- The Lying Life of Adults and The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
It was only upon finishing these two Elena Ferrante novels that I finally felt worthy of holding the title of ‘reader’–though this is of course rather dramatic because anyone can be a reader, regardless of what they read. I was not hesitant to join the masses–Elena Ferrante is a force. Both books were wholly marvelous. In the case of The Lying Life of Adults, Ferrante places the reader in the mind of a teenage girl plagued with whirling thoughts about beauty and her place amongst the adults around her. A lot of time has passed since I read this book but I recall how absorbed I was by the story. I could not put the book down and read it over the span of an evening and a morning, interrupting myself only for a few hours of sleep. Ferrante’s novels have the kind of writing that you lose yourself in.
The Days of Abandonment follows a woman whose husband has left her. It’s a simple premise but gut-wrenching in execution. I have not read anything that has caused me as much emotional distress as this book did in quite a long time (in fact, I think the last book was the final Divergent installment, which is as ridiculous as it is humiliating). The main character spirals into a pit of depression and pitiful self-indulgence, all at the expense of her own physical and mental health. She navigates being a mother while dealing with something shocking and traumatic. I felt like I was right there with her–living suddenly without a husband and learning how to adapt to a new life. As distressing as these books were, there was a spark of magic that kept me reading and had me placing a hold at the library on every installment of the Neapolitan novels. Elena Ferrante is remarkable and I feel lucky that she–whoever she might be–is a contemporary. There’s always the promise of a new book on the horizon and what a lovely thought that is!
- Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
When asked, I tell people Joan Didion is my favorite author. It’s actually Eve Babitz, which means I’m not entirely lying (but kind of). I suppose I do this because it makes me sound interesting or smart or a little bit pretentious without–hopefully–being too obnoxious. Besides my white lie, I do enjoy Joan Didion. I think of her as a product of California’s disillusioned 70s. She’s famous for her essays, but I more specifically enjoy her for her fiction. Play It As It Lays was one of my favorite books in high school and Run River shocked me in the way it made such a removed part of the world feel interesting to me. With her essays, however, there exists a greater “barrier to entry.” Her writing is beautiful but confusing. She uses language in a way that is not immediately accessible to me, someone who grew up with classic American “children’s realistic fiction.” Her sentences are long and sprawling and ironic and make references to things I’ve never heard of. It is certainly an acquired taste.
That being said, she does a wonderful job exploring the human experience, more specifically, the American human experience. Her essays span topics of murder trials, Joan Baez’s very random school for non-violence, and the titular piece “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, which covers the Summer of Love in Haight-Ashbury. Didion’s essays are at once harrowing, at once hopeful, and entirely worth reading.
- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
There is something easily romanticized about a young, non-American (in this case, Irish), politically offbeat (in this case, flamboyantly Marxist) female writer. Such is the life of Sally Rooney, who has enjoyed commercial success with what seems like every word she puts on paper. Two of her novels, Normal People and Conversations with Friends have been adapted into shows, to much critical acclaim. I’ve read both and watched neither–I’m something of a purist. She is simultaneously a literary darling and easy to dislike. Her books ooze pretension and she seems to hold quotation marks and paragraph breaks in the highest contempt. Beautiful World, Where Are You does not escape this fate, and I, unfortunately, found myself filled with apathy and boredom when reading it.
The novel slogs over 350 pages. It is filled with namby-pamby characters with unclear motivations and frustratingly intact uses of their free will. Worth mentioning as well, is that this novel contains more explicit references to the social and political ideologies that Rooney herself subscribes to. This is not to say that this was a book not worth reading, only that the readers must prepare themselves. If they enjoy the meandering stories where characters between the ages of 20 and 35 act vainly and nonsensically between hours of complex, intellectual debate, they might find reading Beautiful World, Where Are You to be a lovely way to end a night. In my case, I found myself racing to finish it. That, however, does not change the fact that I will also be racing to read her next book if only to channel the same starving intellectualism Sally Rooney so exceptionally captures.
