In Whistler, Ann Patchett’s latest novel, she returns to her roots with a novel about complicated family dynamics and the relationships in childhood that shape identity and one’s sense of self. One afternoon at the Met in New York City, Daphne, a middle aged woman visiting the museum with her husband, encounters an older man who has been following her through the rooms. He turns out to be Eddie, a man who was married to her mother for several years when she was young. Although she hasn’t seen him in over forty years, their connection and affection are immediately apparent, and their reunion is a happy one that spurs days of conversation about what happened when she was young and why he disappeared so suddenly from her life. Soon, Daphne’s mother and her sister Leda become involved in this rekindled relationship, providing depth and new perspectives to what happened decades before. Patchett’s famous eye for detail, her realistic conversation and her satisfying analysis of relationships are all on display here, and Whistler is satisfying reading without need for showy plot twists or other pyrotechnics. If you liked Commonwealth or The Dutch House, this one is for you.

The post WHISTLER by Ann Patchett appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

Solito by Javier Zamora is a harrowing memoir about the author’s attempts to immigrate to the US from El Salvador when he was only nine years old, a trip he took unaccompanied because he was to meet his parents once he arrived safely across the border. The crossing, a stretch of 9 weeks when he was not in touch with anyone from his family, was arduous, risky and scary, including overnight boat rides to reach Mexico, long treks through scorching hot deserts and US immigration police patrolling and waiting to return migrants to their home countries. Throughout, Javier relies on – and develops close relationships with – the other people his coyote was paid to bring, forming a temporary family that provided him support and comfort. Solito is a difficult and emotional read, perhaps a bit too long, but one that has stayed with me long after I turned the last page. I have learned that there is a sequel being written, and I will absolutely be picking that up.

The post SOLITO by Javier Zamora appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is the book of the spring, if sales at Wonderland Books are any indication. I was told to go in blind on this one, so I am going to keep this review pretty vague. Yesteryear is about a tradwife influencer named Natalie who lives on a ranch called Yesteryear in Idaho with her husband and five children. She wakes up one day in the 1850s, forced to adapt to the life she has only pretended to live for her smartphone and Instagram followers. The book jumps around in time, covering how Natalie met her husband, had her kids and built her social media empire, and then returning to the nineteenth century where she lives with some version of that husband and those kids, but without any of the luxuries or freedom of her modern life. Yesteryear is told in a snarky, bitter voice which I appreciated, and Burke is full of commentary about influencer culture, Christian tradwives and modern misogyny. While it’s a wholly original and thought-provoking story, I am still not sure how much I actually enjoyed it, as it’s pretty bleak. (But I am glad I read it if only to know what the fuss is about!)

The post YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

For those who don’t know who Isabel Klee is – she’s a tireless dog rescue advocate and Instagram influencer with a huge following who posts about the special needs dogs she fosters and guides to adoption. Her new memoir, Dogs, Boys and Other Things I’ve Cried About, chronicles the decade of her twenties, during which she had several relationships  – many quite unhealthy – and discovered her true calling in life: dog rescue. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in which Klee talks quite honestly about why her relationships didn’t work (until she met her fiancé Jacob) and also about the challenges of fostering dogs and seeing them leave. Klee is funny, warm and relatable, which shows through in her writing and her videos. And this week, Wonderland Books was very lucky to host her on her book tour, where she showed us that she is the same in person. I highly recommend this book!

A pic from the event (500 people):

The post DOGS, BOYS AND OTHER THINGS I’VE CRIED ABOUT by Isabel Klee appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

Brawler by Lauren Groff is a collection of short stories that mostly revolve around women in a state of desperation or at a crossroads in their lives. In one, a woman tries to flee an abusive marriage with her three young children in tow. In another, a woman reaches midlife without ever really pursuing what she wants, and then finds herself in the throes of unrequited love. The longest story in the book is about a young underachiever who falls in love with a woman who has neither the time nor the emotional space for vulnerability. These stories are sad – some of them heartbreaking. But in Groff’s incredibly gifted hands, they are also beautiful. She doesn’t waste a single word. I savored each story here, always waiting for the emotional gut punch that invariably hit me at the end, and then wanting to start each one over as soon as I finished. If you avoid short stories because you fear they will be unsatisfying, fear not – this collection is incredible.

The post BRAWLER by Lauren Groff appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

Dominion by Addie Citchens is the April pick for Wonderland Books’ literary fiction book club. It centers on a Black family living in Mississippi – a couple with five sons. The father, Sabre Winfrey, is a popular and powerful preacher in the town, yet one with a roaming eye and wandering hands. His wife, Priscilla, is aware of her husband’s transgressions, but looks the other way to maintain her role in the church and in their community.  She fights her own demons – addiction to alcohol and pills – while dreaming of life without her husband. Their youngest son – Emmanuel, or Wonderboy – is a high school senior with both a bright future and a dangerous violent streak. Told in alternating viewpoints between Priscilla and Wonderboy’s girlfriend Diamond, with snippets of Sabre’s sermons scattered throughout, Dominion is an exploration of power and autonomy and the desperate moves these characters make to hold onto them. Twisty and dark, Dominion is a wild ride with a strong feminist message.

