Pat Taub
I’m always searching for a book that not only pulls me in, but whose well-drawn characters linger after the book is closed, hovering like ghostly spirits.
Here are a few recent reads whose characters impacted me.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai
Desai took almost 20 years to write this sweeping story which moves back and forth between India, Vermont and Brooklyn. Sonia and Sunny, whose families are neighbors in India, plot an arranged marriage for their children. Lots happens before they meet, including Sonia’s abusive relationship with a famous painter and Sunny’s with an American woman from a Mid-Western gun-owning family. Among the memorable female characters: Sonia’s mother, who flees her long-term marriage for a monastic life in the mountains; an unhappy spinster aunt; and Sunny’s scheming domineering mother.
Kiran Desai at home in Queens, NY
Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood
Wood, an Australian author, places her novel in a remote part of Australia. It features a middle-aged married woman who goes on retreat in a women’s religious community. The protagonist is an atheist but finds herself drawn to the simplicity of retreat life, converting a short stay into a permanent one. Her unfolding is intriguing.
The Weekend, Charlotte Wood
After reading Stone Yard, I went in search of more books by Wood and discovered The Weekend, about three women in their 70’s. They are lifelong friends, who gather at the beach house of the fourth woman in their group, who recently died. Their task is to sort out her house before it goes on the market. The book is laced with humor and heart break as the characters air old grievances, struggling with disappointments in how their lives turned out.
Departure(s), Julian Barnes
Barnes, a favorite writer of mine, known for his Booker prize winning book, The Sense of An Ending. Barnes, almost 80 and living with a slow-moving cancer, has said this is his last book. One might expect it to be depressing, but it’s not. It’s funny, wise, and short, making it a compelling weekend read. You won’t be disappointed.
Martyr, Kaveh Akbar
Akbar is a wonderful new voice, relating a story of Cyrus, an Iranian-American, trying to come to terms with a past marked by his mother’s death in a plane crash when he was an infant. In search of a better life, his grieving, custodial father lands a job in America. Living with a troubled, detached father, Cyrus finds solace in alcohol and drugs. Once sober, he seeks meaning on a meandering path that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Lots of quirky humor to keep you engaged.
Kaveh Akbar at home with his dogs
Theo of Golden, Allen Levi
I have misgivings about this book, but given its popularity, I decided to weigh in. Theo’s message of random acts of kindness and careful listening to one another is a balm for our troubled times. I was charmed by Theo, but don’t consider this book a literary masterpiece, more like a literary version of a Hallmark TV show.
Clown Town, Mike Herren
The latest book in the series about slow horses, which inspired a popular TV series with the same title. Jason Lamb, runs a renegade spy team of ex MI5 spies, demoted from the service. As in the TV series, Lamb clashes with Diana Taverner, MI5’s First Desk, as he uncovers her less than honorable mission. Unexpected twists mixed with Lamb’s clever puns and put downs make for an entertaining read.
The Promise, Damon Galgut
A 2021 Booker Prize winner. Galgut’s novel centers on the Swarts, a white Afrikaan family in Pretoria, South Africa, depicting their lives before and after apartheid. Their, often entertaining, resistance to the new South Africa becomes satire for Galgut. The title refers to a promise made by the mother at her death bed. The youngest of her three children is consumed with seeing her mother’s promise realized, which no one else in the family will honor. The Swarts’ downfall is vividly rendered, making for a gripping read, posing relevant questions for our country’s mounting racial divide.
