Book Review: "So Far Gone" by Jess Walter

“Right, he thought. We live only as long as someone remembers us. Only as long as someone cares.”

A former environmental journalist, Rhys has very little patience for fools. And Shane, his ultra-conservative, religious-nut son-in-law, is definitely a fool. One Thanksgiving, even though Rhys promised his daughter Bethany he’d behave, Shane’s conspiracy theory rants became too much to take. Rhys punched Shane, left dinner, and decided to live off the grid.

It’s been a few years now since Rhys escaped to his family’s dilapidated cabin in the woods of Washington State. Most of his conversations are with himself. So he’s completely surprised to find his grandchildren, Leah and Asher, on his doorstep. Apparently Bethany has gone missing and she had asked a friend to bring the kids to Rhys if anything ever happened to her.

Rhys is worried about his daughter and wants to take care of his grandchildren. But not long after they show up, the kids are kidnapped by members of a violent militia affiliated with Shane’s church. He is determined to rescue the kids and find Bethany, even if he hasn’t used a cellphone or the internet in 4+ years.

With the help of his ex-lover, as well as his best friend and a slightly unhinged ex-cop, Rhys has to confront the kidnappers and a world that has grown even more unhinged. But he also has to deal with the strains that have existed in his relationship with Bethany since she was a teenager, and his regrets about so many things he’s done.

This was a funny, endearing, and satirical read that I really enjoyed. Jess Walter is such a talented writer, and he deftly maneuvered between the emotions of the story, the social commentary, and the wild interactions between characters.

Book Review: "Fonseca" by Jessica Francis Kane

This is one of those quiet books that sneaks up on you and before you know it, you’re sad when it’s over. I’m so glad I came across it!⁣

⁣ “I’m reminded of that old idea that there are only two kinds of stories: someone goes on a journey and a stranger comes to town. It seems you are living both. Isn’t that remarkable.”⁣

⁣ In 1952, the English writer Penelope Fitzgerald receives a letter from two elderly sisters, who apparently are distant relatives. The sisters have a sizable fortune thanks to a Mexican silver mine, and suggest that there might be an inheritance in store. They invite Penelope and her young son, Valpy, to their home in Northern Mexico.⁣

⁣ While traveling from England to Mexico in the 1950s is a complicated and arduous journey, the invitation couldn’t have come at a better time. The literary magazine that she and her husband Desmond publish is on the verge of folding, their financial situation is precarious, and his drinking is getting more out of control. An inheritance could be life-changing.⁣

Leaving her young daughter and husband behind, Penelope and six-year-old Valpy head to Mexico. Yet when they arrive, they discover that all is not what they expected. The Delaney sisters are mercurial (especially when drinking), and there seems to be a growing number of people who also have designs on the money. Penelope will have to deal with the machinations of others as well as her worries about her marriage, her children, and their future if the inheritance doesn’t materialize.⁣

⁣ This is based on a real trip that Fitzgerald took, which she then fictionalized a bit. The narrative is intercut with excerpts of letters from Fitzgerald’s real children. I hadn’t heard of Fitzgerald before, but this story really captivated me.⁣

Book Review: "Bitter Texas Honey" by Ashley Whitaker

It’s 2011. Joan dreams of being a writer. By day, she’s an intern for an ultra-conservative Republican state legislator in Texas. And while her friends and roommate are all fairly liberal, Joan’s beliefs skew conservative.

As Joan struggles with finding inspiration to write about, she decides to pursue a romantic relationship, which hopefully will give her material. And the man she dates, Vince, does just that—he’s an egotistical musician who believes he’s more talented and more intelligent than everyone else. At the same time, she’s drawn to Roberto, a barista at her favorite establishment, who is also a writer.

Growing up wealthy, Joan is fairly rudderless. She drinks a lot, is addicted to Adderall, smokes a lot of weed, and doesn’t want for money. She’s also part owner of her father’s chain of recording schools, but she doesn’t take much responsibility there.

