The Pornographer by John McGahern

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? The illustrious NYRB Classics Book Club strikes again!

Why not 3 or more stars? I recognize that one shouldn’t expect much pep in a book about an unwanted pregnancy and the loss of a beloved aunt, but sheesh. The Pornographer does boast some solid writing, especially when our deplorable narrator reflects macroscopically on the nature of humanity, love, and death. Those moments would add up to five pages I would happily devour; the full effect of 250 pages of misery and cringeworthy characters, however, proves too much to overcome.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Thanks to this bookstagrammer, I get all kinds of great recommendations for reads off the beaten path.

Why not 3 or more stars? I Who Have Never Known Men has a fascinating premise: a young girl and 39 women are imprisoned for years in an underground cage patrolled by guards, and no one knows why or how they got there. Once they escape to the desolate world above, the story spins its wheels for the rest of this short and nightmarish novel, stalling at any moment that threatens momentum. Harpman’s commitment to letting the reader marinate in uncertainty is quite the tease and memorable indeed.

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Within my personal library, I am particularly proud of the nature collection and thought Fuzz would be a nice addition. This copy came from Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? Mary Roach is a gifted writer with a keen eye for story, but she doesn’t manage to Rumpelstiltskin this into gold. Aside from the species of offender, Fuzz contains little variety. Nature, be it flora or fauna, causes harm to humans, and nature is dealt with, usually lethally. That’s about it. On the plus side: Roach’s signature dad jokes and a conversation with a Vatican priest about the ethics of man’s dominion (though the line of inquiry quickly peters out).

Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature by Charles Baxter

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? I recently read The Feast of Love and Gryphon and was excited to explore more of Baxter’s work when I found this at Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? Writing about writing is one of my favorite genres, as it offers insight into the author’s approach to craft and, often, their own reading taste. I love coming away with a list of new things to read or the urge to revisit a short story with a different perspective. Wonderlands felt entry-level, its arguments too obvious to be robust. Like reality in the dream worlds Baxter describes, my mind tended to drift with every page.

Holly by Stephen King

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? One Tuesday last September, a customer rushed into the bookstore searching the shelves for this newly released Stephen King novel. Our copies had not yet arrived. A few months later, this most excellent cover enticed me from the shelves at Walmart, and I took it home.

Why not 3 or more stars? Holly takes place from within the firm clutches of COVID-19 tragedy and fear. It all felt forced to me and got in the way of the greater story at hand. Why did the specificities of pandemic America matter to this book? I’m not quite sure, but I am certain that the pace of the story warranted more speed, especially since the baddies are revealed from the outset. Hurry up, Holly!

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? You know what’s the best part about the remainders section at Politics and Prose? Sometimes I will have forgotten about a book I want to read, then squeal in delight to find it unexpectedly among the shelves.

Why not 3 or more stars? John Darnielle gives me literary blue balls. His stories are unsettling, run through with dread, and always reserved in their telling, so much so that you wonder whether he’s keeping something from you. The two teenagers who take the game too far, the event that destroyed Sean’s face, a reconnection with an old flame, Chris Haynes—none of it amounts to much. Like The Universal Harvester, Darnielle’s second novel, the central mystery isn’t to be solved. While I can respect the journey being the point, Wolf in White Van doesn’t lead the reader anywhere satisfying. I, for one, read the last line, shrugged, and set the book aside.

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? One of my truest joys is browsing the horror section at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne on a Saturday afternoon. This was a jewel from one of those excursions.

Why not 3 or more stars? This Thing Between Us is worth a look; it’s not a bad book by any means. I took issue with the epistolary format that didn’t end with the book’s climax and its meandering conclusion. There’s a certain sloppiness here that gets under my skin, especially when the story has such potential. Itches remain unscratched. Siri gone mad? I craved something a bit more ME3AN.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Another book gifted by my bookworm aunt. I tend to avoid the bestseller table but was intrigued by the mystery element in this one.

Why not 3 or more stars? While ambition is a core theme, Everything I Never Told You is not an ambitious book. It rests firmly in “very special episode” territory, squandering the potential complexity of a plot centered on the death of a teenage girl. Everyone is very privileged and very self-absorbed. Characters are constantly surprised to find tears on their faces. A surface-level treatment of racism doesn’t land but is tarted up to feel poignant. Long story short: Ng’s writing chops can’t salvage this one.

Later by Stephen King

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? My aunt and I share a love of Stephen King, and she passed along this title.

Why not 3 or more stars? Thanks to King’s writing skills and ability to fully inhabit a persona, Later is generally a good time. Readers will find this story easily digested in a sitting or two, and Jamie Conklin makes for an amiable narrator.

However. A well-written story with low stakes requires something to make it shine, and Later lacks that gleam. The use of the title as a literary device didn’t work for me; the payoff it promises fails to materialize in the closing pages, though little should be expected from the one dimensional characters we come to know (Villains gotta vill, right?). The supernatural and crime elements never coalesce either, but this may have more to do with the choice of perspective. The corrupt cop Liz as our narrator would have made for quite an ending. If only!

Most egregiously, King resurrects the Ritual of Chüd but deploys it weakly. Mr. King, if you’re going to reference It, a truly outstanding piece of literature, you better make it count.

Night Came With Many Stars by Simon Van Booy

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? I picked up this book at Sherman’s in Bar Harbor, Maine during a visit to Acadia National Park. Van Booy won me over with his lovely short story collection, The Sadness of Beautiful Things, and I looked forward to reading him again.

Why not 3 or more stars? Night Came With Many Stars tenderly follows Carol, who overcomes an abusive childhood to create a new family. While Carol is the book’s center, chapters focus on various supporting characters (her grandson, her father, her mother-in-law) at different points in their lives, but the jarring transitions and shifting perspectives even within chapters suggest that Van Booy isn’t convinced of his own structure.

Electric language could have redeemed the book’s obvious plot of happenstance and tidy endings. The prose, however, is messy, the Kentucky accents unconvincing. The sweetness of Night Came With Many Stars is more aspartame than sugar.