Page 64 - Publishers_Weekly

Review_FICTION
Review_FICTION
Reviews identity and Hungarian heritage. Then
© josephine sittenfeld authorities charged with returning Nazi-

appropriated artworks notify Matt that a
1925 painting valued at several million

WWII, may be returned. The usually
Fiction dollars, stolen from his family during
grasping Gabor refuses to accept the
piece—of which Matt knows nothing—
★ You Think It, I’ll Say It or explain its connection with their past;
Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House, $27 (256p) as Matt probes the painting’s history and
ISBN 978-0-399-59286-7 revisits his own religious and family roots
In her thoroughly satisfying first col- for answers, his attraction to restitution
lection, Sittenfeld (Eligible) spins magic attorney Rachel Steinberg and shifting
out of the short story form. Bookended vision of the father he has dismissed as
by tales concerning the election of Donald cruel and indifferent throw him into
Trump, the collection comfortably situ- tumult. Sarvas couples a suspenseful
ates itself in contemporary America, mystery with nuanced meditations on
Curtis Sittenfeld’s story collection, You Think It,
focusing on female protagonists navi- I’ll Say It, is funny, insightful, and thoroughly father-son bonds, the intricacies of iden-
gating friendships, family, politics, and satisfying (reviewed on this page). tity, the aftershocks of history’s horrors,
social media. In “A Regular Couple,” a and the ways people and artworks can—
semifamous defense attorney reconsiders time making clay figurines. They witness perhaps even must—be endlessly reinter-
her past after she runs into a high school a drowning and form the Society of preted. (Mar.)
frenemy also honeymooning at the same Shadows to explore the forest around their
resort. In “The Prairie Wife,” a woman home and spy on their sister Esmeralda. The Wild Inside
contemplates whether to make public a As a young adult, Virginia leaves the farm Jamey Bradbury. Morrow, $25.99 (304p)
bombshell revelation that would ruin the and attempts to fit in with a ravishing ISBN 978-0-06-274199-8
image of a lifestyle celebrity she dated as crew of aesthetes led by the vain Vicente, Set in the dense Alaska wilderness,
a teen. Another celebrity story, “Off the who becomes her lover—but her thoughts Bradbury’s quiet yet haunting debut
Record,” places a small-time interviewer are always turning back to Daniel, whose novel is equal parts back-to-the-land
in the home of an up-and-coming starlet, engagement breaks Virginia’s heart, adventure story and foreboding psycho-
with explicit instructions to leave her leading her to question her identity; she logical thriller. Fresh on the heels of her
appointment with juicy details on the wonders if she isn’t like the family’s chan- mother’s sudden death and an expulsion
starlet’s recent breakup. And in “Volunteers delier, above everything and swinging from school, 17-year-old Tracy spends
Are Shining Stars,” perhaps the collec- first one way, then the other. Told mainly most of her days hunting and trapping in
tion’s best entry, a young volunteer at a through Virginia’s associative, stream-of- the forest abutting her family’s back-
shelter for mothers and children in consciousness thoughts, which are occa- country home and kennel. When a
Washington, D.C., develops a hatred for a sionally interrupted by dialogue and plot hulking stranger attacks her in the woods,
new, bubbly volunteer. As in her novels, developments, the novel clearly precedes she defends herself and almost kills him—
Sittenfeld’s characters are funny and Lispector’s artistic breakthrough with or does she? The plot is slow but gripping:
insightful. Reading these consistently books like 1964’s The Passion According to it changes course after a 17-year-old
engrossing stories is a pleasure. Agent: G.H. This is a haunting family fable, and drifter named Jesse answers Tracy’s
Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, WME will fascinate those seeking a glimpse at father’s ad for a tenant and helps take
Entertainment. (Apr.) Lispector’s genius in development. (Mar.) care of the dogs in preparation for the
approaching Iditarod. Though Jesse and
The Chandelier ★ Memento Park Tracy become close in more ways than
Clarice Lispector, trans. from the Portuguese Mark Sarvas. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26 one, Tracy suspects he’s hiding some-
by Benjamin Moser and Magdalena Edwards. (288p) ISBN 978-0-374-20637-6 thing—especially after she realizes he lied
New Directions, $26.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0- Sarvas’s rich and engaging second novel about his past and might be connected to
8112-2313-3 is worth the decade’s wait since his first, the person who accosted her in the woods.
Never before translated into English, Harry, Revised. Nearing 40, Matt Santos Bradbury builds suspense by keeping
Lispector’s mysterious second novel tells has an undistinguished but lucrative Tracy—and the reader—mostly in the
the story of two siblings and the secrets acting career, a swimsuit-model fiancée, dark about what’s actually going on until
that bind them together. As children, sen- and the confidence of having life figured the gruesome reveal at the end. She also
sitive Daniel and precocious Virginia live out. Matt’s father, Gabor, a first-genera- adds other elements to keep interests
at the parochial Quiet Farm in the princi- tion immigrant with whom he has a dis- piqued: Tracy’s ability to sense her kills’
pality of Upper Marsh; Daniel keeps a col- tant, contentious relationship, has raised thoughts adds a mystical element to the
lection of spiders, and Virginia spends her Matt without connection to their Jewish narrative, and the detailed depiction of

56 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANU AR Y 22, 2018