The Maris Review, vol 59
Final countdown...
My book comes out two weeks from today. This is where the light begging begins...
What I read this week
Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
You know how some people say that thing about how men aren't getting big fancy literary debuts now, and because of that literary culture is reverse sexist or something? Throw this novel at them the next time they whine. Here it is, a big debut that announces the arrival of a major new talent and lives up to the hype.
What makes it great? It's the writing. Rob Franklin's prose is sharp and entertaining and he can write the hell out of a party scene skewering wealthy guests and all of their practiced eccentricities, or nailing every detail of an AA meeting in Chelsea. Yes, this is a book about addiction, but it's more about that feeling of loneliness that hits whenever the party ends and you have to skulk home to your regular life and all of its mundanities.
The book follows Smith, a 20-something graduate of prestigious institutions who's making his way through New York. Making One's Way Through NY is one of my favorite genres when it's done well and here, it's done well. Two blurbs for the book mention Jay McInerney, and it is Bright Lights, Big City I think this book best resembles. Some recent reviews of Great Black Hope say that Smith is too unknowable as a character, and to them I say, Smith as an observer, just like McInerney's unnamed protagonist. But this time the narrator is different: Smith is also Black and queer, and his identity (like all fucking identities!) colors what he sees.
Here is Smith talking about his Atlanta prep school classmates: "They'd faced, each in his way, a lifetime of dissonance, of alternately stunted and impossible expectations to which they could respond in two ways: adopt the twice-as-good ethos of their parents' generation or rebel and in that rebellion sacrifice themselves." The novel unfurls the question of which direction Smith will ultimately choose, unless there's a third way that he hadn't entirely considered...
Meet Me at the Crossroads by Megan Giddings
I love how Megan Giddings writes fiction that invokes the fantastical, but she also manages to speak to the world where we actually live in a real, true way. Meet Me at the Crossroads answers so many of the big questions it asks, but it leaves room for uncertainty along the way.
It's the story of twin sisters, Ayanna and Olivia, whose parents both married and divorced young and have diverging religious beliefs. Ayanna chooses to live with her father, a follower of the Church of Fortitude and Blessings. He worships the mysterious doors that have sprung up around the globe, including one in his Michigan hometown. Those who enter through the doors are taken to some other kind of world, one where the living become closer to the dead. Also, every now and then someone bursts into pieces when they go through a door! Ayanna grows up in the shadow of the doors, spending so much time wondering how the doors work, what they're meant to signify. Olivia, meanwhile, lives with her very Catholic mother, but she still loves her sister.
When Ayanna goes through the door as part of a church ceremony, Olivia follows. But only one of the girls returns. Meet Me at the Crossroads is all about Ayanna's sad and lonely journey after, as she goes off to college and struggles and manages to find a little bit of joy through her grief. As much as the novel is a study in the enormity of grief, it's also about how we celebrate and what's worth living for. Also, I really appreciate that Megan includes so many descriptions of delicious breakfasts that Ayanna eats. That's really important.
A little treat
This week early voting for mayor and a bunch of other roles starts in NYC. There has been a lot of talk about who is or isn't qualified to serve as mayor of our sometimes great city, and with that in mind it's important to remember that our current mayor is often unintentionally hilarious but also corrupt and entirely unfit for the job. In that spirit, here is a random page from Eric Adams's 2009 self-published opus, Don't Let It Happen, a guide for parents to determine if their kid is doing all manner of illegal activities: drugs, guns, etc. Here is a section about how to detect whether your child, someone you presumably know and love, is involved in a gang. I love the first item on the list the most.
New releases, 6/17
Porthole by Joanna Howard
UnWorld by Jayson Greene
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
Girls Girls Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee
Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade by Nora Princiotti
Weepers by Peter Mendelsund
Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship by Dana A. Williams
The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
The Uproar by Karim Dimechkie
Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda
Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet by Kate Marvel
Fox: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey