PositiveBoston Globe... introspective yet entertaining ... The writing is heartbreaking in its simple and straightforward description of the world in which he was trapped ... a memoir composed of essays, some initially published (in somewhat different forms) almost 10 years ago. Perhaps because of this, the book’s most wrenching scenes only come after 200 pages, while in the opening essays about his childhood, Fitzgerald skims over the surface of what he endured. Vital information is scattered throughout and the book’s haphazardness somewhat dilutes our understanding of adolescent Isaac’s emotional turmoil, as well as the self-destructive tendencies of his 20s ... That said, this essayistic approach frees up Fitzgerald to tell long stories, unhampered by the demands of chronology ... Like every story in Dirtbag, Massachusetts, it’s one worth hearing and thinking about, even if, like life, it’s sometimes messy and out of order.
Nick Seabrook
PositiveLos Angeles TimesOne Person, One Vote argues that many of America\'s problems stem from one eternally timely issue...Gerrymandering involves the redrawing of congressional, state and local districts for political gain...It\'s done by both sides and has often been used to sideline minority representation, especially in the aftermath of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that removed obstacles that had long prevented Black people from voting in the South...Seabrook\'s title refers to a series of 1960s Supreme Court decisions that required every district to contain roughly the same number of people...But it\'s also an ironic title because the increasingly sophisticated process works around that requirement, stretching and squeezing districts to predetermine outcomes and making votes count for less and less...Seabrook makes clear that practical solutions exist but achievable ones are in short supply.
Tom Perrotta
MixedBoston GlobeReturning to the hits for a sequel isn’t typically a good idea in literature ... Tracy Flick Can’t Win has its flaws: a few too many hot button issues glibly tossed into the mix without real exploration and an over-the-top melodramatic, action-oriented ending. Yet even as the climax distracts and detracts from a thoughtful, intimate book, the novel earns its keep because Perrotta has reclaimed Tracy Flick from the movie version. She is still \'moving forward, focusing on the task at hand,\' but here she’s a richly rounded character enduring a quintessential modern American struggle ... You needn’t have read Election to enjoy Tracy Flick Can’t Win as Perrotta doles out just the right amount of backstory without bogging down in exposition. (That said, it’s still worth reading) ... Perrotta’s bite-sized chapters and light touch means the book is easy to swallow but there’s still plenty of meat to chew on ... In Tracy Flick Can’t Win Perrotta is probably less subtle in his social commentary than he was the first time around ... Despite Perrotta’s disappointing climax, in the end, maybe Tracy Flick finally will win.
Blair Fell
PositiveLos Angeles TimesArlo has been cut off from much of the world by his overbearing religious family, yet he flourishes whenever given an opportunity to connect. A poignant scene in which he is reading and writing about Walt Whitman allows us to see the multitudes he contains ... Too long ... Fell briefly digresses from the story to send Cyril to a conference where he learns about new approaches to signing ... Though the section is essentially didactic, the concept — and therefore the scene — is riveting and relevant to the story.
Grant Ginder
PositiveThe Boston Globe... highly entertaining ... propulsive plotting, flawed but likable characters and clever prose ... Ginder is at his best when tossing all his plates in the air, introducing new characters and subplots, weaving everything together ... Sure it’s slick and plot-driven like a Hollywood movie, with short scenes and snappy dialogue, but Ginder deftly blends politics and family, humor and drama, and brings the three Harrisons vividly to life ... but the book has design flaws. Xavier is cartoonishly sketched and even Nancy’s campaign manager, Cate, feels underwritten. At first, she seems to have potential as a major character with an outsider’s perspective, but ultimately Ginder uses her presence and reactions more as plot points. And some of those plot points, mostly dazzling when all the plates are in the air, crash near the end ... Still, even if Ginder doesn’t fully stick the landing, once you are burrowed inside the lives, and minds of Nancy, Nick, and Greta, you’ll feel like you know them and want to keep spending time with them. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Nadifa Mohamed
MixedBoston GlobeThe Fortune Men, which uses this real-life tragedy (Mattan was executed for the crime, for which he was exonerated in 1998) to create an intimate look at a man whose pride is seen as defiance and whose refusal to be demeaned proves dangerous to a Black man and a foreigner. Even though it takes place in 1950s Cardiff, it feels depressingly relevant today ... Often provocative and evocative but while Mohamed ultimately brings Mattan fully to life, the book’s digressions undermine some of its narrative urgency and potency. The result is a memorable portrait that sometimes gets lost in the novel’s sprawl ... Considering the suspense naturally built into the story, this should be a book that can’t be put down. Yet it is sometimes slow going, even if Mattan’s unsettled fate draws you along. Mohamed’s gradual development of Mattan’s character is poignant and profound, although it really gathers strength in the last third of the book when his increasingly dire situation pushes him to think more deeply about his life ... While Mohamed vividly draws the brawling and diverse tough-luck world of the Cardiff docks, most of the secondary characters feel thinly sketched ... The biggest distraction, however, is Mohamed’s parallel story depicting Violet Volacki, the woman killed, and her sister and niece. Thematically, the choice makes sense...but the story line lacks some of the oxygen that gives life to Mattan’s story. And after slowing the narrative down for much of the book, this subplot then just vanishes, without much in the way of resolution.
