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.

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom

4/5 stars

What's it about? Sarah M. Broom unpacks her family’s history, her upbringing as the youngest of twelve children, and the social, cultural, and political realities of her native New Orleans East before and after Hurricane Katrina. A thoughtful accounting of homecoming and place.

How’d I find it? My spouse’s family has links to New Orleans and collected multiple copies of The Yellow House over the years.

Who will enjoy this book? This is a must-read for memoir lovers, especially because Broom manages to craft an intimate look at her family while remaining at a remove herself, a technique that serves her complex narrative well. The book evokes home in a way that reminded me of The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez.

What stood out? The first section of the book (“Movement I: The World Before Me”) draws the reader into its beautifully rendered portrait of heritage, gleaming with the author’s admiration for her family’s matriarchs. The Brooms and their wavelets of friends and ancestors comprise The Yellow House’s irreducible core, and you’ll yearn to return to them when the author focuses her attention elsewhere — another smart tool to reinforce periods of displacement. Despite some detours into platitudes (“namelessness is a form of naming”), Broom knows how to command the page.

Which line made me feel something? “When the presentation of the body stands in for all the qualities the world claims you cannot possess, some people call you elegant. Grandmother was that, yes, but sometimes elegance is just willpower and grace, a way to keep the flailing parts of the self together.”

French Braid by Anne Tyler

3/5 stars

What's it about? The loosely knit Garrett family appears to be a pack of lone wolves, but their ties persist through generations. The novel centers around Mercy, Robin, and their three children, and ripples out to new characters as the family grows. Each chapter is an intimate snapshot of one Garrett descendant that expertly paints a vivid portrait of the family as a whole. A leisurely read that satisfies.

How’d I find it? This was a Christmas gift that I’ve been longing to crack open.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of family dramas à la Ann Patchett or Damon Galgut's The Promise and those seeking an easy, well-written novel.

What stood out? Anne Tyler writes people so expertly, and her portrayal of families is honest and relatable. As a resident of the DMV, I also appreciate the nods to East Coast culture (particularly the local accents). The chapters read like standalone novellas, which helps the novel move along at a clip. I was never bored.

Which line made me feel something? The sarcasm and know-it-all demeanor of Alice, Mercy and Robin's eldest daughter, provides entertaining passive-aggressive interludes. These were my favorite bursts of humor in the novel.