The brightest spot in her life is her cousin Wyatt. He’s tremendously creative and her partner in crime, but he’s also really troubled and struggling to find direction. His family’s solution to Wyatt’s problems is to send him to a Christian treatment facility—which doesn’t prove successful.

Joan’s own family exhausts her. Her father is an entrepreneur with a penchant for getting married to unsuitable women, while her mother is a former addict who disapproves of the way Joan lives her life. She’s caught between her parents, who don’t help her deal with her own issues; instead, they exacerbate them.

You know I love a good dysfunctional family, and this book certainly had that. Joan’s character’s beliefs don’t jibe with mine, and sometimes her flakiness is irritating, but you can’t look away from her. However, this book was billed as Fleabag meets The Royal Tenenbaums, and I didn’t see that at all. But it’s still a well-written debut.

Book Review: "Woodworking" by Emily St. James

What an utterly fantastic, thought-provoking, and important book this is! At a time when trans people are treated as less than, this book needs to be read.

In 2016, Erica is a 35-year-old teacher in South Dakota. Her marriage has recently ended, and she’s come to the realization that she is transgender, despite living as a man. This realization answers many questions for her, but how can she live as her authentic self without losing everything in her life?

Abigail is a student at the high school where Erica teaches. She’s the only trans girl in the school, she’s estranged from her parents and a few of her siblings, and the last thing she’s expecting is for her English teacher to out herself as trans. Abigail isn’t much interested in being Erica’s trans mom and confidante, but she knows what it’s like to have no one.

As Erica tries to decide whom to confide in and whether or not she wants to fully transition, Abigail has to decide how to support Erica while taking care of her own journey. Their stories are told against the backdrop of a local election that features an anti-trans candidate as well as the impending presidential election.

“Erica had often imagined what she might say if she ever talked to another trans woman. She always assumed she would be personable, smooth. She would find a way to be, like, “Hey, we’re all trans here, right?!” then laugh blithely.”

There are parts of this book that need to unfold for you, so you can feel their power. I love how Emily St. James uses shaded gibberish in place of Erica and Abigail’s dead names, because they say they hear them through a fog. All in all, this is an unforgettable book. What a debut.

Book Review: "Mazeltov" by Eli Zuzovsky

Usually when I pick up a book I’ve not heard of before, I look at the synopsis to see if it grabs me. But sadly, the synopsis can be misleading, causing you to expect something from the book that you’re not going to get.

I saw an ad in my FB feed for Mazeltov, and I was immediately intrigued. A coming-of-age novel about an Israeli boy discovering his queerness while living in a time of war? Sign me up!

The challenge was, this book is told in fractured chapters which jump from time to time, narrated by people you aren’t familiar with, and sometimes they weren’t even about Adam, the main character. So much is left for interpretation and extrapolation—I know some love those aspects of literary fiction, but I’d rather not have to work while I read.

“He always wanted to become the wanderer he thought that he was meant to be and make a home in the cities of his dreams, which were perpetually bright and inexpensive and never hostile to the Jews.”

The book follows Adam at different points in his life. There’s the day his newly religious father takes him to a mountain and cuts his hair for the first time. His bar mitzvah, which doesn’t go well. A school play, which also doesn’t go well for him. Moments of coming to terms with his queerness following his mandatory military service.

While I didn’t love this book, I definitely was taken in by Eli Zuzovsky’s use of language and imagery. He’s very talented; I just wish this was told in a more linear fashion.

Book Review: "Martyr!" by Kaveh Akbar

“Can you imagine having that kind of faith?” Cyrus asked. “To be that certain of something you’ve never seen? I’m not that certain of anything. I’m not that certain of gravity.”

This book was on lots of critics’ and Bookstagram friends’ 2024 best-of lists. I had meant to read it last year but didn’t get around to it, so it was my first read of the new year.

The son of Iranian immigrants, Cyrus grew up under the specter of grief. When he was an infant, his mother was killed when her plane was inadvertently shot down over the Persian Gulf. His father, who worked at a farm killing chickens, died shortly after Cyrus left for college.

