This is Jennifer Saint’s masterpiece. Elektra was good. Ariadne had its flaws. But Atalanta is excellent; a retelling of the myth of Atalanta that breathes and cries and roils with emotion. Any Greek mythology nut worth their salt knows the story. Atalanta is the daughter of a king who yearned for a son, and when…
Five First Chances by Sarah Jost missed being a DIK for me only because I don’t think I could ever read it again. Part of this is because one of the joys of this story is how it reveals itself in carefully building layers (a one-time experience impossible to recreate after reading), and the other…
Maame suffers a bit because I’ve read a several similar books over the past few years, each about women emerging from the pressures and stifling cloister of their family lives to become a fully actualized person. This novel offers a couple of new twists, but the author’s voice isn’t especially distinctive. Still, there are some…
Haven is perhaps the shortest Emma Donoghue book I’ve ever read. Compared to long sagas such as Frog Music and Room, it’s a hop, skip and a jump lengthwise but packs in her trademark sense of worldbuilding and character observation, making it a slow read. But if you’re a fan, then it provides more of…
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow gives its readers a perfectly flawed group of central characters to both root for and against. As they muse about mortality – the nature of partnership and the Big Stuff Of Life – a partnership forms and anchors the novel. California native Samson Masur is a game-lover with a dream….
Keya Das’s Second Act – a story of deep regrets, fresh starts, and moving on – is a big warm hug of a novel. Sopan Deb’s take on domestic agonies and blisses feels incredibly fresh, enough to make you feel like you’re in the hands of a master. The Das family is in a state…
The Truth about Ben and June was a difficult book for me to properly rate. It’s by turns a harrowing portrait of the horrors of postpartum psychosis, a romance that is touching and realistic, a story about mourning, a mediation upon Greek mythology, and a tale of motherly angst. Ben and June have a seemingly…
Tracy Flick Can’t Win, Tom Perotta’s return to the world of the darkly comic Election, which spawned the cult hit film of the same name, is engrossing, but too many point of view chapters from other characters spoil the soup. Indefatigable achiever, throat-cutter and go-getter Tracy Flick – who back in high school would do…
The Lioness is a shockingly messy book given the skill and experience of the author. I was flummoxed on how to grade it upon finishing it and still find myself trying to balance the good and bad to arrive at a rating that is fair. When Hollywood super star Katie Barstow marries struggling gallery owner…
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is an eloquent meditation on grief, guilt, and how both can wreak, destroy, change and heal lives. Sally Holt stands on the cusp of entering the eighth grade during an eventful summer that will change her life forever. It seems to pass along lazily enough at first – she and…
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