The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
This is masterful writing and an epic; beautiful story. It’s a slow-paced, aching, intimate, sweeping 700-page book that takes its time, and so must you.
About the book
Author: Kiran Desai
Publisher: Hogarth
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny from Hogarth in July. Kiran Desai is a former Booker Prize winner, so I started Sonia and Sunny early on the chance that it might be longlisted this year (which it was!). I’m so glad I did; this is masterful writing and an epic, beautiful story.
It’s worth noting that this book won’t be for everyone, and timing/mood will also be important. It’s a slow-paced, aching, intimate, sweeping 700-page book that takes its time, and so must you. If you wait until you are in the mood for it and let it just be what it is, you will enjoy it. If you spend the whole time impatient or rushing or wishing it were something it’s not, you will not.
You should also know that the title has it right, but the marketing around it is a bit misleading — while there is a budding relationship between the two main characters that drives many of the events, the book much more about loneliness and family dynamics than it is any kind of traditional love story. We spend just as much time with Sonia and Sunny’s family members as we do with them, because the book is not just about them — it’s about emigration and generational evolution and internalized racism and so much more.
Finally, a little pre-rant: People will say this book could/should have been shorter. To that, I say those are your personal preferences talking, not a valid assessment of whether the author was successful, if you consider success to be the author achieving what they set out to. Because Desai knew exactly what she was doing; if Sonia and Sunny were not this long, then it would not be the book it is, the book she wanted to write. And if that sounds like something you can get on board with, I think you will love this book as much as I did.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Relationship abuse/toxic relationship
Sexual assault
Racism
Suicidal thoughts (minor)
The Lesser Bohemians
What a moving exploration of youth, love, desire, and recovery from trauma. I’m intrigued to see what the sequel holds for these characters!
About the book
Author: Eimear McBride
Publisher: Hogarth
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
I have loved Eimear McBride since I read A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, which won the Women’s Prize in 2014 and was one of the most singular reading experiences of my life. I finally picked up The Lesser Bohemians because its sequel is due out later this month, and unsurprisingly, McBride delivered again.
If you haven’t read McBride before, her style is unique and takes some adjustment. It’s almost stream of subconscious, written in fragments with lots of nouns used as verbs and an unexpected syntax. It’s best experienced as a tandem read (print and audio simultaneously), as McBride reads her own audiobooks and the immersive experience really helps you sink into her style. But once you do, you’ll be surprised by how quickly it moves.
This book is about an Irish girl in her first year of acting school in London who crashes into an electric love affair with an older man. Check the trigger warnings: It’s not a light read (although thankfully not as heavy as A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, which might be the heaviest book I’ve ever read). There’s also a lot of sex. But holy smokes, what a reading experience. I was so immersed and felt so in sync with the main character, I felt like I had to take some big deep breaths after I finished.
What a moving exploration of youth, love, desire, and recovery from trauma. I’m intrigued to see what the sequel holds for these characters!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Sexual content (a lot)
Incest / child rape / child abuse
Alcoholism
Addiction
Self-harm
Unworld
Ultimately, it’s like this book aaaaaalmost became what it was trying to be. A bit of a bummer, tbh.
About the book
Author: Jayson Greene
Publisher: Knopf
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Unworld is an extraordinarily timely novel, one that examines the edges where AI and what-makes-us-human may come uncomfortably close in the (near) future. It’s also a poignant look at grief and the lengths we will go to in order to process it, and it asks what makes a memory true and what makes it ours. All really interesting, deeply resonant themes. Plus, it’s a fast-paced, quick read.
And so I liked it a lot — up until the end, which fell short for me (and, it seems based on other readers’ reviews, for a lot of people). I had expected something that made me — and the characters — feel a little more changed; the central mystery has a lot of energy that fizzles out instead of exploding.
