blur. Hijinks ensue.

Set nearly 20 years after the events in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee's classic American novel, Go Set a Watchman looks at the earlier book's beloved characters in a different and sometimes shocking light. Inside this Instaread Summary & Analysis of Go Set a Watchman, you'll find a summary of the book, introductions to the important people in the book, and analysis of the themes and author's style.

Preview of this Instaread: The Boston Girl is a novel by award winning writer, Anita Diamant. In this novel, Addie Baum is being interviewed by her granddaughter Ava Miller about the many experiences she has had in her life, especially her early life. The novel takes place from 1915 to 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is the story of a Russian aristocrat-turned-waiter who lives 32 years of his life under house arrest at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow. Set in post-revolutionary Russia, the novel follows its protagonist, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, as he develops new friendships, family, and loves, all while confined within the walls of the Metropol.

All the Light We Cannot See is a novel written by Anthony Doerr and published by Scribner. All the Light We Cannot See is a sweeping novel about the experiences of two teenagers during World War II: a young, blind French girl and a German soldier who is a genius. Both of them endure tragedies and rely on their resolve and strength to make it through the upheaval of World War II.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, is a novel about Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a Russian aristocrat who is condemned by Communists to spend the rest of his life confined in the Metropol, the capital's most glamorous hotel. The story opens on his trial in 1922, where he's shown leniency as a reward for having written a revolutionary poem that pre-dated the Russian Revolution. The only catch? If Rostov ever leaves the hotel, he will be executed.

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's more brilliantly populated plays and remains among the most widely read. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom investigates Macbeth's interiority and unthinkable actions with razor-sharp insight, agility, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character. The book also becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity.

Esme Singer is a resilient girl from Los Angeles, new to Manhattan, who takes better care of her beautiful, alcoholic mother than her mother does of her. A former fashion model and extra in the movies, her mother attracts a series of husbands and boyfriends as Esme watches in fascination and sometimes horror. Esme's father comes and goes, forever riding the wave of the latest get-rich-quick scheme.

What are the most common dreams and why do we have them? What does a dream about death mean? What do dreams of swimming, failing, or flying symbolize? First published by Sigmund Freud in 1899, The Interpretation of Dreams considers why we dream and what it means in the larger picture of our psychological lives.

Edwin Lefevre was a stockbroker and an independent investor, as well as a novelist and writer of short stories. This lightly fictionalized account of the career of stock speculator Jesse Livermore was first published in 1923. Now, nearly 100 years later, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator remains highly recommended for an understanding of investment. Lefevre’s trading advice and analyses of market price movements are as relevant today as in 1923.

It's a sunny morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also Dr. Kay Scarpetta's birthday. She's about to head to Miami for a vacation with Benton Wesley, her FBI profiler husband, when she notices seven pennies on a wall behind their home. Is this a kids' game? And if so, why are all of the coins dated 1981 and so shiny they could be newly minted? Her cellphone rings, and Detective Pete Marino tells her there's been a homicide five minutes away. A high school music teacher has been shot with uncanny precision as he unloaded groceries from his car. Yet no one has heard or seen a thing.

Are you struggling to understand Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Or, are you an English teacher wanting readymade exercises and guidance to help you teach this difficult text? Do your students need support to understand the language properly and work independently on the book? This brilliant edition of Stevenson’s novel may be the answer to your prayers.

The lives of two teens, a French girl and a German boy, improbably intersect at the end of World War II in All The Light We Cannot See. Before the war, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who has been blind since childhood, lives comfortably in Paris with her father, Daniel, who is the key master for the natural history museum. She loves to visit the museum and learn, especially about mollusks, or snails.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman chronicles the lives of a couple and the baby they adopt. The couple, Tom and Isabel, live on an island. They find the baby washed up on shore and decide to raise the child as their own. The baby's mother is actually still alive and searching for her child, and the couple eventually must return the girl to her biological mother under threat of criminal charges for kidnapping and fraud....

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks is a fictionalized story of the Old Testament hero and king, David. Natan, friend and advisor to King David, receives permission to write David's biography. David has asked Natan to use three sources who knew David before Natan met him. These include Mikhal, the first of David's wives; Shammah, David's older brother; and Nizevet, a member of Shammah's household in Beit Lehem.

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett is a story of two families that unfolds over the course of 50 years. At the center of the novel is a traumatic loss that profoundly affects each family member in a different way.

FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at 16. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her 11 years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation...but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk explores the often elusive topic of trauma, PTSD, and recovery in his well-researched and supported book, The Body Keeps the Score. In his book, he offers tested methods for treatment along with cutting-edge therapies. This FastReads Summary & Analysis offers supplementary material to help you distill the key takeaways, review the book's content, and further understand the writing style and overall themes from an editorial perspective.

In 1904 Tomás Lobo, a young man who has lost his father, lover, and son in the span of one week, sets out on a journey from Lisbon to Northeast Portugal in an automobile - one of the first of its time. Tomás is an assistant curator intent on finding an iconoclastic relic he learned about in the journal of a 17th-century priest involved in the slave trade in Portuguese Angola....