THE MOST
By Jessica Anthony
t.ly/0utyz
If this book were five dollars, or maybe $7.50, I'd tell you to buy it immediately. But since even the Kindle version is $14.99, I'd tell you to get it from Libby, the library app.
If you're caught up in dead tree world, you might not be aware that the Kindle is burgeoning, as a result of BookTok. Customizing your e-reader is even a thing. But if you do have a Kindle, you can use Libby, and it's an amazing service. Sure, you might not get the books you want immediately, you might even have to wait months for the books you want, then again I just got the new Rachel Kushner, and that's hot and barely out.
"The Most" came out on July 30th, but I got it a few weeks back, and I just read it last night. I was not ready to tackle the Kushner, whose previous book was great, despite its predecessor being as about as readable as "Ulysses," so I looked at what I hadn't read and found "The Most" and saw it would take just over two hours to read it and I dug in.
It was my kind of book from sentence one. Very readable, very direct, not overladen with description. And I started and finished it last night. And it has stuck with me. But, once again, I can't advise you spend retail for it unless money doesn't mean that much to you.
"The Most" is set on November 3, 1957, the day Sputnik 2 was launched, and everybody is talking about it, the way we were infatuated with the Space Race back then.
And at first you think it's "Revolutionary Road," but it's not quite that heavy.
Kathleen was a tennis player... Was she good enough for the majors? Unclear, but back then there was little infrastructure and setting was not the anathema it is today and she gets married to Virgil.
Who is too good-looking for his own good.
They graduate from college and move to Pawtucket and...
Do you ever forget the first one? Does your present love not deliver what your memory of the past focuses on?
What you've got here is two people living separate lives together.
And they wrestle with their choices and don't ultimately come to the conclusions you think they will.
This is your life. This is everybody's life. We're making decisions all the time, are they the right ones?
And while I've got you, I want to quote a couple of sentences.
"Virgil knew his youngest son would likely suffer until he left school altogether."
School is a game where those who conform win. But once you graduate it's the opposite, it's those who don't obey boundaries, who color outside the lines, who break tradition, who succeed.
"...and because Colson Beckett was the sort of man who believed his opinion was so good it was always worth repeating..."
We all know people like this.
SAME AS IT EVER WAS
Claire Lombardo
t.ly/ZlDmj
I was wary of this book, because the best reviews came from "People" and "Parade," and often what is recommended by these mainstream publications is lowbrow which I find unfulfilling and...the book is 496 pages long.
But I realized I'd read Lombardo's previous book, "The Most Fun We Ever Had," and had enjoyed it, so I dug in.
I am not recommending "Same As It Ever Was" to the casual reader. I won't say it's a slog, but it's not a page-turner, it's not laden with explosions.
What we've got here is a wife who doesn't believe she fits in and the choices she makes, which are not always good ones.
And there are certain plot points that take the entire book to play out, to be revealed, and that is ultimately satisfying, but according to my Kindle it took twelve hours and change to read this book, and that may just be too much for many people.
Just like with "His Three Daughters," unless you've been in the situation, you may not be able to fully relate. But what we've got here is a husband and his friends who come from well-adjusted families, whereas Julia was raised by a single parent who seemed resentful of her existence.
How does someone cope with Julia, and how does Julia cope herself?
This is a good book. But not the best book. If you're a dedicated reader of family/relationship fiction, who loves to be engrossed in a long story, you will like "Same As It Ever Was." Family life plays out in unpredictable ways. There are victories and losses. How do you cope with the choices your children make, how do you keep a relationship together?
Ultimately I liked "Same At It Ever Was," more than liked it. But when I thought it was predictable a quarter of the way through, I winced and almost gave up, but ultimately it's not predictable.
"Same At It Ever Was" is not lowbrow. It's just not the kind of literary fiction the big kahunas trumpet. It is rewarding. You know if this is your kind of book.
BANAL NIGHTMARE
Halle Butler
t.ly/2re0a
Ultimately I was riveted by this book, it has stuck with me for weeks. I read it on a long plane ride and didn't have time to write about it and all the online scuttlebutt said it was all about the previous book, "The New Me," supposedly the definitive millennial statement, so I figured I'd write about "Banal Nightmare" when I finished "The New Me." But I may never finish "The New Me," it is similar in style to "Banal Nightmare," but nowhere near as good, so I'm writing about "Banal Nightmare" now.
The style will trip you up. The perspective, the speaker can change in the middle of a chapter. You're reading one paragraph and then in the next paragraph you have no idea what is going on, and you don't understand until a few paragraphs later. This is off-putting, I almost gave up, I'm glad I didn't.
What we've got here is a woman who breaks up with her boyfriend, realizes it's not for the long haul, and moves back to her college town, where her friends still live.
There are cliques. She doesn't adjust her personality and doesn't fit in.
And the people in the cliques... Some are in good marriages, some are in bad. Some people are oblivious and some people have a good grip on their situation. Do you take dramatic steps and change your life or ride with what you've got, afraid of risk?
But the main reason I'm recommending this book is because I have never, NEVER seen such an accurate description of relationships in the late twenty-early thirtysomething time frame.
Sure, there are a lot of people writing about this, but they usually get it wrong.
Sure, the perspective is that of millennials, but I could completely relate, and was glad I was no longer in that situation.
Not only are you navigating friend groups, not only are you pondering your "career," you're looking for the one, are you ever going to find the one?
Do you click or not? Everything in life is about clicking, and it's something you feel, not something you can plot out on paper.
Some might find "Banal Nightmare" frustrating. They don't like life to be messy. They like to make a choice and move on, forgetting about the past, assuming anybody can really do that.
You're so lost at that age.
Oh, you can buy the b.s., the same one sold by the system I was referencing above, in "The Most," you can color inside the lines, as a boomer become a doctor or lawyer, as a millennial become a financier or a programmer, but are you going to wake up one day and be dissatisfied?
And then there are those who are forging their own path, it's so murky.
"Banal Nightmare" has stuck with me. But I think two-thirds of the people will reject it on style alone. And then there are those who hate whining.
But in "The Most" Kathleen was involved with an intellectual, forget what he looked like, she was stimulated by him. Was he the right one?
And Virgil can screw any woman he wants, he's that good-looking, and he does. But does that fulfill him?
We're all asking ourselves these questions, or variations on them, our entire lives. And we don't want to miss it, we don't want to wake up and find our complacency has limited our outcomes.
This is why we read, this is why fiction is so great, you're confronted with life and your own choices, you are forced to think. And in truth, we're all thinking all the time.
I'd recommend "The Most" to all, not that I think everybody will get through it.
If you remember being tortured by life, relationships and career choices in your twenties or thirties, or are still that age, I'd recommend "Banal Nightmare," but still, because of the style, it's not for everyone.
If you're the kind of person who always has a book on the nightstand, who reads every evening, enjoys a long family saga, I recommend "Same At It Ever Was."
If you're someone who only reads one or two books a year, don't bother with any of these, I've got better recommendations.
But if you're a regular reader and looking for what's next, check them out.
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