Ultimately, it’s like this book aaaaaalmost became what it was trying to be. A bit of a bummer, tbh.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Death of one’s child
Grief
Suicide
Addiction
Mental illness
Audition
About the book
Author: Katie Kitamura
Publisher: Riverhead
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Okay, let me get this out of the way: Katie Kitamura is a significant talent. She can really, really do the whole novel thing. Her books, including this one, are smart and razor-sharp and provoke more questions than even an hour-long book club meeting can handle.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind reading books that take close reading and deep thought. But I just personally do not enjoy being purposefully confused to the extent Kitamura does it, especially in this book. I mean, even Roxane Gay’s Goodreads review says she doesn’t actually know what happened in this book, and she’s one of the smartest readers around.
This book is objectively good. I didn’t enjoy it.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Abortion (minor)
Infidelity (minor)
Miscarriage (minor)
Wild Houses
Maybe I’ve read too many books with a similar setting, character archetype, and mood, but I didn’t feel like this one did anything compellingly new for me; it was just another well-written book in its subgenre.
About the book
Author: Colin Barrett
Publisher: Grove Press
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Wild Houses was my last read from the 2024 Booker Prize Longlist. It’s very well written, and every review will tell you Barrett is a master on the sentence level. But maybe I’ve read too many books with a similar setting, character archetype, and mood (coming from years of reading Booker Prize nominees, I guess, since this type of novel feels like one they recognize often). I didn’t feel like it did anything compellingly new for me; it was just another well-written book in its subgenre. And there’s nothing wrong with that — books are allowed to just be what they are — but personally, it left me wanting a bit more. As a cherry on top, the ending felt like it came close but didn’t quite land.
Still, there’s no doubt that this is sharp and claustrophobic (complimentary). Barrett examines how characters change and interact with one another when he pushes them into conflict like an expert puppeteer. The character of Nicky made the book, especially.
Soake my review with a grain of salt, because my reaction is definitely just a matter of mood and taste. If you like this kind of dark, sympathetic underbelly type story, this may be for you.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Kidnapping
Violence
Drug use/abuse
Alcohol
Death of a parent
Suicidal thoughts
Bullying
Enlightenment
I enjoyed my time with this deliberately, consciously slow-paced book about lives in orbit, love in all its forms, and what haunts us.
About the book
Author: Sarah Perry
Publisher: Mariner Books
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Enlightenment was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, but the reception was pretty mixed. Its synopsis sounded right up my alley, so I was determined to come out at least neutral. Turns out I didn’t have to work too hard; I enjoyed my time with this deliberately, consciously slow-paced book about lives in orbit, love in all its forms, and what haunts us.
The story has two main characters: elderly Thomas Hart, a writer and closeted gay man; and Grace Macaughley, the only daughter of the pastor of the deeply traditional church in their tiny little rural town. Thomas and Grace have been friends for Grace’s whole life, but events come between them, as they are wont to do. The book jumps ahead twice, by 10 years each time. Oh, and also Thomas is bent on solving a mystery about the town ghost.
Here’s the thing: If you rush this, you will regret it, and it’s also not a book you can enjoy if you pick it up in the wrong headspace. This happened to many people in my book club (the casualties of reading a prizelist on a schedule!). You have to let it feel old-fashioned — it’s based on Sarah Perry’s childhood home and church, after all. You have to let it meander. You have to let it wonder at the stars and at love and at what God might mean to different people and whether ghosts are real. You have to dial in and go along for the ride. It’s certainly not a perfect book, but if you let it be what it is, I think you will enjoy it in the same way I did.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Religious bigotry
Death and grief
Fire
Homophobia
The Antidote
Karen Russell writes exactly my flavor of weird literary magical realism, so it’s no surprise that I loved The Antidote. But it’s not the presence of those elements that does it here — it’s the way she weaves them together.
