April reading log

Spring has sprung, in New York at least. ‘Tis the season to performatively read in the park. Or join Marc Jacob’s book club.

Find my thoughts on what I read last month below.

The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez: Historical fiction about the construction of the Panama Canal. Set in 1907, this novel follows a diverse cast of characters whose lives intersect in Panama. Ada Bunting, a teenage runaway from Barbados, shows up seeking work to help pay for her sister’s surgery back home; John Oswald is an American researcher tasked with ending malaria—and his wife Marian is along for the ride, though she yearns for more. Omar is a local who goes against his father’s wishes and signs up to be a canal laborer. The characters are fully-formed and developed, but the constant rotation of perspectives could frustrate some readers who are looking for a more plot-driven narrative. For fans of Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips, or Cantoras by Caro de Robertis.

One Way Back by Christine Blasey Ford: Oh man, I have such reverence for Christine Blasey Ford. I don’t think I’ll ever forget watching her clear-eyed testimony in September 2018. Her memoir is honest, lucid, and thoughtful. It’s very much a personal reflection of her experience, and how it forever changed her. No new information here. It’s quiet and meditative at times, chaotic and frenetic at others. Truly, and simply, an account of resilience. My hater side was skeptical of her naivety regarding going public. She was seemingly unaware of the optics war, which I find odd, but I think years of working in media has made me jaded.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors: The Blue sisters tragically and suddenly lose one of their own. After Nicky dies, Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky (I have to wonder if Coco Mellors was aware of Lucky Blue Smith at the time of writing) try to make sense of her passing —and are forced to return home to New York, ending their loose estrangement for the sake of saving their childhood home. Mellors’ depiction of sisterhood and family is realistic. Their dysfunction is three-dimensional and complex and the book delves into it, not shying away from the addiction and grief that plagues this family. I wish we got more of their parents, and I think this could have been 50-100 pages shorter (it clocks in at 352), but I enjoyed it. I never read the author’s first novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, so I have no thoughts there.

A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg: I’ve been a fan of Jami Attenberg since she visited Scripps College my senior year at Pitzer. Her latest is my favorite since “All Grown Up,” and follows the women of the Cohen family as they cope after the death of their patriarch. This story spans over 40 years, and rotates through the different perspectives of mother and daughters as they face the trials and tribulations of life. More character-based than plot-driven, the novel is about a dysfunctional Jewish family, how they drift apart, and ultimately, how they come back together.

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver: A trio of friends decamp to the Maldives to celebrate a divorce. But this is no regular group of friends, no, this group is linked by trauma. 20 years ago, there was a massacre — and it touched them all in different ways. The thing is… I literally read this book within the past 30 days and have already forgotten how it ends. There’s a huge twist, but I’ve already forgotten what it was. A true beach read in the sense that it’s a book you can lazily drift in and out of.