PositiveChicago Review of BooksAt first, this book builds slowly, embracing the false pretense that we’re all about to enjoy a family dramedy. But in the latter portion of the book, we’re left with page-turning chapter endings based around contemplative character interiority and the persistent question of how they will respond to the changing situation ... The novel is told through a close third-person point of view, but one that shifts between the characters on a whim. It’s a difficult choice, particularly since there are flashbacks woven into the chapters too, presenting many different viewpoints and timeframes. The flashbacks are intended to illustrate how the friendships between these adults have grown organically, woven together by purposeful events. That backstory adds to the overall richness of their relationships, but the novel is strongest in the present ... The topic in so many ways has been exhausted by the heavy, 20th-century novel Ebbott clearly aspires to write. But where Ebbott finds new ground is in attaching contemporary values to the examination, packaged in a way that recalls a different time and place, a different way of thinking, and in that dichotomy, has created something new and compelling for the present.
Rumaan Alam
PositiveChicago Review of BooksAlam’s critique of the billionaire class is heavy handed ... Not a thriller ... The narrative slowly burns with cultural criticism ... It’s a novel to ponder, to think about, and there is plenty to consider about wealth and the privilege that comes with it. There is less mystery and less suspense than Alam’s previous novel, but that is not the point.
Daisy Alpert Florin
PositiveChicago Review of BooksAt its heart, My Last Innocent Year is a campus novel, and it hits many of the same notes as classics of the genre ... By the end of Florin’s masterful bildungsroman, our narrator is not somebody’s daughter, she is not someone’s victim, she is not someone’s lover. She is Isabel, and she defines her own story.
Claire Holroyde
PositiveChicago Review of BooksThe Effort paints a bleak picture of humanity’s final days, but ultimately offers a message of hope; our survival relies on exploiting the most fundamentally human trait—connecting and trusting one another ... The novel has a broad scope, and diverse characters representing every continent, and many different cultures. Many of these people are only briefly introduced, and sideline narratives follow these tertiary characters adding to the details of the world. They have rich backstories, and though we may only glimpse at their lives, we learn enough to care about them. These side narratives are connected to the main protagonists—family and friends—but primarily exist to better shape our perception of the world. These side narratives also serve to balance the pacing of the novel, drawing out the narrative time to better represent the passage of weeks and months. The Effort is a political novel rather than an action space adventure. The real crisis is not the incoming asteroid, but humanity itself, and the reaction to the threat of imminent death.