About the book
Author: Karen Russell
Publisher: Knopf
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Karen Russell writes exactly my flavor of weird literary magical realism, so it’s no surprise that I loved The Antidote. But it’s not the presence of those elements that does it here — it’s the way she weaves them together. And nobody does it like Karen Russell.
The Antidote is a polyphonic novel set in the height of the 1930s Dust Bowl in a fictional town called Uz, Nebraska. Playing (lightly) on the Oz theme, some of those POVs include a “prairie witch” who can receive and restore memories like deposits in a bank vault (a main character) and a scarecrow (who has only a handful of short chapters). There’s also a teenage girl who loves basketball and recently lost her mother, her older bachelor uncle, and a Black woman photographer whose camera is more than it seems.
What Russell weaves for us this time is a tapestry of hope for a future that can only happen if we all reckon with our shared culpability in historical colonialism and violence. I don’t want to give too much more than that away, but this book is an important one, especially in today’s political climate. I’m still noodling on all the layers inherent to the book’s title.
This also worked great on audio — the full cast brought these characters to life brilliantly.
I can’t believe more people aren’t buzzing about this book, but I’ll definitely be rooting for it when prize season comes around this fall.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Animal cruelty/death
Rape
Violence
Murder
Genocide/colonization
Pregnancy
Confinement
Headshot
This book’s standout is a style that’s masterfully pared back; it feels simple in a way that’s obviously anything but. Truly expert stuff here, and more than worth your time. Read it!
About the book
Author: Rita Bullwinkel
Publisher: Viking
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Headshot is a Booker Prize longlister and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The first is unsurprising to me, while the second is a tad surprising — but that’s because of the Pulitzer’s focus on novels that “deal with American life,” and I’m not sure I would have put this book in that category over others — not because it isn’t excellent. Which it is.
Headshot is about eight teenage girls competing in a national-title boxing tournament in Reno over the course of one weekend. Each chapter focuses on one match, and we make our way linearly through the bracket. But the story is not really about boxing; it’s a portrait of those eight girls and a commentary on the fight that is girlhood, told through a story of girls literally fighting.
Much of the genius of this book lies in its structure and pacing, which mimics a boxing match in its own way. There is hardly any dialogue; we bounce back and forth in the girls’ heads, occasionally zooming out to the spectators. Probably 75% of the time, the girls are referred to by their full names. Their perspective sometimes switches rapidly, as a trading of blows; sometimes slowly, as the boxers step back to dance around each other. And I’m very eager to discuss the ending with my Booker Prize book club.
All this results in a style that’s masterfully pared back; it feels simple in a way that’s obviously anything but. Truly expert stuff here, and more than worth your time. Read it!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Injury and blood
Child death (remembered)
Playground
A bold statement: I think Playground is my favorite Richard Powers so far. I know he won the Pulitzer for The Overstory (which I definitely enjoyed!), but I said what I said.
About the book
Author: Richard Powers
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
A bold statement: I think Playground is my favorite Richard Powers so far. I know he won the Pulitzer for The Overstory (which I definitely enjoyed!), but I said what I said.
Telling you too much about this book would spoil the whole thing, but here’s what you have to enjoy in order for it to be for you: multiple character POVs, multiple timelines, nature writing, social commentary, and big reveals.
What I can safely tell you is that yes, it’s about the ocean — in part — but also so much more. The topic risks being preachy, but this is Powers, so it’s not. It’s totally engrossing and very moving. But above all it’s incredibly, unbelievably smart, even the parts that may might strike your ear funny at first. It’s a spoiler to tell you why — you’re just going to have to trust me that this book comments on today’s world in unexpected ways.
Finally, you are definitely going to want to have someone on call to discuss the ending with. (Thank God I read this with a book club!)
Content and Trigger Warnings
Terminal illness
Colonization
Dementia
Family death and grief
Racism
Black Woods Blue Sky
I’m a sucker for literary fiction with speculative elements, so when I heard about Black Woods Blue Sky, which blends the dreaminess and darkness of fairy tales with the beauty and danger of the Alaskan wilderness, I knew it was going to be exactly my kind of book. And I was not wrong!
