March 16, 2024
Several selections this week feature young protagonists as we explore past and present: in a Polish Gothic novel; with a closeted gay teen in working-class France; in an unnamed Island City of the future; with beloved characters revisited in the American South; and on a journey to Ghana for an inventive first novel of murder and identity.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
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James
By PERCIVAL EVERETT
Published by DOUBLEDAY
This extraordinary, reimagined classic takes the story of Jim the slave, Huckleberry Finn’s partner in crime, and gives him a real voice. Actually, two voices, as there is his real speech and his ‘slave’ talk reserved for white people. This Jim is a tenacious survivor who has more than nine lives. When he flees Hannibal, Missouri for the local island, he finds that Huck has also fled—from his physically abusive pa. Their adventurous journey is full of tragedy and some comedy, their friendship beautifully drawn—a heartbreaking ode to human kindness amid overwhelming obstacles. Bringing a contemporary resonance to 1800s racism, it feels like an instant classic itself. Twain might even like it.
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The Possessed
By WITOLD GOMBROWICZ
Published by BLACK CAT
Translated by ANTONIA LLOYD-JONES
One of the great modern novelists of the 20th century, Gombrowicz, a four-time Nobel nominee, was known for his absurdist novels and memoirs. He fled Poland for Buenos Aires for two decades and returned after the war. During the ’60s he began to get the international acclaim he still enjoys. His diaries remain popular today for their candid discussions of his bisexual life. The Possessed (1939, now in a new translation) is a Gothic satire about greed and lust with a pulpy plot concerning a young tennis instructor at a Polish castle haunted by the ghost of the owner’s son. The characters are out for personal gain in this gleeful novel of bad behavior.
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The Morningside
By TÉA OBREHT
Published by RANDOM HOUSE
Obreht’s novels might feel completely different in subject matter, but her theme remains constant: the importance of home in shaping identity. Origin stories also haunt her new novel. In the near future, climate refugees have ended up in a place called Island City where young Silvia and her mother move into a run-down residential tower. Aunt Ena is the building’s super and a mysterious, artistically dressed resident on the 14th floor fascinates them (is she a mountain spirit?). The novel began as a short story published in 2020 as part of the New York Times Magazine Decameron Project and happily Obreht has expanded it into this rich, spirited (literally) book.
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No One Dies Yet
By KOBBY BEN BEN
Published by EUROPA
Two unreliable narrators impart this tale of three young Ghanaian men who travel from the U.S. back to the homeland of their enslaved ancestors. In 2019, the country encouraged ex-patriots to return, and they are eager to experience the gay club scene. Their adventures take some grim turns there. Ben Ben explores modern day Accra in this lively novel that has been called “a graphic rock opera.” Here is a debut that will keep you guessing. And laughing.
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Change
By ÉDOUARD LOUIS
Published by FSG
Translated by JOHN LAMBERT
The End of Eddy was published when Louis was only 21 and set the tone for his future work—autobiographical fiction about a young man seeking escape from a small working-class town, desperate to reinvent himself. Change revisits this territory where we encounter a dissatisfied gay man, locked in a class system he longs to rise above. ‘Édouard’ narrates with brutal honesty and his views contain many universal truths about social acceptance and self-loathing. Aided by a friend, Elena, who tutors him in more sophisticated ways, he undergoes a name change; a physical makeover; a move to Paris; and considerable literary fame. As ever, Louis is a compelling guide to soul-searching.
