January 29, 2022
This week we celebrate Black History Month with an exciting addendum to Toni Morrison’s oeuvre—a posthumous standalone story with an introduction by Zadie Smith—and a debut novel about two brothers rocked by their mother’s death. In addition, there are intimate stories of families who are both inextricably bound and torn apart, and a moving memoir of grief and family found.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
-
.
Recitatif
By TONI MORRISON
Published by KNOPF
Morrison, in her only published short story written over forty years ago, created two young wards of the state, following them from their initial meeting at a shelter to their reunion decades later. It’s a story that is never explicit regarding each girl’s color but very explicit about how their individual identities are undeniably defined by their race. What she accomplished in this sole experiment in the short form adds a grace note to the totality of her work. Put into context by Zadie Smith’s illuminating introduction, which is about half of this edition, it is an essential two-for-one addition to any library.
-
.
Black Cake
By CHARMAINE WILKERSON
Published by BALLANTINE BOOKS
The passing of matriarch Eleanor transforms the lives of her two children, Byron and Benny, who discover long-held secrets and the recipe of a famous cake passed down through generations. The story recounts Eleanor’s Caribbean origins leading to her dramatic flight from the islands, and unveils a turbulent family history, forcing the siblings to reassess their lives and their relationship to one another. This is Wilkerson’s first novel, and it grabs you immediately. No surprise that it is destined for the screen and a perfect book club choice.
.
-
.
Strangers I Know
By CLAUDIA DURASTANTI
Published by RIVERHEAD
Translated by Elizabeth Harris
“The story of a family is more like a map than a novel, and an autobiography is the summation of all the geologic ages you’ve passed through.” The strangers in the title of this novel are Claudia’s family. She grew up obsessed with conspiracy theories. Her deaf father and mother were bohemians who lived decadently and loved to gamble. Claudia’s journeys between America, Italy and England are related with startling details that crystallize her characters in various forms of intimacy. A translator herself (including of Ocean Vuong’s work), Durastanti’s book has been beautifully transformed into the English language that preserves the plain but mellifluous prose. More please!
-
.
The Family Chao
By LAN SAMANTHA CHANG
Published by W. W. NORTON
A breathtaking spin on Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Chang’s new novel uses the Russian classic as a springboard for her tale of three Chinese American brothers in the Heartland. The boys take off for college, but the eldest, Dagou, returns; Ming has been living in Manhattan; and the youngest, James, has inherited the Chao appetite for passion. When their restaurant-owner father, Big Leo, is found murdered, any of the sons could be feasible suspects. The novel becomes both a literary mystery and an exploration into the lives of Asian immigrants and, above all, family dynamics—all told with wit, high drama and a generous helping of heart.
.
-
.
Lost & Found
By KATHRYN SCHULZ
Published by RANDOM HOUSE
Schulz, a prize-winning New Yorker contributor, offers the reader a touching and insightful view of loss—anyone who has been through the death of a loved one will find solace here. She contemplates her father’s final illness and death, finding a place for it in her heart and mind. By writing about new beginnings (finding love with Casey Cep of Furious Hours), Schulz illustrates the inescapable truths that time moves forward, that mourning can be juxtaposed with joyful discovery and that both experiences are part of the wondrous circle of life. It reads like an immediate classic.