About the book
Author: Eowyn Ivey
Publisher: Random House
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
I’m a sucker for literary fiction with speculative elements, so when I heard about Black Woods Blue Sky, which blends the dreaminess and darkness of fairy tales with the beauty and danger of the Alaskan wilderness, I knew it was going to be exactly my kind of book. And I was not wrong!
The book is about single mom Birdie and her six-year-old daughter, Emaleen. Birdie is doing the best she can to juggle taking care of Emaleen, keeping her bartending job at their small-town Alaskan lodge, and finding snatches of joy. Then she gets to know Arthur, a quiet, somewhat strange man, and they eventually leave that struggle behind to move to his off-the-grid cabin in the mountains. But love is not always enough to outweigh the harsh realities of nature.
Black Woods Blue Sky obviously has a Beauty and the Beast flavor, but ultimately it comes away with entirely different themes and an entirely different purpose, so I wouldn’t quite call it a retelling. Still, the storytelling is excellent, and I found it to be rich, atmospheric, and engrossing. Emaleen (a small child) is written so vividly and believably, which is hard to pull off in first person, and Birdy comes alive under Ivey’s pen as well. I was a little bit jarred by the shift the book takes in the last third (it definitely wasn’t what I expected, structurally), but by the end I understood why it was necessary. Finally, I listened to long swaths of it on audio, and I thought it worked well that way.
Ultimately, this was what I wanted Bear by Julia Phillips to be. It will be haunting my thoughts for a good, long time.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Sexual content (minor)
Death of a parent
Animal death
This Strange Eventful History
This Strange Eventful History was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Parts of it were more engaging for me than others, but overall, I enjoyed it. Audio is definitely the way to go here, IMO!
About the book
Author: Claire Messud
Publisher: W. W. Norton
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
This Strange Eventful History was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Parts of it were more engaging for me than others, but overall, I enjoyed it.
The novel is a sweeping family story spanning many years, and places, focusing on a fictionalized version of the author’s family history. We get to meet a few key characters across three generations, returning to them over the course of the author’s father’s life from childhood to old age. As the family is French-Algerian, Messud explores the unique juxtaposition of failed colonialism and resulting generational displacement. That was a theme I don’t think I’ve ever read in a book before, and it offered a lot to think about (and talk about during book club).
Of course, the elephant in the room is the revelation (almost a twist?) at the very end. No spoilers, but I will say that it changed the dynamic of the whole book, and I’m still ruminating on what she was trying to achieve with that and whether I think she was successful. Either way, though, I was glad to have a book club to discuss it with!
I mostly read this one on audio, and I think that’s the way to go. If I’d read it on the page, I think I would have been frustrated by the pacing. But the audio performance was excellent and I was able to keep up the momentum that way.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Alcoholism
Dementia
Death and grief
Suicide attempt
Incest
Three Days in June
This book was a bit of a miss for me. It has emotional impact and fantastic characters, but the execution felt old-fashioned and strangely out of touch. It’s short, though, so you still might enjoy this heartwarming little story.
About the book
Author: Anne Tyler
Publisher: Knopf
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Three Days in June is the latest from literary titan Anne Tyler, who has now written more than two dozen novels. This was only my second book by her — the first was Redhead by the Side of the Road back when it was nominated for the Booker. Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a miss for me.
First, though, the good stuff: There’s no denying that Tyler can write characters who could walk off the page and relationships that feel deep and real. She takes a tiny slice of these characters’ lives and uses it to say big things about what it means to be human. The vibes are cozy, and I almost want to put her and Elizabeth Strout on a shelf together (although Strout does it better, IMO). This book tugged at my heart, and because it was short — around 4 hours on audio — it felt like a nice use of an evening despite the places I thought it felt short.