The post DOMINION by Addie Citchens appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

Andrew McCarthy’s new book, Who Needs Friends: An Unscientific Examination Of Male Friendship Across America, is a travelogue of the author’s cross-country road trip to visit five close male friends with whom he has basically lost touch. He not only analyzes his relationships with these men – how they started, why they lapsed, and how they reignited thanks to these impulsive visits – but also talks to various men across America whom he encounters on the road, asking them about their own success (or lack thereof) with meaningful friendships. Opening the book talking about the epidemic of loneliness that plagues modern men (and its very real and negative impact on longevity), McCarthy explores how different generations deal with it (younger men are more open to admitting their loneliness) and the common traits that help men connect in order to combat it. Some men cite loyalty, trust and a lack of judgment as key to their meaningful male friendships, while others have simply given up on making an effort to find them. My takeaway from Who Needs Friends about the state of male friendship is a mixed bag – part hopeful, part really depressing – as it seems that many men are simply destined to give in to inertia, insecurity or long-held images of masculinity, rather than examine what might be missing from their lives and how to fix it. I really enjoyed McCarthy’s exploration of his own friendships and his role in their ebb and flow, as well as his beautiful travel writing. I felt like I was on that epic road trip with him, experiencing the grand vastness and variety of the American landscape. I highly recommend this one!

The post WHO NEEDS FRIENDS by Andrew McCarthy appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

A Hymn To Life: Shame Has To Change Sides by Giséle Pelicot is the long-anticipated memoir by the French woman whose husband drugged and raped her hundreds of times, allowing strange men into their bedroom at night while she slept, unaware. While I’ve heard people in the bookstore say, “I could never read that book,” I was eager to do so, wanting to hear her story in her words and be an audience to the horror that she experienced. And horror, it was. Pelicot’s husband – an evil and sick man – not only violated her in horrendous ways, but he convinced her for years that she was losing her memory and suffering from mysterious medical issues. The discovery of his crimes tore their once close-knit family apart, depriving Pelicot of her beloved role as a mother and grandmother and forcing her to leave the beautiful home where they had moved for their retirement. She approached her husband’s trial with unfathomable courage, facing him and the dozens of men who had raped her in an open courtroom, forcing herself to listen to their testimony. She became a feminist icon in France, giving voice to women who have suffered abuse and misogyny and pushing for a shift in how crimes against women are perceived and prosecuted. I highly recommend this disturbing, eloquent and important memoir, which I think about all the time. I listened to the audio version, which is narrated by Emma Thompson and is also excellent.

The post A HYMN TO LIFE: SHAME HAS TO CHANGE SIDES by Giséle Pelicot appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

Escape! by Stephen Fishbach is about two characters looking for redemption on a fictional, Survivor-like reality competition show. Kent, a has-been former winner, and Beck, a disgraced TV producer, are each hoping that Escape! will give them a fresh start, a chance to erase former mistakes and emerge victorious, at least in the public’s eye. But the show goes in some very dark directions, thanks to manipulative producers and ruthless contestants. Fishbach, a two-time Survivor player, brings his experience as a contestant as well as his insider knowledge of the behind-the-scenes of reality TV production to Escape!, which ultimately features a much grittier and more sinister show than Survivor. Here, it’s all about the story arcs that the producers have in mind for these players, who are desperate for fame and money and all too willing to abandon their morals and humanity for the sake of the edit. I liked how Fishbach changed perspectives frequently through the book, not only rotating among characters but also shifting seamlessly from first to second to third person, giving the reader differing levels of intimacy with the characters. Escape! is unpredictable, twisty reading with an ever-shifting moral compass, Perfect for fans of reality TV or adventure/pscyhological thrillers.

The post Escape! by Stephen Fishbach appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.

As I watched the hype grow for Strangers by Belle Burden, I resisted it, thinking it was yet another divorce memoir by a privileged woman. What more could it add to this subgenre that I hadn’t read before? As it turns out, I really enjoyed it. Belle Burden was living in New York City with her banker husband and three children at the start of the pandemic. They immediately relocated to their house in Martha’s Vineyard once lockdown started, where they planned to wait it out. Two weeks later, Burden received a call from a man who said that his wife was having an affair with her husband, rocking Burden to the core and making her question everything she knew about her spouse of 25 years. When confronted, he simply stated that he wasn’t happy, and he left. What follows is Burden’s chronicle of the next few years, when he completely withdrew from his family’s lives, ceding custody entirely to Burden and leaving her on her own. Burden writes about feeling ostracized from her community and facing the loss of her homes as she negotiated their divorce settlement. This book worked for me for a few reasons: her writing draws you in and makes you feel like you’re going through the upheaval and betrayal with her; despite her privilege, her experiences and emotions are relatable (who hasn’t felt that switch go off in a partner’s heart?); and I felt the fury invoked by the misogyny she experienced (and the fact that he got away with everything). Pick this one up; you won’t be disappointed.

The post STRANGERS by Belle Burden appeared first on Everyday I Write the Book.