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Fiction A to Z January 2019
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| The Dakota Winters by Tom BarbashWhat happens: 23-year-old Anton Winter comes of age, with a little help from his friends.
What it includes: father-son dynamics, television talk shows, John Lennon, Manhattan in the 1980s, and Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign.
Why you might like it: Chock-full of '80s culture and sprinkled with celebrities (both real and imagined), this engaging and imaginative novel casts a nostalgic spell. |
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| The Adults by Caroline HulseStarring: Matt (and his girlfriend, Alex), Claire (and her boyfriend, Patrick), and Matt and Claire's seven-year-old daughter, Scarlett, all of whom are spending Christmas together at a family amusement park.
What happens: As the cover image suggests, it doesn't go well. Someone is shot with a bow and arrow, but before we get to that point in this entertaining debut, tension and jealousy abound.
Read it for: the police interviews and fun-park brochures that are interspersed with scenes of the quickly deteriorating situation; the astringent, dry wit; plenty of British slang; and a giant invisible rabbit named Posey. |
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| The Museum of Modern Love by Heather RoseWhat it's about: the many people who find themselves drawn to performance artist Marina Abramovic, who stages herself at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art for hours, waiting to gaze into the eyes of anyone who chooses to seat themselves at her table.
Why you might like it: Abramovic's performance (which actually did take place in 2010) elicits strong responses in the audience, as returning observers connect with each other, reflect on their losses, and interact with the artist. The result is a thought-provoking exploration not just of art but of love and desire as well. |
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| Come With Me by Helen SchulmanChoose your own adventure: For breadwinning mom Amy, it's a real option when her boss enlists her to try out cutting-edge software that will allow her to experience what her life might have been had she made different choices. With a faltering marriage and three challenging kids, that's mighty appealing for Amy.
For fans of: other domestic dramas that add a fantastical element to the age-old question of "What if?," like Leigh Himes' The One That Got Away or Taylor Jenkin Reid's Maybe in Another Life. |
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| Severance by Ling MaWhat it is: a mixture of apocalyptic world-building (a plague has ravaged New York and the rest of the world), anti-capitalist satire, and...the coming-of-age of a millennial blogger?
What happens: Shen Fever hits, turning regular people into routine-driven automatons; at first, professionally unfulfilled Candace doesn't notice, but soon she's one of the few survivors of this curious pandemic, and joins an odd little band headed west.
Read if for: an engaging and entertaining story that illuminates the hypocrisy and flaws of capitalism. |
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If You Leave Me
by Crystal Hana Kim
When the Communist-backed army from the North invaded her village, sixteen-year-old Haemi Lee, along with her widowed mother and ailing brother, was forced to flee to a refugee camp along the coast. Now, for a few hours each night, she escapes her family's makeshift home and tragic circumstances with her childhood friend Kyunghwan. Focused on finishing school, Kyunghwan doesn't realize his older and wealthier cousin, Jisoo, has his sights set on the beautiful and spirited Haemi--and is determined to marry her before joining the fight. But as Haemi becomes a wife, then a mother, her decision to forsake the boy she always loved to ensure the security of her family sets off a dramatic saga that will have profound effects for generations to come
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| Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas ContrerasWhat it's about: In Pablo Escobar's unstable, violent Colombia, two very different girls form a bond that ultimately threatens to be their undoing.
Featuring: seven-year-old Chula, precocious and sheltered by her family's money; 13-year-old Petrona, who works as a maid after her family is destroyed by guerrillas.
Reviewers say: "dazzling and devastating" (San Francisco Chronicle). |
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There There
by Tommy Orange
What it is: a debut by a Native American author; vignettes in the lives of 12 different characters as they prepare for the upcoming Big Oakland Powwow in Oakland, California.
Why you might like it: With characters whose motivations run the gamut, this is a wide-ranging, multifaceted portrait of a complex and sometimes only tangentially connected community -- that of urban Native Americans.
Reviewers say: "a new kind of American epic" (The New York Times); "white-hot" (The Washington Post); "kaleidoscopic" (Kirkus Reviews).
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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