Lisa Harding
RaveThe Boston GlobeLisa Harding’s second novel, Bright Burning Things is moving—humane and emotionally scrubbed raw—as a depiction of Sonya’s journey to the bottom of the bottle and (after her father’s intervention) her desperate efforts to claw her way back to sobriety to regain her life ... Bright Burning Things...offers both Sonya and the readers strands of hope. And despite its grim narrative, the book has its lighter, funnier moments ... Harding channels Sonya’s exposed nerve endings with a potent poignancy ... While Sonya resists embracing the surrender to a higher power, she does find sympathetic and thoughtful allies ... Their help doesn’t provide any simple answers or pat endings for Sonya. Harding is too determined to make us see the potential pitfalls that will forever lurk out there [.]
Nick Davis
PositiveThe Washington PostAs Herman’s grandson, [Davis] is an insider in the Mankiewicz saga ... This kind of perspective gives the book an intimacy that raises the emotional stakes, especially when it comes to dysfunctional family dynamics ... There’s plenty of Hollywood trivia and gossip here as well ... Davis hits the more traditional notes, too, taking the reader behind the scenes of early Marx Brothers movies, Citizen Kane ... Davis is a documentary filmmaker, and he knows how to tell a story. He sharply depicts the brothers’ complex relationship—how they helped each other but were also driven by a fierce and bitter rivalry ... Davis captures it all.
Gerald Marzorati
MixedThe Washington PostWhile [Marzorati] rallies late and fills the latter third with incisive insights about issues of race and gender and about Williams’s life in the public eye, his nonlinear writing often diffuses much of what originally made Williams so compelling ... The early meandering — including bland pages on former pro turned tournament director James Blake and a curious digression on a 1964 Susan Sontag essay — reflects a lack of focus that is distinctly un-Serena like ... For every enlightening scene of Williams as a child prodigy or embroiled in controversy, there is one that veers wide of the target ... Marzorati is writing for the casual fan, concisely explaining the basics of tournament draws and scoring, but that makes his failure to fully put Williams’s professional accomplishments in proper context especially problematic. He takes our knowledge of Williams for granted, revealing crucial parts of her career in a scattershot manner ... In the latter third, Marzorati’s wide-ranging approach blends well with his keen analysis as he covers everything from Williams’s aggressive play to her locker room evolution, from isolation (in no small part because of racism and because of how the Williams sisters’ dominance intimidated other players) to finding close friends to becoming a revered elder. He even effectively draws connections between Williams and both Rihanna and painter Faith Ringgold, writing about topics like the struggle to reshape beauty norms and create a new identity for successful modern Black women ... If only Marzorati had started with a sharply focused narrative of Williams’s rise to greatness and beyond, it would have lent additional strength and power to the rest of his book, and strength and power have always been at the heart of the Serena Williams story.
Maggie Shipstead
RaveThe Boston GlobeWith Great Circle, it’s time to rewrite the book on Maggie Shipstead. Her writing still soars and dips with dizzying flair, but this time the dazzling prose is in the service of an expansive story that covers more than a century and seems to encapsulate the whole wide world. With detailed brilliance, she lavishes heart and empathy on every character (save one villain), no matter how small their role ... Shipstead’s prose is savory ... Even as Shipstead constructs her great circle she doesn’t hesitate to veer off course. There are close to 20 characters who are either fully fleshed out or at least sketched in with enough vibrancy that if you met one of them at a dinner party you’d feel like you’ve known them socially for years ... You’ll gladly follow the story as it turns and banks, trusting Shipstead to steer you back on course, weaving all the characters and ideas together as Marian, Jamie, and Caleb travel through the Depression, World War II, and beyond ... Even when the book loses some altitude during the war years, it always rights itself, its narrative momentum propelling you forward. Many authors attempting to create an epic falter at the end, losing control of the characters or the story, but Shipstead never wavers, pulls out a twist or two that feel fully earned, and then sticks the landing. After more than a year of a pandemic that grounded us all, Great Circle could not have arrived at a better time.