A recovering alcoholic and addict, Cyrus wants to be a poet and fancies himself a provocateur. He becomes obsessed with martyrs (unsurprisingly) as a topic for his poetry, and is drawn to a terminally ill artist whose final work is spending the rest of her life in a museum.

He also is inspired by his uncle, who was shattered by his time in the Iranian military. His uncle used to dress as the Angel of Death and ride through the battlefields, so that vision would be the last thing dying soldiers saw. And when Cyrus finds a painting of his mother in an art gallery, he realizes that all he was told about her may not be true.

Kaveh Akbar is a poet, so it’s not surprising that his prose is really beautiful. I just felt like the book was really disjointed; the narration shifted among many characters and between past and present. This was tremendously thought-provoking, however.

Book Review: "Mothers and Sons" by Adam Haslett

Adam Haslett burst on the literary scene in 2002 with his debut story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here. Amazingly, he’s only published three (soon to be four) books, and yet he’s been a finalist for two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction and two National Book Awards.

Mothers and Sons, Haslett’s fourth book, which will publish in January, is another well-told and deeply felt novel. It’s a story about family, love, grief, overcoming your past, and how trauma can change us completely. It’s also a story of empathy, and how challenging it can be to care for broken people when we are broken ourselves.

Peter is a Legal Aid immigration lawyer. He spends his days defending those seeking asylum from their home countries, and he often deals not only with his clients, but the families they would leave behind if they were sent back home. While he fights to keep families together, the irony is that he has been estranged from his mother, Ann, for many years.

Ann, who was a successful pastor, now runs a retreat center in Vermont with her partner, Clare. She wishes she could reconnect with Peter, but knows the fracture between them runs deep.

Peter’s most recent case is defending Vasel, a young Albanian man seeking asylum because he is gay. This case triggers many memories for Peter, who is also gay, as he remembers his first same-sex relationship and the tragedies that occurred. Peter’s story is intertwined with Vasel’s and Ann’s, and the book culminates in a very powerful and affecting climax.

I have always been dazzled by Haslett’s storytelling ability, and this book is no exception. I’ll definitely be thinking about this for a while.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the advance copy! The book will publish 1/7/2025.

Book Review: "Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout

What does anyone’s life mean?

Elizabeth Strout’s latest book is another masterpiece of storytelling, and it’s tremendously thought-provoking at the same time. We return to Crosby, Maine, and some of her favorite characters from other novels: Bob Burgess, Lucy Barton, and the irascible Olive Kitteridge.

“People did not care, except for maybe one minute. It was not their fault, most just could not really care past their own experiences.”

Lucy and Bob have become close friends; they go on long walks almost every day, and talk about everything from the superficial to the super-serious. Their feelings for each other intensify the more time they spend together, and each acts as a sounding board, a shoulder to lean on. But Bob is married and Lucy lives with her ex-husband, William. Are either of them the type to blow everything up?

Meanwhile, when a crime occurs in town, Bob swiftly moves to help the accused. The case is far more complicated than meets the eye, full of emotional issues and past trauma. But Bob believes it’s his responsibility to protect his client, which impacts him profoundly.

Olive, now 91, has stories to tell, so she tells them to Lucy. And after a while Lucy shares her own stories with Olive. A friendship blossoms, built around shared untold stories ripe with lessons to be learned.

These characters are flawed, big-hearted, and so memorable. Strout can make you love the prickliest people and be fully invested in their stories. I’ve been a fan of most of her books which explore Amgash and Crosby, and hope we’ll get another chance to visit!

Book Review: "No Road Home" by John Fram

At times this book was off-the-rails crazy, and at other times it was tremendously moving. Having now read both of his books (including his debut, The Bright Lands), I can honestly say that John Fram is one of a kind.

After a whirlwind relationship, Toby marries Alyssa Wright, the granddaughter of a famous televangelist. But despite the fact that religion is such a huge part of her family’s life, Alyssa insists that they aren’t bigoted or backwards, like so many are.

To celebrate Alyssa’s 30th birthday, she and Toby, along with his young son, Luca, drive to Texas to spend the weekend at the Wright family compound. While Toby is dizzied by the wealth on display and the eccentricities of Alyssa’s family, he has no idea about the madness he and Luca are walking into.

It turns out that the Wrights have plans for Toby and Luca—and they don’t really have a choice in the matter. When a prominent member of the family is found dead, Toby is sure they were murdered, but the family doesn’t seem to care. Until, suddenly, their suspicions swing Toby’s way, which could have massive implications for him and his son.

A torrential storm has flooded any exit from the compound, which means they’re all trapped with a killer and lots of crazy family members. And Luca keeps talking about seeing a shadowy man in a dark suit, but no one else seems to see him. Will the storms end so they can escape, or will they be tangled up in all of the madness?

There is a lot going on here—murder, hidden memories, the fierce love between father and son, unresolved grief, secrets, even a touch of the supernatural. It may be too much for some, but I absolutely love the unbridled way Fram spins his stories. And his author’s note brings it all home. This slayed me.

Book Review: "A Happier Life" by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Whenever I read a book by Kristy Woodson Harvey, I know two things to be certain. First, I’ll feel warm and fuzzy and a little emotional because her books provoke all of those feelings. And second, I’ll want to go wherever the book is set. (The cover looks pretty enticing, doesn’t it?)

Keaton’s life and career have just imploded, and she’s gone to stay with her parents. But her mother and uncle have a job for her: travel to Beaufort, NC and get their childhood home ready for sale. Keaton didn’t even know that such a house existed, much less that her mother and uncle haven’t set foot in the house since their parents were killed in 1976.

When Keaton arrives in Beaufort, she’s amazed that the house is in a state of suspension: not a thing has changed since 1976. It’s an overwhelming task to go through all of her grandparents’ things, especially when she knows so little about them, but with the help of a group of women who knew the couple, she starts making progress. She also finds journals written by both her grandparents, which gives her some insight into their lives and love.

It seems like the biggest question Keaton and others have is what happened to Townsend and Rebecca Saint James that night in 1976? As she tries uncovering the mystery, she finds herself drawn to her next-door neighbor and his young son.

The story alternates between Keaton’s narration in the present and excerpts from Rebecca and Townsend’s lives. The more Keaton digs in, the more she realizes that as strong-willed as Rebecca was, she might have faced a challenge even she couldn’t conquer.

I loved everything about this book. The main characters and the supporting ones were all so wonderful, and I fell in love with Beaufort just like Keaton did. Harvey has such a way of drawing you into her books and filling you full of drama, friendship, love, and smiles.

Book Review: "In Tongues" by Thomas Grattan

I saw a friend post about this book on Bookstagram and the description intrigued me. After reading it, I was blown away by how it pulled me in. This is a character-driven, coming-of-age story that made me recall similar feelings (although in very different situations).

Early in 2001, following the end of his relationship with his boyfriend, Gordon decides to take a bus from his home in Minnesota to New York City, because it’s the only place he can think of. He knows no one and is lonely, hungry for companionship and for someone to give him direction.

He gets a job walking dogs for rich people in the city, and he builds a friendship with a bartender and her girlfriend. And then one day he meets two of his clients, Phillip and Nicola, a wealthy, gay couple who own a prestigious art gallery. Gordon isn’t sure how to act around them, but the men treat him well—and occasionally like a servant. It’s not long before Gordon becomes their personal assistant, part chauffeur, part errand boy, part object of admiration and flirtation.

At only 24, Gordon has no real ambition, except to feel like he belongs, like he is cared for, like he has purpose. But he remains unsure of what his role in the men’s lives really is, and what they expect of him. And when troubles arise in Phillip and Nicola’s relationship, Gordon becomes further enmeshed, especially in Phillip’s life.

With no real adult role models (his relationships with both of his parents are strained and odd), Gordon looks to Phillip for some direction. But Phillip is unsure of his own life and what he wants from Gordon and Nicola, so it’s not long before Gordon becomes collateral damage, and finds himself drifting from place to place, looking for love (or at least desire) and a path to follow.