Now for the parts that I thought didn’t work. First, this book is meant to be set in the present day but feels very out of touch. Gail, the main character, is meant to be my mother’s age, but reads much more like my grandmother, like the fact that she only uses the landline while at home and her cell phone stays in the purse, as a rule (by contrast, MY mother is addicted to TikTok). Her daughter is supposed to be in her early 30s, but her friends all have Gen X names — Debbie, Kenneth, Bitsy, etc. Tbh, it feels like Tyler wrote a 60yo main character from the POV of when she was 60, which was 23 years ago, and it’s really distracting. Other things also felt out of touch and distracting, like the fact that nobody in this book seems to know how weddings work — for example, the members of Debbie’s bridal party giving toasts didn’t know they were supposed to give toasts until they saw it on the programs printed at the tables? Finally, and worst, Tyler left one of the biggest relationship plotlines, a major component of the story, completely unresolved.
At the end of the day, it felt to me like Tyler’s publisher is happy to keep putting out her heartwarming stories but afraid to give her editorial feedback to make sure the books have both emotional impact and cultural relevance.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Infidelity
We Do Not Part
This book is surreal and disorienting (in a good way), deeply affecting, and the kind of book that’s so good and readable you have to stop yourself from inhaling it
About the book
Author: Han Kang
Publisher: Hogarth
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
We Do Not Part was my first Han Kang (I know, what a crime!), but it won’t be my last. I’m so glad that I prioritized this one amidst what’s shaping up to be a major 2025 of new releases! It’s surreal and disorienting (in a good way), deeply affecting, and the kind of book that’s so good and readable you have to stop yourself from inhaling it because it would be easy to do so, but you know if you do, you’ll miss so much of what makes it great.
But make no mistake, this is a heavy read. It’s a layered, dream-like look at the generational trauma of violence and genocide, nightmares made real, in particular the the Jeju uprising in Korea in 1948. Our protagonist, plagued by nightmares ever since researching the violence, gets a call from her best friend, who is in the hospital. She asks the protagonist to travel in a snowstorm back to her remote island home to feed and save her beloved pet bird. I won’t tell you anything else about the plot.
You should read this book. It lots of layers and would probably be an incredible reread, too. Here’s hoping this one is nominated for the International Booker Prize — it deserves it!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Medical content (graphic)
Genocide (graphic)
Death
Our Evenings
Our Evenings has a lot of things going for it, in terms of being a winner for me: It follows a character across their entire life, it depicts that life with tenderness and care, it has a strong first-person voice. And while it didn’t land with me 100%, I netted out on liking it.
About the book
Author: Alan Hollinghurst
Publisher: Random House
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Our Evenings has a lot of things going for it, in terms of being a winner for me: It follows a character across their entire life, it depicts that life with tenderness and care, it has a strong first-person voice. And while it didn’t land with me 100%, I netted out on liking it.
Our Evenings follows a gay, half-Burmese actor in England from his childhood as a schoolboy with a scholarship sponsored by a wealthy family through old age. It’s the story of a beautiful life with excellent character work. There is much to love here about queerness, and otherness, and Xenophobia particularly in England, and living a joyful life filled with love anyway.
That said, I personally felt like this book was too long. And I don’t usually say that! I love long books, and I love the story of a full life. But I was ready for the book to end. I also really didn’t like the ending very much — I won’t say more because I’m not one for spoilers, but it made me go, “ugh…really???”
If you’re an especially big fan of queer historical literary fiction, I think this could have enough of what you love to outweigh the parts I didn’t. You may have to see for yourself!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Homophobia
Racism and Xenophobia
Hate crime
Bullying
Held
Held was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and if I’m being honest, I’m a little surprised that it didn’t win. I read it twice in three months. And WOW am I glad I did.
About the book
Author: Anne Michaels
Publisher: Knopf
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
Held was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and if I’m being honest, I’m a little surprised that it didn’t win. Especially because the prize has emphasized how their judges are directed to choose a book that holds up to rereading again and again — which Held absolutely does.