- The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
This was the kind of book that I could’ve sworn I read in middle school but apparently, I hadn’t (maybe I’m confusing it with one of those “Who Was?” books). Either way, this book was nothing like I was expecting. To start, it was only a little over 70 pages long–though there are subsequent volumes–and the tone was overwhelmingly conversational. Douglass has an incredible self-awareness in his writing, partly as he recalls the truly horrific atrocities he witnessed and experienced, and partly in the way he tells his story through a very plain, accessible tone of voice. I think that I was expecting something stuffier. Instead, I got a book that can be read easily (take this with a grain of salt, the content matter is by no means “easy”), almost as though I could have a conversation with Douglass today. The condition of slavery was described explicitly and plainly, Douglass indulges in no illusion or metaphor about his reality. I felt very impassioned by the end of the book. If I had to pick one book from this list to distribute to every American`, this would be it.
- Funny Story – Emily Henry / The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren / Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage / Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
It may be rather confusing–perhaps even insulting–to group these particular novels together but you must understand that my foray into romance literature this summer proved to be more of a hazy blip in the matrix than anything else. This is not to say I hold any derision for those who write and read these books. In fact, of the many books I read during the years 2020 and 2021, romance novels made up a significant portion. I only group these books together for the sake of brevity.
Funny Story follows a recently dumped woman who must live with the ex-boyfriend of the girl her ex-boyfriend dumped her for. It is the kind of circumstance that only exists within the bounds of fiction, but interesting nonetheless. Perfect if a Martha’s Vineyard-type romance is what you’re looking for.
The Paradise Problem is about two former college students who married while in college for the various conveniences said marriage would bring them. Now, years later they must fake their relationship so the novel’s hero may inherit the billions of dollars his father intends to pass on. Can this stuffy financier and free-spirited artist make their fake marriage look real? That remains to be seen for anyone who decides this book is worth their time. It was certainly worth mine.
Swift and Saddled involves a ranch, cowboys, and interior design. If that is too little information for you, I implore you to pick up the novel and see exactly what it entails for yourself.
Not in Love was not good. I racked my brain for descriptive language I could use to fill in the end of that sentence but I decided frankness would be best. I regret every single Ali Hazelwood book I’ve ever read (maybe I should stop!).
- The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
I read this book while on a seismology retreat in Vermont. Picture me sitting on a rocking chair in foggy Northern-ish Vermont, Mount Stratton in the background, idyllic in every way, reading this complete rollercoaster nightmare of a book. I say that with love. This book was superbly brilliant. If any piece of writing is deserving of a Pulitzer Prize, this is it. Another ‘based on a true story’, The Nickel Boys takes place in a 1960s boys’ reform school in Florida. This story is ghastly in every way. The boys are young. The academic component of the school is nonexistent. The school is segregated, and run by sadistic, racist “disciplinarians.” We follow the main character, Elwood Curtis’ life before, during, and after his time at the school, fashioned after the real-life Dozier School for Boys.
The Nickel Boys is not for the faint of heart. Whitehead was motivated to write the book when the University of South Florida anthropologists exhumed 55 graves (all unmarked) belonging to Dozier students. There is nothing pretty about this story but its execution is beautiful. I don’t say this lightly–Whitehead is a genius and this book should be read by absolutely everyone.
Rapid-Fire Reviews (because I have a deadline!):
- La Petite Mort by Olivie Blake
You will like this if: you have often daydreamed about being a lesbian vampire in New Orleans who frequents sleazy bars and hunts predatory men for fun.
- Mary Jane and Jessica Anya Blau and Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
You will like this if: you want to remember your 70s, music-filled, coming of age.
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
You will like this if: you don’t mind bad things happening to puppies and random women. (I was just as shocked as you are).
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
You will like this if: you have always wanted to live in a dystopian society determined to destroy the lives of everybody under the age of 18.
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Story by James McBride
You will like this if: you enjoy niche American history, especially the kind that explores the fascinating way Black and Jewish lives intersected in 1920s Pennsylvania.
- Rouge by Mona Awad
You will like this if: you have any appreciation for the beauty of Tom Cruise. There is no explanation, just read it.
- Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
You will like this if: complicated sisterhood, poor decisions and beautiful women are your kind of thing.
- Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González
You will like this if: you enjoy a good Wikipedia scroll.
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
You will like this if: you enjoy the trope of a bright-eyed, quirky main character and a surly, bitter love interest. Except in this case, she is desperately unemployed and he is paralyzed from the neck down.
- The Fury by Alex Michaelides
You will like this if: you are looking for the kind of book one buys at an airport to be read intermittently throughout a week-long vacation. This is not an insult.
