A Word About Awards

THE DRIVER'S SEAT by Muriel Spark Nomination: Booker 1970 Date Read: May 29, 2020 The Driver's Seat is a novella about a completely neurotic woman who is finally taking a vacation. She obscures her identity throughout so we never really know what aspect of her is her true self. With hints along the way that she will be murdered, we eventually learn that every decision she has made, every detour taken, every conversation, purchase and interaction is deliberate so there will be a story surrounding her death. What baffles me is that out of all the people she encounters she chooses just the exact person she needs to murder her. How did she know? Did she stalk this man and know that he had a violent history? How was he so easily pliable to follow her unless he too wanted to participate. For how short this novel is, I will be thinking about this for months to come. Looking Forward: Loitering With Intent, The Public Image

SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward Award: National Book Winner 2017 Nominations: Carnegie Finalist 2018, Dublin Longlist 2019, Kirkus Finalist 2017, LA Times Finalist 2017, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2017, Orange Prize Finalist 2018, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 2018 Date Read: May 29, 2020 This novel came up in a timely fashion as cities across America rise up in protest against the senseless killing of George Floyd. I am simultaneously in awe of how fragile life is and how disgustingly dispensable black life is. The video of this killing is nothing short of a snuff film by a smug, self-satisfied white man drunk on his own power. Sing, Unburied, Sing follows three main characters - Leonie, Jojo and Richie, each having their own voice throughout. Of course, Jojo captured my attention as a child working his way to becoming a man. Jojo has just turned 13 and is trying to hold his own in his family, yet, he has more responsibility than any 13 year old I know. Jojo wants t

A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara Award: Kirkus Winner 2015 Nominations: Booker Finalist 2015, Carnegie Finalist 2016, Dublin Finalist 2017, Goodreads Finalist 2015, National Book Finalist 2015, Women's Prize Finalist 2016 Date Read: May 24, 2020 I just finished this tome and I cannot recall the last time a book made me cry so much at the end. It's been a minute. But I do love when I care so much about the characters that what happens to them matters and this is definitely a character driven novel where the characters absolutely matter. A Little Life is fascinating for many reasons, but the two that stand out for me are the range of human experience and self love. This novel centers on four friends who have just graduated from college and are trying to make it in their respective professions in New York City. The fact that all four find professional success seems wildly unrealistic to me, but I digress. JB is an artist, Malcolm is an architect, Jude is an at

BLACK WATER by Joyce Carol Oates Nominations: National Book Critics Circle 1992, Pulitzer 1993 Date Read: May 16, 2020 I have to be honest and say that in my unwise youth, I have gotten in the car with a man who I probably shouldn't have, who had probably drank more than prudent and with an uncertain destination. Kelly made a choice that so many of us make when we're young, lured by an instant connection, a feeling of being wanted for more than your body, undeniable heat and the ages-old draw of power. Oates captures so exquisitely that lure, that although you know whatever is happening isn't forever, no lasting relationship at the end, but you can't say no either. Lust mingling with the knowledge that your youth is at an apex of perfection, a sense of the forbidden and Oates serves up a recipe for disaster. Stealing away with The Senator, brilliantly never named because his name is truly irrelevant, with a cocktail in hand and an extra "for the road,&

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS by Marlon James Award: Booker Winner 2015 Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2015, Dublin Finalist 2016, National Book Critic Circle Finalist 2014, PEN/Open Book Longlist 2015 Date Read: May 15, 2020 "What don't go so, go near so."  And so begins this tome by Marlon James. This expression is explained later in the book that any story told, if not exactly true is probably nearly true.  James takes on a lot of Jamaican political history and gang warfare here, exploring the political struggles over Jamaica's slums, the ensuing drug wars that spilled over into the U.S. and the personal struggles of those trying to create new lives for themselves whether out of fear or a desire to improve their life circumstances. Often violent, depressingly hopeless at times, A Brief History is, without a doubt, an impressive achievement. So many characters are presented that James provides a handy character list at the beginning. I can't h

BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK by Ben Fountain Awards: Center For Fiction Winner 2012, LA Times Winner 2012, National Book Critics Circle 2012 Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2013, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2013, Dublin Longlist 2014, National Book Finalist 2012 Date Read: May 8, 2020 Fountain did an incredible job of packing almost a lifetime into a single day. A novel that combines the military and football was not something I was looking forward to, but Fountain's writing and character development kept me engaged. Now that I'm writing this, I am unsure what branch of the military Billy's in, but I assume it's the Army. Billy is home from the war in Iraq on a victory tour, being paraded around the U.S. to generate goodwill for a very unpopular war. At only 19, Billy finds himself in multiple situations that are above his pay-grade, honored for the worst day of his life. What's worse is he continually relives it throughout his victory tour bec

GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon Award: National Book Winner 1974 Nomination: NY Times Finalist 1973 Date Read: May 5, 2020 Gravity's Rainbow is nominally a novel set in post-WWII Europe, focusing on the design and launch of a rocket by the German military. I had read quite a bit about this novel and was prepared for it to be convoluted, lengthy and controversial. Indeed, it was all these things. My take is that Gravity's Rainbow is deeply confusing, overly long, tangential and somewhat perverse, yet there is no denying that Pynchon is possibly a mad genius. He takes on so many topics in this novel that I marvel at his knowledge of a host of topics that I never contemplated and, hopefully, never will again. Based on these plusses, I can see why it garnered the accolades that it did. The sheer amount of research involved, and the accuracy of the formulas, codes and sequences, is mind boggling. Pynchon won the National Book Award for Gravity's Rainbow, y

BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA by Dorothy Allison Nomination: National Book 1992 Date Read: May 1, 2020 When I was much younger, I remember hearing people discussing this book and curiosity has remained with me through all these years. This heartbreaking novel hit a little too close to home, as an abuse survivor myself.  Bone has so many things going for her and so many things against here that it balances out to zero. She has a lot of family that care about her and are there to support her. She has an incredibly flawed mother who loves her and a sister that tolerates her, as sisters do.  But the strikes against her are powerful - poverty and the same mother who loves her. I wanted so much for Annie to put Bone first and I'll give her credit for trying. What I can't understand is, knowing what Glen is like with Bone and knowing exactly what will happen, why she continues to put Bone in harm's way. I get that she loves Glen. But I don't get how you can continue to