I can tell you that for sure, because I read it twice in three months. And WOW am I glad I did. The first time was for the vibes, and the second time was for the genius. I knew after my first time through that I’d just read something beautiful and moving, but I also knew that I had undoubtedly missed certain connections between characters (it’s told nonlinearly across four or five generations), not to mention subtleties. After my second time through, I knew it was one of my top five literary fiction books of the year.
If you didn’t know that Anne Michaels is a poet, you would after reading this book. In fact, the whole experience of this novel can feel like reading poetry at times. But it’s the perfect structure for a book that asks what lies beyond death, explores the fact that light exists because darkness does, and celebrates how we are remembered. It is moving and layered. Please pick it up (twice).
Content and Trigger Warnings
Suicide
War
Death (parents, child)
Grief
The Voyage Home (The Women of Troy, #3)
I’m happy to report that Pat Barker continues to be excellent. Many authors have written Greek retellings about the women in recent years, but in my opinion, hers stand apart.
About the book
Author: Pat Barker
Publisher: Penguin Books
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
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My Review
I loved Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls and was delighted by its follow-up, The Women of Troy. This is the third book in the “trilogy,” although each book is capable of standing on its own as well. I’m happy to report that Barker continues to be excellent.
These books are retellings of the Iliad that focus on Trojan women who are taken into slavery by the Greek army; The Silence of the Girls is about Breseis (enslaved by Achilles), The Women of Troy is a medley of many women’s voices, and this book focuses on Ritsa, enslaved handmaiden to Cassandra, who is herself enslaved by Agamemnon. The war won (at terrible cost), they travel back to Mycenae with him, where Clytemnestra waits, still full of rage about his sacrifice of their daughter.
Many authors have written Greek retellings about the women in recent years, but in my opinion, Barker’s stand apart. She’s so good at balancing her beautiful prose with excellent pacing, and these books feel deeply literary, but are also compulsively readable and have such rich, compelling characters.
I would also be remiss to end this review without telling you how good the audiobook is. Kristin Atherton’s performance is especially excellent. For example, there are some malicious ghosts of murdered children, and whenever they spoke, I got literal chills.
Don’t miss this one, friends — or either of the previous two books!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Slavery, including rape
Death of one’s child
War, murder, and violence
Stone Yard Devotional
I’m glad that Stone Yard Devotional made its way onto the Booker Prize longlist (and shortlist!), or else I may not have ended up reading it. I don’t know if it will stick with me long-term, but I definitely enjoyed my time with it.
About the book
Author: Charlotte Wood
Publisher: Riverhead (US edition coming February 2025)
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)
My Review
I’m glad that Stone Yard Devotional made its way onto the Booker Prize longlist (and shortlist!), or else I may not have ended up reading it, and that certainly would have been a shame.
The book is about an unnamed Australian woman who has abandoned her life to live at a convent, not because she is religious but because she is burned out and craves a quieter existence. It takes place largely during the pandemic, as they are simultaneously hosting an unexpected long-term visitor, mourning someone from their past, and fighting a literal plague of mice (which apparently really happened??). The narration flashes backward and forward in time to examine the value of a quiet life and the permanency of grief.
The book is very atmospheric and effective at striking the hushed, reflective tone and mood it’s going for, which makes the experience of reading the book feel like an in-between place just like the convent itself is. I also found the mouse plague to be extremely effective; it was gross and poignant and appropriately allegorical — instead of feeling on the nose (given that they’re at a convent and it’s pretty clearly a biblical allusion), it feels exactly right.
I don’t know if it will stick with me long-term, but I definitely enjoyed my time reading it. If you’re curious about it, I say pick it up!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Mouse plague
Animal death (livestock)
Suicide attempt
Bullying
Death and grief
The Safekeep
I’d owned a copy of The Safekeep since before it was published (thanks, Avid Reader Press!), but for whatever reason it just never bubbled up to the top of my TBR — until it was nominated (and then shortlisted) for the Booker Prize. And WOW, am I glad for it. I loved this one.