In Tongues was so compelling and so beautifully written. There are dramatic moments but for the most part it’s a quiet book, but a powerful, emotional, and thought-provoking one.

Book Review: "All the World Beside" by Garrard Conley

Garrard Conley’s first novel (after his extraordinary memoir, Boy Erased) is beautifully written, impeccably researched, and immensely thought-provoking.

In the late 1700s, Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his wife Catherine formed Cana, a utopian community with Puritan values in Massachusetts. Cana is built on principles of equity—everyone is considered to be the same as their neighbor. The idea has caught on with other Christians, who travel to Cana to be a part of this world.

Among those who flock to Cana is Arthur Lyman, a physician, who moves with his wife and preteen daughter. Reverend Whitfield’s words inspire Arthur, but they also fuel an intense desire for the other man. This is familiar territory for Arthur but not Nathaniel, and while he knows the feelings he has for Arthur are wrong, he cannot resist them.

But the relationship between the two men is not as secret as they believe it to be, and both of their wives and their children have to deal with the shock and shame that follows. And as the fervent intensity of the Great Awakening starts to overtake New England, Nathaniel and Arthur are risking their lives and the safety of their families, yet they try to figure out a way to survive without sacrificing their love.

Obviously, LGBTQ people have existed since the beginning of time, even if the world didn’t acknowledge them as such. But part of the appeal of All the World Beside is that it gave a glimpse into the lives of and dangers faced by gay people in 18th-century New England. That gave the book some added weight.

This book definitely has some similarities to The Scarlet Letter although the story is its own. It’s definitely a book that will stay with me for a long while.

Book Review: "Women! In! Peril!" by Jessie Ren Marshall

Do you ever wonder if your sense of humor is so different from other people’s? I often feel that way when I read a book that’s supposed to be “funny” or “zany,” and I’m sitting there thinking, “do I have no sense of humor?”

Jessie Ren Marshall’s debut story collection, Women! In! Peril!, has been labeled “ferociously feminist.” Indeed, the 12 short stories each have women at their center—either from the present or the future, real or robotic, in a variety of situations. The stories deal with issues from queerness and motherhood to relationship woes and cultural identity.

Some of the stories I enjoyed the most were “Annie 2,” about a sex bot who hopes not to be returned, and “My Immaculate Girlfriend,” in which a woman tries to figure out if her girlfriend really has a miraculous pregnancy.

I love short stories—at times it’s amazing how an author can give a novel-like feel in a short number of pages. At times though I feel like they leave me hanging, and just a little more might give me resolution. I felt a little bit more of the latter with this collection.

Book Review: "Great Expectations" by Vinson Cunningham

No, this isn’t a retelling of the Charles Dickens classic. (I’ll admit, that’s what made me first pick up the book.)

It’s February of 2007 when David, a young Black man from New York, hears the Senator from Illinois declare his candidacy for President of the United States. David is fascinated by the Senator and the hopeful vision for the future he conveys, but he cannot believe that a Black man would be taken seriously as a credible candidate for President.

Thanks to a connection, David lands a job working for the Senator’s campaign. It’s a low-level job helping collect contributions at events, but it’s not long before the Senator notices him, and little by little, David becomes a more integral part of the fundraising operation.

While “the Senator” is never referred to by name, it’s obvious that he is based on Barack Obama. David is a fictionalized version of the author, Vinson Cunningham, who worked for the Obama campaign and at the White House.

While today’s political climate makes me ill, I’m fascinated by the behind-the-scenes of campaigns and presidential administrations. There are glimpses of that in this book, but this is more of a meditation on religion, identity, fatherhood, and race. Cunningham is a talented writer, but this book never quite grabbed me.

Book Review: "Mercury" by Amy Jo Burns

This was so good! As I've said numerous times before, I love stories about family relationships and dynamics, and Mercury definitely fit the bill.

