During this holiday week, The Common is presenting highlights from the past year. Today’s highlights come from “Reviews.”
Read Melinda Misener’s review of Townie by Andre Dubus III, here, and Sarah Malone’s review of NW by Zadie Smith, here.
JAY BOSS RUBIN
When we first witness her breakfast routine, in the novel’s opening pages, it’s quite charming: she spreads globules of milkfat, along with softened butter, onto her not-so-fresh bread, then dunks the bread in her hot, milky coffee. “The fat is rich and the old woman’s entire body tingles.” (Sometimes Natalia is “I,” sometimes she is “Natalia,” and most often she is “the old woman.”)
RO SKELTON
And this is how Mother Mary feels—like entering a deep friendship with a writer who shares, over the course of the story of her life, what it was like for her to be somewhat lost and searching, making meaning in her life in the shadow of her loving and often abusive mother.
REEVE LINDBERGH
Her clear voice and her deep intelligence thread this lovely book together, giving weight to every observation, shining light into the dark corners of memory, revealing both the habits and the dimensions of lost and present loved ones.
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