PanThe NationI too would have run away from the January 6 rioters. So it’s not surprising that we can find some common ground. While Hawley isn’t wrong when he recognizes that something’s up with men, he wildly misses the mark on exactly what that something is ... I’m not sure I can imagine a less productive message than encouraging men to become fathers before they’re ready. Hawley is only interested in helping men live the exact same life that he himself leads ... No one, myself included, should read this book ... Hawley is awfully repetitive and dull. For much of the book, he leans on familiar right-wing canards ... We can and should mock Hawley, but we’re taking a risk if we don’t read between the lines ... All he’s done, for his entire career, is pin the blame on anyone but himself. By that standard of manhood alone, I feel comfortable saying Hawley’s not one.
María José Ferrada, tr. Elizabeth Bryer
PositiveThe New York TimesM’s systematic attempts to make meaning out of her chaotic life may be futile, but they offer a canny insight into her magical mind ... Ferrada—a prizewinning Chilean children’s book author—cleverly pulls the curtain back at just the right moments to offer a more objective view of M’s young life, to track the story of her disenchantment. In elegant and simple prose, ably translated from the Spanish by Bryer, the author disperses clues to explain what M cannot, like the cause of her mother’s sadness. M’s logical thinking reflects the human instinct to create order out of chaos, but her coming-of-age is realized only once she begins to grasp her messy reality, the tragedies of her childhood, the consequences of her parents’ choices.You’ll find yourself at the end before you know it, still wondering if M finally found the order she craved.
Jen Silverman
RaveThe New York TimesWe Play Ourselves offers a delightful, satirical glimpse into the entertainment industry and the price of fame. But Cass is less of a stereotypical Hollywood egomaniac than a garden-variety millennial, pining for a not-quite-ex and ordering takeout. Still, she approaches the world with openness and humility, taking responsibility for her own misery as she crawls out from rock bottom. Silverman balances wit with earnestness, the laugh-out-loud moments highlighting the absurdity of writing — whether plays, films or poetry, the genre she skewers most adroitly in a pitch-perfect parody of an overhyped ingénue. Cass’s desperation for a new, simpler life is universal. As she falls again and again, the reader believes she has the heart to pick herself back up.
Torrey Peters
RaveThe New York Times Book Review... compassionate and convincing ... Peters weaves together this multifaceted cast in ways that leave the reader empathizing with each one even as they undermine one another. Her characters are so vividly drawn and human that the reader comes to feel personally close to them ... Peters doesn’t shy away from exposing her characters’ flaws. Nor does she shy away from an original plot. As Katrina’s pregnancy progresses and the characters shift in their desires and identities, we remain hooked on their every word. Delivered with heart and savvy, their deliberations upend our traditional, gendered notions of what parenthood can look like. By the end of Detransition, Baby, questions remain unanswered, but still the reader somehow feels satisfied.