Les Payne and Tamara Payne
MixedThe Los Angeles TimesThis month, for the second time in a decade, a new biography strips away some of the mythmaking to bring a more nuanced Malcolm to the public ... The Dead Are Arising offers only a partial corrective to earlier works, an incremental turn in the long-evolving story of one of history’s most visible and confounding activists. Payne frequently revises or expands the historical record, offering the most detailed new account of Malcolm’s early years ... But the Paynes don’t touch Malcolm’s intimacies or examine his legacy. The book sometimes feels incomplete, leaving out crucial moments.
Sarah Frey
MixedThe Boston GlobeFrey is a woman with a potent sense of self and an unmatched ability for inventing and selling herself in a business world often skeptical of or hostile to women, especially those without pedigree or connections ... her story is really about her parents and her four older brothers and it is plenty moving and inspiring, without her overselling the complications ... Her memoir is often like this, both fascinating and frustrating ... Frey’s early years are riveting, without a trace of poverty porn or self-pity on the author’s part ... Those scenes are intensely memorable and make up for Frey often coming at the warped family dynamics sideways — especially the emotional and financial tensions between her parents ... vagueness diverts attention from a powerful narrative about a father losing control of the family over which he reigned ... Unfortunately, for much of the second half of the book Frey sidelines the shifting dynamic between her and her parents. There are other gaps in the story of how she builds her business from a girl and a truck to a company making deals with farmers and stores all over the country, including major chains like Walmart and Lowes. Yet the book maintains a delightful momentum, as she gets her brothers into the new family business, while defying stereotypes and staying true to herself and never losing sight of her mission.
James Nestor
PositiveThe Boston GlobeJames Nestor’s new book about how breathing properly can transform your physical and mental health, feels eerily well-timed ... These lessons might ease internal tensions in these stressful times but they’re really aimed at changing our daily lives when those resume in some way we’d recognize ... Breath is not a self-help book, though it will appeal to readers looking to improve themselves ... Nestor’s first-person experiences provide an intimate story, while his emphasis on hard scientific data backs up his feelings ... Nestor does an excellent job of explaining both the basics — don’t breathe through your mouth, which feels pandemic-relevant — and the more complicated aspects of breathing properly. The book is brisk and detailed, a well-written read that is always entertaining, as he melds the personal, the historical, and the scientific.
James McBride
PositiveThe Boston Globe... an unlikely recipe for a good novel, much less an excellent, often moving one .... a memorable tale of Black life in America, filled with hurt and frustration but also a perpetual undercurrent of hope. Despite occasionally running on too long, introducing too many characters (with some scanning as mere caricature), and imbuing deadly situations with too many pratfalls, the heart and humanity in his writing keep the pages turning ... Every chapter, it seems, has these riffs, this beautiful but horrible poetry that reads as the anti-Whitman ... Sportcoat sometimes seems like a character out of a tall tale, less real and more a catalyst for McBride’s subplots.
Kiley Reid
PositiveThe Boston Globe... surface sparkles are secondary to the book’s far weightier currents: an exploration of race and racism and misguided perceptions of the issue, executed with wit and a sharp edge ... The plot is occasionally schematic and the second half hinges on a massive small world coincidence that feels contrived. Still, while there was perhaps a more realistic collision course for Emira, Alix, and Kelley, once you buy into the path Reid chooses, she deftly ratchets up the tension and the characters always ring true ... Whether they’re interacting with toddlers or lovers, Alix’s, Emira’s and Kelley’s behavior and dialogue always feels organic, even (or especially) when they are making the wrong choices and saying the wrong things. Reid also makes Alix and Kelley seem complex and sympathetic only to turn around and show the damage their casual white privilege can cause in ways small and large.
Bill McKibben
PositiveThe Los Angeles Times... may depress and infuriate readers, but the founder of the anti-carbon campaign group 350.org still hopes in the end to motivate them to help turn, or at least slow, the tide of climate disaster.
