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Editors’ Picks: Contemporary and Literary Fiction
Plot-driven books that encourage us to pause and reflect on the human condition.
Publicado em 01 de Agosto de 2023
Godshot: A Novel
Chelsea BiekerA charismatic cult leader has convinced the residents of Peaches — a dusty, drought-stricken agricultural town in California’s Central Valley — that if they do what he says, he can bring back the rain. In this pre-apocalyptic landscape, he showers his followers with cola instead of holy water, glitter in the name of god, and awful, secret assignments. When her mom is banished from the cult and splits town, 14-year-old Lacey May becomes devoted to searching for her. “Godshot” exposes the impact of environmental devastation and power-hungry men on women, explores the depths of mother-daughter relationships, and revels in the unexpected salvation offered by women on the outskirts. — Katie W.
Vacuum in the Dark: A Novel
Jen BeaginI hate cleaning, but this book makes me want to get scrubbing, despite the fact that Mona, a cleaning lady, opens the novel by picking up poop she mistakes for artisan soap. Mona’s also an aspiring artist (snooping through her clients’ homes inspires her photography). This book is bonkers and dirty. The lovable weirdos who populate its pages lead messy lives and deal with tough topics. I haven’t even mentioned Mona’s long-standing relationship with her imaginary friend, Terry Gross. — Katie W.
Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel
Zora Neale HurstonHurston’s classic from the Harlem Renaissance wowed me from the moment I first read it. An anthropologist by training, Hurston brings her ethnographic research alive beautifully in this moving tale rooted in the people and histories of the South. She doesn’t shy away from intense subjects, like sexuality, and by refusing to minimize Black folk culture and language, her novel — written in 1937 — is an essential part of the antiracist canon. — Katie W.
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
Lydia DavisDavis is shockingly original. No one else writes the way she does. She conjures up whole words with minimal words. I like to dip in and out of this collection of her micro-stories and flash fiction, because they never fail to energize and inspire me. Her stories might be just a page or two long, but their impact is nothing short of expansive. — Katie W.
The Sisters Brothers
Patrick deWittThis book is as wonderfully weird, subtly funny, and smartly written as its title. A quirky, stylized genre-bending Western filled with dark humor and a bit of gore, it channels old-timey pulp and Cormac McCarthy alike. In the gold-crazed Wild West of 1851, two infamous hitmen brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters, travel from Oregon City to San Francisco and California’s famed gold fields on a murder-for-hire gig. The more thoughtful brother, Eli, wants to be a better person, and his deadpan narration is both strangely funny and moving. It’ll have you rooting for the hitman. — Katie W.
Train Dreams: A Novella
Denis Johnson“Train Dreams” doesn’t shy away from the ugliness in America’s history in the West, and the story will break your heart, but it’s also gorgeous and dreamy and haunting in all the best possible ways. Denis Johnson is a legend for a reason, and his lean novella packs a punch. One that will leave you tingling long after you finish it. — Katie W.
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa LahiriIn 2000, Lahiri became the first Indian American to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for this short story collection. Its characters, which oscillate culturally and emotionally between the US and India, are the literary high point of the book. The loneliness in their assimilation to American culture echoes in a tender narrative voice that leaves you feeling these stories were meant to be told, and you were meant to read them. — Andrea B.
Beautiful World, Where Are You: A Novel
Sally RooneyAlice and Eileen are each other’s “person.” The former is a published author recovering from a nervous breakdown away from the city, the latter, a Dublin-based literary editor. After a period of estrangement, the two friends pour their souls out to one another through email correspondence, while they grow attached to new love interests. Rooney wrote about similar themes to “Normal People” with a fresh spin, where her characters finally stand a chance at salvation in none other than human relationships. — Andrea B.
A Thousand Splendid Suns: A Novel
Khaled HosseiniOver 30 years of Afghanistan’s war-torn history is told through the eyes of two very different Afghan women. Though Mariam at first despises her husband’s new, second wife Laila, she soon finds compassion for the girl and her difficult circumstances. They form a tight bond to protect one another from danger — at home and in the world around them. Of equal caliber to Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” this powerful novel offers a moving portrayal of resilience. — Lanie P.
Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction
Joshua Whitehead“Love After the End,” an anthology of short stories, sees the silver lining in our dystopian future. All the stories are written by members of the 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous) community, who each bring a unique take on what will, can, or should happen when climate change devastates the earth. Each story is thought-provoking and rooted in a deep love of Mother Earth and an understanding that sci-fi staples, like colonizing other planets, are paths that only lead to more destruction — or, at the very least, will deplete our souls. — Ashley M.
For Today I Am a Boy: A Novel
Kim FuMy husband is a trans man (who’s half Filipino), and most of my friends are Asian American, complete with the stereotypical strict first-generation parents. But this book — about a Chinese Canadian boy who desperately wants to be a girl but tries to live up to masculine expectations — was still a piercing and illuminating one for me. There’s so much to unpack about gender, race, and nationality in this slim novel that so lovingly captures a family of five in their worst and most troubled moments across several decades. Fu empathetically portrays all the cruelties and kindnesses of her characters that span different cultures and generations. — Ashley M.
Topics About Which I Know Nothing
Patrick NessThe best of these short stories from the author of the “Chaos Walking” trilogy explores the way psychological games, social cues, language, and just generally being in the world forces us to engage with our fellow human beings. Full of humor that belies an ominous undertone. The stories are executed with deftness, in a style reminiscent of Lydia Davis’ short fiction. — Ashley M.
Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel
Jesmyn WardWard draws on Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, and Greek mythology to play with the classic American road novel, weaving magical realism into the modern, rural South. Ward blurs the lines between the living and ghosts, black and white, and three generations of family. Her lyrical sentences rise together to form a penetrating story that lingers like fog on the Mississippi bayou where the novel is set. — Katie W.
The Island of Sea Women: A Novel
Lisa SeeWhat stood out about this book was that it traces a matriarchal society in Korea where women are in charge. On the Korean island of Jeju, the haenyeo were the village’s all-female diving group, taking on the dangerous work of providing for the village and passing their tradition to their daughters. The book takes place during the Japanese occupation, through World War II and the Korean War, and it follows the friendship of two girls from different backgrounds. It’s a story of strong tradition, resilience, friendship, and a vision of a feminist utopia. — Sarah S.
The Leavers: A Novel
Lisa KoReading this book felt like an exercise in compassion and empathy for the many tough decisions that come from wanting a life that’s different from the one you’re living. Ko’s characters are complex and not usually easy to like, which makes all the rough things that happen to them slightly easier to take. Polly, a woman who became a single mom and left her village in China to go to New York City for a better life. Deming, her son, is separated from her and is ultimately adopted but never forgets those early years. Immigration, adoption, coming of age, racism, poverty, addiction, and various other topics come to life in this book that wasn’t easy to put down until it was over. — Sarah S.
Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel
Anthony DoerrIt’s always impressive when the various plot lines of a story begin to converge and everything that once seemed disconnected becomes connected. That’s the journey in “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” which is essentially about the difficult, but ultimate beauty, in owning one’s non-conformity. Being a big fan of “All the Light We Cannot See,” I knew I was in good hands with Doerr’s follow-up book, but getting started took a fair bit of focus and faith until the stories started coming together and everything picked up. Each character shares a sense of hope for something better, or at least something different, that drives them to persevere even though none of them has it easy. Life just goes on. It’s a sort of resilience that seems so relatable these days. — Sarah S.
Queenie
Candice Carty-WilliamsThis was advertised as a millennial version of “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and while both MCs live in London and are down on their luck in the dating department, that’s where the similarities end for me. “Queenie” tackles more complex issues like casual and internalized racism, mental health, and trauma. She makes questionable choices that left me feeling frustrated but I also found her experiences as a 20-something struggling to find herself and figure out life to be super relatable. — Emma C.