Member Review

Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with recipes) is the story of small town Minnesota life over the past fifty years seen through the eyes of a local journalist. The title refers to the name one of her readers called her, a “radical hag”, plus she felt that if she added recipes it would encourage people to read her column.

A homespun Minnesotan newspaper columnist (think Garrison Keillor) suffers a stroke and is in a coma. While hospitalized, her newspaper begins to publish reprints of her prior articles along with the audience’s response.

I really wanted to like this story. However, it seemed extremely slow and nothing much happened that you didn’t see pages before it occurred. It is possible that I have just read too many thrillers to appreciate a literary fiction book that so heavily emphasizes characters over plot. Therefore, I’ll give Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with recipes) 3 stars for fans of that genre.

Thanks to University of Minnesota Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.