The Maris Review, vol 57

Maris Kreizman

03 Jun 2025 — 5 min read

In which I use the word "Franzen-like."

My book comes out in less than a month!

So I'm moving that preorder reminder to the top of the newsletter.

What I read this week

Flashlight by Susan Choi

There's been some discourse on Bluesky about how online writing teachers are now saying that the third person omniscient perspective is too confusing for the reader. I have no idea who these writing teachers are, but it seems like there's an understanding that "head-hopping" is too complex for readers today? Somehow? So I'm here to tell you that Susan Choi has written a great big ambitious novel for readers who don't easily get confused. I'm gonna use the word "Franzen-like" to describe Choi's character-driven third person narration, so precise is she at building whole worlds inside her characters' heads (and she nimbly jumps through time, as well). Rooted in intense historical research but never dry, I'm ready to declare that Flashlight is that elusive type of book that so many readers I know are always looking for: a big fat novel to get lost in.

Flashlight is the story of a man who disappears. Serk is a lonely man, an ambitious man, born of Korean descent but who moves with his family to Japan during WWII for better opportunities. Serk strongly believes in his "Japaneseness," constantly trying to fit into a culture that won't accept him and resisting his family's burgeoning pride in their homeland. Years later, when the rest of his family falls for some pretty hefty propaganda and returns to Korea, Serk goes off to teach in America instead. He doesn't fit in there, either, of course, but he does find a stable career and a beautiful American wife (Anne) to bicker with, and later, a delightfully bratty daughter (Louisa, a child who is "contentious by reflex") to dote on. One night while visiting Japan with his family, Serk disappears on a walk with Louisa, and is presumed dead. The mystery of what happened to Serk takes us through a variety of times and places, until all of the strands come together to reveal a horrifying truth.

Susan Choi writes characters who really stick with you. My very favorite remains the heroine of My Education, who is obsessive and self-involved in the most relatable way. Which is a lovely coincidence because My Education also comes up in the other book I read this week...

The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex by Melissa Febos

Don't let the high concept of Melissa Febos's new memoir deceive you – yes, it's about the year she chose to remain celibate (and yes, she's well aware that some people just, you know, do that regular, by choice or not). But like she's done in her previous books, Melissa invigorates her own stories with references from religion and art, literary theory and philosophy, in a way that feels enriching rather than academic, all the while maintaining a clear eye in her depictions of other people and herself. So even if Melissa uses the rather High Fidelity literary device of structuring her book by taking an inventory of past relationships, the results are still more profound

The Dry Season is less about sex and more a book about why some people (me, included) are drawn to romantic angst like teeny boppers to pop stars. The shout of recognition when I realized that we had both played Concrete Blonde's "Joey" over and over as kids, wanting to feel all of those tortured feelings that the song captures! I have a whole chapter in my forthcoming book called "My Dumb Obsessions" about what Melissa, borrowing from psychologist Dorothy Tennov, refers to in The Dry Season as limerence: "the state of obsessive romantic infatuation." She uses lots of blistering prose, the kind that you might want to get tattooed on your arm; I use sarcasm. So I was delighted to see how we both reckon with the time and energy one wastes on romantic drama, whether you're currently in a relationship or not. The Dry Season asks what can you do when you reclaim that time. The answer is: so fucking much.

I am very proud of the fact that I didn't go on a personal journey before I found the person I have chosen to be my life partner. I just got lucky. But this does not take away from the profound joy of following Melissa on her own path to enlightenment and her happy ending.

Who are yours?

New releases, 6/3

It's a huge new release day that required me to put my new galleys in two different piles for photo taking purposes. It's almost like June is the new March. I hope you'll check out some of the books below, even if Bill Clinton's new mystery with James Patterson (I'm not linking to it!) will surely top the bestseller lists because America has still learned nothing about ghost writers or politicians.