About the book
Author: Yael van der Wouden
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)
My Review
I’d owned a copy of The Safekeep since before it was published (thanks, Avid Reader Press!), but for whatever reason it just never bubbled up to the top of my TBR — until it was nominated (and then shortlisted) for the Booker Prize. And WOW, am I glad for it. I loved this one.
The Safekeep is a fever dream of a novel about a woman named Isabel in the Netherlands in the early 1960s. She lives a life of curmudgeonly solitude in the house her family moved into during WWII — until her brother’s latest girlfriend comes to stay, and her belongings start to disappear one by one (or do they?).
I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, except that the tone and trajectory does a 180 about halfway through, and there’s a decent twist that you can see coming if you look carefully (although I did not). Also, fair warning, this book is extremely horny.
What an incredible debut novel. What a look at desire and loneliness and what home means and the obsessive pursuit of the thing you want. But above all, what a look at complicity and what it means to have been complicit.
I’m still rooting for James, but I definitely wouldn’t be mad if this won the Booker.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Sexual content
Antisemitism, war (WWII/Holocaust)
Homophobia
Death of a parent
The Mighty Red
Louise Erdrich’s novels have an approachability that can feel elusive among novels with such a high caliber of writing. It’s just good storytelling, and the characters step off the page and into your heart. The Mighty Red was no different.
About the book
Author: Louise Erdrich
Publisher: Harper
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)
My Review
Louise Erdrich’s novels have an approachability that can feel elusive among novels with such a high caliber of writing. It’s just good storytelling, and the characters step off the page and into your heart. The Mighty Red was no different.
The book is about a cast of characters from a sugar farming community living along the Red River in North Dakota during the Great Recession. It deals with themes like desperation, love, the particular challenges and entrapments women face in times of poverty, farming for the land’s future, the insidiousness of privilege, and more.
We spend almost the whole book building to a reveal; an event in the town’s recent past that nobody wants to dwell on too much. I had no idea how she was going to make it worth the buildup, but she absolutely did. My husband walked in to see my face so pale and stricken that he thought something real had gone wrong! It was a visceral punch in the gut for sure. It was like a literary version of a Jodi Picoult novel, and I 100% mean that as a compliment.
I’m eager for more folks to read this so we can discuss!
Content and Trigger Warnings
Violence
Death (graphic)
Suicidal thoughts / attempt
Ghostroots
This hadn’t been on my radar before the National Book Award longlist, but I’m so glad to have been introduced. It took me by surprise and became one of my favorites on the list.
About the book
Author: 'Pemi Aguda
Publisher: W.W. Norton
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org
My Review
Ahead of the National Book Awards’ longlist announcements, I listed “great and weird short stories” among my wishes for the Fiction nominees. And y’all. Lauren Groff & co DELIVERED with this collection! It hadn’t been on my radar before the longlist, but I’m so glad to have been introduced. It took me by surprise and became one of my favorites on the list.
As you might guess once you notice that the lamb on the cover is not, in fact, wearing a red scarf, these stories are dark. They’re also deliciously vivid and inventive with a hint of the paranormal in the best way. They’re all set in Lagos, and each story has something clear and poignant to say (which is something I love in a good collection) and effectively does exactly what it sets out to do.
I especially appreciated how this collection as a whole commented sharply on women’s experiences in Nigeria (and more broadly), even when the stories were about boys or men. It can be hard to do that in a way that feels fresh and new, but Aguda accomplished it here.
Story collections don’t often win the NBA, but I would be happy to see this one take it! (Although that’s true for any of this year’s finalists, tbh.)
Content and Trigger Warnings
Body horror
Animal death
Childbirth
Child death