Marley and her mother, Ruth, came to the small town of Mercury, Pennsylvania in 1990. Marley was 17, used to spending lots of time by herself while her mother works as a nurse, and it's always been the two of them against the world. But she's wanted to belong, wanted to be a part of something bigger.

Not long after her arrival in town, Marley encounters brothers Baylor and Waylon Joseph, when they get into a fight at the end of a baseball game. The young men are the sons of Mick, the blustering, egotistical owner of Joseph & Sons Roofing, and both are expected to follow in their father's footsteps, as is their younger brother, Shay. It's not long before Marley is drawn into their orbit, chosen by one brother but longed for by another.

Things change rapidly, and it's not long before she is a young wife and mother. But as the boys' own mother slowly starts to disappear from their lives, Marley steps up, taking charge of the family and helping with the business, even becoming somewhat of a surrogate mother to Shay. And at the same time, she becomes privvy to a set of secrets that could shake not only the Josephs, but the entire town of Mercury.

Years later, when the church attic is found to be home to a gruesome discovery, all of the Josephs get drawn into the web that exposes old wounds and threatens to destroy the entire family. Each must decide whether their relationships, the business, and the family itself are worth fighting for, and what the future holds.

While this is definitely a slow-burn story, I was hooked from the very start. Amy Jo Burns created layered characters that were so much more complex than I initially believed, and I really enjoyed her storytelling ability. There was a richness to this story that definitely will keep it in my mind for some time.

Book Review: "Saving Emma" by Allen Eskens

Allen Eskens is a tremendously talented writer who should be a household name. His books, including the amazing The Life We Bury, are a great blend of crime novel, contemporary fiction, and occasionally, legal thriller. While his newest book, Saving Emma, isn't my favorite of his, it's still a well-written and gripping story.

Boady Sanden is a former attorney who is now a law professor that works for The Innocence Project in Minnesota. When a woman comes to Boady asking him to look into the murder conviction of her brother, he feels like there's not much he can do. Elijah Matthews has been a patient in a mental institution for the last four years, since he was accused of murdering the pastor of a megachurch. Elijah believes he is a prophet, sent to do work given to him by God.

But as he digs into Elijah's file, he learns that he was originally defended by Ben Pruitt, Boady's former colleague and best friend, who was killed in Boady's study four years earlier. Ben's life was unraveling in the middle of Elijah's trial, which makes Boady wonder whether Elijah received the vigorous defense he deserved. The more he looks into the case, he finds Elijah both infuriating and sympathetic, but he isn't sure if he actually is a murderer.

At the same time, Ben's daughter Emma, who has lived with Boady and his wife since Ben was killed, has become sullen and withdrawn since she turned 14 years old. Emma makes a decision to trust someone who doesn't have her best interests in mind, and she turns against her surrogate parents. This devastates both Boady and his wife, although he needs to examine the way he has treated Emma to see if he's at all to blame for her decisions.

Can they get Emma to return home before it's too late? What is the truth behind the murder that Elijah is accused of, and how complicated is the web Boady will step in as he tries to find who is responsible?

I really enjoy Eskens' storytelling ability, but I struggled a bit with this book. I didn't find any of the characters particularly appealing, and there's a lot of scripture quoted in the story, which isn't something I'm familiar with. There really aren't many twists in this story, but it's still a very quick read.

Book Review: "Hi Honey, I'm Homo! Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture" by Matt Baume

While I watch very little television now, I was a television addict from the 1970s into the early 2000s. I still remember some episodes from my favorite sitcoms, and definitely had nights when we watched certain programs. (My Saturday nights growing up were ruled by The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.)

Although I didn’t fully come to terms with being gay until my late teens/early 20s, I definitely knew I was different earlier. (Case in point: constantly rewinding the swimming competitions in Battle of the Network Stars, which featured television actors in speedos.) But the way gay characters were portrayed on television (even when they weren’t explicitly labeled “gay”) fell into every bad stereotype there was. How could I be gay if I wasn’t like that?

