Author Archives: MC

A 2001 novel from Anne Tyler This book was full of surprises! As a step-daughter in a big family of all girls, I really connected with this story. In her fifties and widowed with four daughters and a bevy of other relatives reliant on her, Rebecca works up the courage to test out the pathContinue reading “Back When We Were Grownups”

Published in 2019, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner This book is one of the best I’ve read this year. It is funny but so painfully true to life. There were moments of reading it that I felt I understood people and relationships better than I ever have in my life. Very, very few times, it felt aContinue reading “Fleishman Is In Trouble”

Published in English in 2020, by Meiko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd At 430 pages, this one took me some time. From what I’ve read, Kawakami is well-known and lauded in Japan, but this is her first full-length novel translated into English. There have been some critiques of the translation, but IContinue reading “Breasts and Eggs”

Published in 2018; by Leni Zumas I have a lot to say about this book. It might be the timing — the SCOTUS hearings have prompted more discussion about women’s reproductive rights in America. But also: I have been researching this subject for the past few years for my PhD and I currently #AmQuerying my own novelContinue reading “Red Clocks”

By Sophie Mackintosh; published in 2020 Having a child is both the most rational and irrational decision possible, in this world.” Calla lives in a world where girls are told through a lottery whether or not they will have children. Her ticket is blue, so she is fitted with an IUD and sent on herContinue reading “Blue Ticket”

By Lorrie Moore; published 2019 Adrienne holds a friend’s baby and kills it in a freak accident. The whole of the novella is an incredibly subtle and spare exploration of her guilt and attempted recovery. She has a shotgun wedding and travels to Italy with her new husband, where she meets an eclectic cast ofContinue reading “Terrific Mother”

By Brit Bennett, published in 2016 This is a story about best friends and first loves, with the added complications of lives that don’t go as planned. At the center is an abortion that is kept secret. As Nadia, Aubrey and Luke carry on after high school, we see the ramifications of Nadia’s choice toContinue reading “The Mothers”