1. The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey
4 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed
“Richly immersive … Harvey delivers with the intelligence and sympathy you would expect from the author of The Wilderness… Her prose is as rich as ever, her structures clever and efficient. The narrative is an indirect, cumulative revelation of something we half-guessed from the beginning, but which remains shadowy enough that we daren’t put the book down in case we’re proved right … as densely packed as all of Harvey’s work: it’s a historical novel full of the liveliness and gristle of the period it depicts; an absorbing mystery with an unpredictable flurry of twists in its last few pages; a scarily nuanced examination of a long-term moral collapse; a beautifully conceived and entangled metaphor for Britain’s shifting relationships with Europe. But most of all it’s a deeply human novel of the grace to be found in people.”
–M John Harrison (The Guardian)
Read Samantha Harvey on the melancholy of reverse narratives here
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2. A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
3 Rave • 5 Positive • 1 Mixed
“I’m embarrassed by how much I enjoyed John Boyne’s wicked new novel, A Ladder to the Sky. It’s an addictive Rubik’s Cube of vice that keeps turning up new patterns of depravity. By the time every facet clicks into place, the story feels utterly surprising yet completely inevitable … A Ladder to the Sky is a satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller. Beware reading this in public: Boyne’s prose inspires such a collision of laughing and wincing that you’re likely to seem a little unbalanced … Clearly, decades in the business have rendered Boyne fluent in the language of literary combat. He knows just how certain writers pierce their colleagues with barbed compliments and hobble them with belittling praise.”
–Ron Charles (The Washington Post)
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3. Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina, Trans. by Julia Meitov Hersey
4 Rave
“The novel belongs to an expanding Ukrainian genre known as fantastyka, encompassing science fiction, fantasy, horror and folkloric traditions. Much of this genre has not yet been translated into English…Kudos are due to translator Julia Meitov Hersey, whose task cannot have been a simple one, given Vita Rostra’scomplexity and sophistication. I realize that this is a bit of a tease, but if you are at all intrigued by the phrase, ‘Time is a grammatical concept,’ you will find yourself swept into this book’s estimable vortex from page one.”
–Thane Tierney (BookPage)
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4. Muck by Dror Burstein, Trans. by Gabriel Levin
1 Rave • 5 Positive
“With its trippy overlapping of eras, settings, styles, and sensibilities, the book’s dense narrative seems to unfold under a constant fog. Influenced by such masterworks as Philip Roth’s scabrous Sabbath’s Theater, Joseph Heller’s satirical Catch-22, and the modernist works of Thomas Pynchon, the book is alternately hilarious (dig those talking dogs) and gripping in its treatment of the power of words. Ultimately, Burstein delivers page-turning suspense that gains resonance through its relevance to contemporary Israel. Israeli novelist Burstein’s audacious reimagining of events leading to the siege of Jerusalem is a dazzling and dizzying triumph.”
–(Kirkus)
Read an excerpt from Muck here
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5. Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
3 Rave • 1 Positive
“..With shrewd insight, inventive plotting, and stinging history lessons, Apostol…puts the ‘unremembered’ Philippine-American War on display, deftly exposing a complicated colonial legacy through the unlikely relationship between a U.S.-educated Filipino translator and a visiting American filmmaker … The multilayered challenge, enhanced by the presences of Elvis, Muhammad Ali, various Coppolas, and a sprawling cast of characters both historical and imagined, proves exceptionally rewarding.”
–Terry Hong (Booklist)
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1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
1 Rave • 8 Positive • 1 Mixed
“This isn’t a rushed account aimed to fulfill a fat publishing contract or settle scores or provide uplift (though it does). Every page sparkles with directness and grace. She writes compellingly of the complexities of marriage and family with honesty and the kind of confidence that comes of being a person of integrity who knows who she is — and is comfortable with it. Like its author, Becoming’ is a work of solid worth … Not that Becoming’ is Trump obsessed or gloomy (though her mournful remembrances of the Newtown, Conn., Charleston, S.C., and Orlando, Fla., massacres are haunting). Her grief and grievances never overwhelm. Many pages are filled with fun bits about Carpool Karaoke with James Corden, Nerf dunking with LeBron James, and discussing women’s shoes with Queen Elizabeth II.”
–Douglas Brinkley (The Boston Globe)
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2. The End of the End of the Earth by Jonathan Franzen
2 Rave • 7 Positive
“But by refusing to hope for the impossible [regarding climate change], Franzen, improbably, manages to produce a volume that feels, if not hopeful, then at least not hopeless … This is not a collection that wastes time attempting to persuade us of the reality of the climate crisis; frankly, we’re way past that … But as the pages turn and the feathers pile up, it becomes harder and harder to keep the murres, taikos and storm petrels straight in your head – or, finally, to invest too deeply in the differences. Yet there are essays in which the balance between form, content and voice is perfectly struck, and when you reach one of those, it’s clear that you’re in the presence of a master … [The title essay is] the work of a writer at the top of his game – limber and lovely, delivering deep insights with delicacy and grace – and it poignantly makes the only case for climate action that has any chance of succeeding: that there is so much worth living for.”
–Sarah Crown (The Guardian)
Read “Jonathan Franzen’s 10 Rules for Novelists” here
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3. The British in India: A Social History of the Raj by David Gilmour
3 Rave • 4 Positive
“The [book’s structure’s] success owes as much to its simplicity as to Mr. Gilmour’s remarkable feel for detail, perspective and proportion … The British in India isn’t merely colorful trivia. Mr. Gilmour grapples with systematic injustices and suffering and the frequent debility and loneliness of the Anglo-Indian lot … Mr. Gilmour’s command of primary and secondary texts imbues these stock types with nuance and humanity … The erudition, balance and wit of The British in India are in keeping with Mr. Gilmour’s superb Anglo-Indian biographies.”
–Maxwell Carter (The Wall Street Journal)
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4. Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) by Jeff Tweedy
3 Rave • 3 Positive
“Wildly entertaining … Tweedy refuses to let himself off the hook—with breathtaking candor, he writes about how his opioid addiction led him to making horrifying decisions … an intensely charming book, leavened by Tweedy’s dry, sometimes goofy, sense of humor … it’s Tweedy’s earnestness and bravery…that makes his memoir so unforgettable … Tweedy’s music has never shied away from darkness, but he’s also never been afraid to celebrate joy. The same is true with this remarkable memoir—it’s a wonderful book, alternately sorrowful and triumphant, and it’s a gift not just to his fans, but to anyone who cares about American rock music.”
–Michael Schaub (NPR)
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5. American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts by Chris McGreal
3 Rave • 2 Positive
“… a detailed and compelling account of the spread of opioid addiction across the so-called rust belt, said to be the deadliest drug epidemic in American history … In many ways, McGreal’s book reads like a white-collar The Wire, with a cast of characters determined to exact as much money as possible regardless of the human cost.”
–Andrew Anthony (The Guardian)
