PositiveThe Nervous BreakdownThis dreamy novel, written as a fictionalized account of Darin Strauss peeling backing the layers of his family history, also asks the reader to reconsider their view of Lucille Ball ... Reading The Queen of Tuesday is like sorting through a long-dead relative’s scrapbook and old letters in an attempt to figure out who they really are. The naughty nature of Izzy and Lucille’s hush-hush romance buoys the book ... Strauss isn’t shy to lay it on thick, adding morsels of lush prose with a purple tinge ... This type of prose feels appropriate to the time and place Strauss is exploring, because it is magical—America is being reborn on both coasts simultaneously ... At times, the book’s non-linear nature books frustrates ... The Queen of Tuesday will change how you see Lucille Ball (you’ll catch yourself blushing the next time to see her on reruns). Strauss almost sets himself up for failure by tying his own knotted family history into Lucille and Dezi’s world—how can he make you care about a yearning Long Island suburbanite as much as television’s first powerhouse couple? And yet he does.