Whether you’re a television savant like I am, a fan of reading about television and its impact on society, or just curious about how the portrayal of queer characters has changed over time, Matt Baume’s book is a fascinating and well-researched read. It looks at programs from All in the Family, Soap, The Golden Girls, and Ellen,” to Friends, Will & Grace, and Modern Family. It also briefly touches on celebrities like Paul Lynde, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Rip Taylor, their campiness and double entendres, which I absolutely did not understand back then.

Baume juxtaposes the changing tide of television relative to the portrayal of gay characters with the prevailing attitudes of society, as well as the movements toward and against equal rights. I learned some new things and some things definitely jogged my memory.

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction but this was a great read for Pride. Plus, I only caught one error, because I’m a savant!!

Book Review: "Is It Hot in Here? Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth?" by Zach Zimmerman

How can you resist a book with a title like this? Comedian and writer Zach Zimmerman provides fodder for laughs, tears, and even some a-ha moments in this memoir-esque collection of essays and anecdotes about making peace with yourself.

Zimmerman chronicles growing up in a religious home (and his need to escape), coming to terms with his sexuality, trying to find love amidst online dating disasters, and other situations, including his family’s reactions to the COVID pandemic.

Interspersed between these essays are lists with titles like “Seven New Sins–and Tortures Too.” (Among those sins are “suggesting a book club book you’ve already read” and included among the tortures is “You are given six delicious Cadbury Creme Eggs and told one is filled with mayonnaise. (They are all filled with mayonnaise.)”

Some of these essays made me laugh out loud, some made me roll my eyes at the absurdity of the events Zimmerman described, and some actually made me think.

But after a while, everything started to have the same sarcastic tone, and some of the content was a little too precious for me. Yet this surely was an enjoyable break from heavy fiction!

Book Review: "Maame" by Jessica George

Jessica George's debut novel is moving, thought-provoking, and just so good.

FOMO hits hard on Bookstagram from time to time. I saw this book since the end of 2022 and heard so much praise, so I couldn’t wait to read this. I love it when a book lives up to the hype!

Maddie is a dutiful daughter. She’s currently the primary caregiver for her father, who has Parkinson’s. Her mother mostly lives in Ghana, but that doesn’t stop her from haranguing Maddie about finding a man to marry or asking Maddie—who has to pay all of the bills—to send money. She also gets no help from her older brother, who always has an excuse to not be around or contribute financially.

At the same time, Maddie is struggling with motivation at work, where she is tired of being one of the only Black people, and she’s dealing with loneliness. When her mother decides to move back to London for a year and promises to take over her father’s care, Maddie is ready to move out and start living the life she should at 25.

But although she has decided to embrace saying yes to new opportunities—including drinking and dating—she still finds herself mired in unhappiness and dealing with similar issues at her new job. And after a tragedy and a betrayal set her back on her heels, she finds herself lost, yet afraid to actually speak her mind and admit she’s struggling.

I thought this book was excellent. It captured all the challenges of family, career, friendship, love, and responsibility. Maddie was such a fantastic character and I really felt for her. It’s amazing that this was a debut novel—I can’t wait to see what George does next!!

Book Review: "The Faraway World: Stories" by Patricia Engel

The Faraway World is a short story collection from the author of Infinite Country.

I’ve been on a short story kick lately, so when I saw that Patricia Engel had a new collection out I thought I’d give it a try. She’s truly an exceptional writer, but these stories are really bleak at times.

Of the 10 stories, my favorites were “Aida,” about a teenage girl whose twin sister goes missing, and she loses both her best friend and her ally in saving their parents’ marriage; “Fausto,” in which a young Colombian woman finds out her boyfriend isn’t quite what she thought; “The Book of Saints,” narrated both by a Colombian woman hoping an American man will marry her, and the man; and “Guapa,” about a formerly obese woman who thinks she’s found happiness in her new body.

Where I struggled with this collection is that very few if any of the characters were sympathetic, and after a while the stories seemed a bit repetitive. But they definitely made me think!!