Sarah Perry’s Enlightenment, Carrie Courogen’s Miss May Does Not Exist, and Joseph O’Neill’s Godwin all feature among the best reviewed books of the week.
1. Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
(Mariner)
8 Rave • 3 Positive • 2 Mixed
“Absorbing and affecting … Thanks to the economical grace and emotional force of Ms. Perry’s writing, we are also held fast by other crises, inserted like tiny detonators in her narrative. Death and desolation, though all too familiar, are freshly affecting … A novel of ideas, however, as well as one of emotion … It is hard to think of another modern novelist who portrays religious faith with such intelligent sympathy.”
–Anna Mundow (The Wall Street Journal)
2. Godwin by Joseph O’Neill
(Pantheon)
7 Rave • 3 Mixed
“O’Neill’s storytelling here has an enthralling fireside quality, ushering us with deceptive simplicity into a labyrinth of motive and desire, breathtaking betrayals and artfully twined threads. A book to sink into, in other words, and one not to be missed.”
–Anthony Cummins (The Guardian)
3. The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston
(Scribner)
5 Rave • 1 Positive • 1 Mixed
“A tremendously exciting novel. Rarely making us wait more than twenty pages between set pieces, it executes these with such blood-pumping aplomb that we are grateful for the breathers at the end of them. Then there is the brilliantly realized voice … Blunt and brutal.”
–George Cochrane (Times Literary Supplement)
**
1. Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius by Carrie Courogen
(St. Martin’s)
4 Rave • 2 Positive • 1 Mixed
“Splendid … Revelatory scholarship that gives full measure to this artist who despite obstacles and setbacks (some self-inflicted) is an exalted figure in the comedy pantheon, a distinct voice whose outlier creative life Courogen captures through original research, archival material and scores of interviews … Like its subject, contains multitudes, and it captures the complexities and contradictions of the fiendishly funny and fiercely independent artist.”
–Donald Liebenson (The Washington Post)
2. Invisible Labor: The Untold Story of the Cesarean Section by Rachel Somerstein
(Ecco)
3 Rave • 2 Positive
“A thorough investigation of birthing practices grounded in misogyny, racism and other forces contrary to the well-being of mothers … Invisible Labor clearly and compassionately blends scientific research and reportage with the personal stories of Somerstein and other women.”
–Jessica Ferri (The Los Angeles Times)
3. When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow
(Doubleday)
7 Positive
Read an excerpt from When Women Ran Fifth Avenue here
“Satow’s book has one longing for that delightful hush when the gates rolled down, the doormen went home and shopping gave way to sleepytime.”
–Alexandra Jacobs (The New York Times)
