What I read: June

All That Man Is- David Szalay 

All That Man Is doesn’t follow one specific storyline, instead focusing on the experiences of nine separate men, each at a different stage of their life. The book’s subjects range from a young man experiencing a sexual awakening on holiday to an ageing millionaire, about to lose everything. The result is an in-depth tour of masculinity and the shared experiences and anxieties of men across their lifetime. I enjoyed the stories about the younger generations of men the most (probably because they were closer to my age) but Szalay has created a cast of varied and intriguing, yet completely honest characters, in a unique collection of tales. 

Salvage The Bones- Jesmyn Ward 

If you’ve never read anything by Jesmyn Ward, you should rectify that immediately. Her work spans genres, and her memoir Men We Reaped, is painful, poignant and just incredible, one of the best books I have ever read. Salvage the Bones is her second novel and just like everything else Ward puts her name to, I loved this book. Set in Mississippi, the ominous murmur of Hurricane Katrina underpins the story of 15 year old Esch, who has just found out she is pregnant, and her three brothers; Junior, Skeetah and Randall. Left almost completely to fend for themselves, the family rely on each other in a town where there is not much for anyone. Esch is a keen reader, particularly of Greek myths and Ward subtly weaves these tales through the contemporary narrative, the story of Esch and her siblings taking on an almost mythological status. With the storm approaching, danger is at the heart of the novel; the dangers of nature, of poverty, of love, and of being a girl. 

Bluets- Maggie Nelson

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy Bluets, I think I just wasn’t in the right mood to read this when I did. It’s a meditation on the colour blue, what it has meant for artists and thinkers in the past, and why Nelson herself is so fascinated with it. There were some parts of this that I really enjoyed and would definitely return to Bluets in the future but it didn’t wow me as much as some of Nelson’s other work has- I really recommend The Red Parts by her. 

Long Bright River- Liz Moore 

At its heart, Long Bright River is about the bond between sisters. Brought up by their grandmother in Philadelphia, Mickey becomes a police officer, whilst her younger sister Casey becomes a victim of the city’s opioid crisis, turning to prostitution to earn her way. When Casey goes missing and the bodies of other prostitutes start appearing across town, Mickey has to work out what's happened to her sister, before it is too late. I’m not a huge reader of thrillers, they are the one thing I prefer to watch on TV, but I did enjoy this. Moore is writing about prevalent and difficult topics such as addiction, abuse and manipulation, but chooses not to sensationalise these issues for the sake of an easy plot. Instead she considers how they are rooted in wider societal corruption and how addicts and sex workers are also people with families. The twists of a thriller are still there and Long Bright River is unpredictable with a great pace. However its success lies in Moore’s handling of these topics, how real and relevant the characters and their fates are. 

Where the Crawdad’s Sing- Delia Owens

Passed from my mum, to me, to my grandma, this novel has got the thumbs up from three generations of my family. It’s a coming of age story with a crime twist. When Chase Andrews is found dead on the fringes of the marsh, Kya the ‘Marsh girl’ is immediately suspected. Having been alone for most of her life, Kya lives almost symbiotically with the environment around her. Perceived by the town as strange and wild, she relies on a few friends and the marsh with its complex ecosystems and silent power. The plot is slightly predictable but I was not surprised to learn that before becoming an author Owens was a naturalist. Her descriptions of the ecology and natural world that make up this novel are nothing short of breathtaking. Kya and her way of life are so deeply connected to this space and the power of WTCS lies in Owen’s depiction and celebration of this environment. 

The Vanishing Half- Brit Bennett

Bennett’s newest release has been at the top of so many ‘best of’ lists already this summer, and there is a reason for this. One of my favourite books I have read so far this year, The Vanishing Half is centred around twins Desiree and Stella. Born and raised in a small town, at 16 the sisters leave for New Orleans, searching for a future that holds more promise than cleaning houses. Yet here the sisters’ story diverges for the first time as Stella leaves Desiree, re-writes her past and marries a white man, choosing to ‘pass’ and live as a white woman. Although the book starts with the twins, Bennett takes this story further, down through the generations until their paths ultimately become crossed again. The Vanishing Half is a story of race and sisterhood and identity and how the past continues to affect our relationship with the present. Bennett’s characters stick with you, they are fully realised figures with flaws and often conflicting desires that Bennet spends time examining and trying to understand- in short, they are painfully human. Racism, in all its forms, underpins The Vanishing Half, and Bennett presents wider systems of racism alongside everyday microaggressions, considering the psychological effects and impacts of this across generations. The book spans decades and states yet never lacks heart. Bennett is a gifted writer- I couldn't put this down and I can’t wait to read more of her work. 

Leaving the Atocha Station- Ben Lerner

Lerner’s first novel, this follows a young American poet during his fellowship in Madrid; his daily routine of self-medicating and the various lies he constructs about his personality as protection against both the people he encounters and himself. I could not stand the narrator of this book. I appreciate he is supposed to be frustrating and pretentious and self-centred but I found him almost intolerable, and constantly being locked into his over analytical perspective pretty exhausting. Lerner is clearly a master writer and there were really interesting ideas running throughout LTAS that I underlined to find again, but I was almost relieved to leave the narrator behind when I finished this.

The Farm- Joanne Ramos 

This is another really great debut that I enjoyed this month. The Farm has a dystopian tinge to it, offering a glimpse into a very possible future, where the extremely wealthy can pay huge amounts of money to Hosts, women who will act as their surrogates and stay on The Farm, a luxury breeding resort. Alongside this discussion of ownership and the female body as a commodity, Ramos’s novel deals with race and class, focusing on the Filipino community within New York. Enjoyable to read and with plot turns that aren’t screamingly obvious, I read this really quickly- I think this would work well for book clubs as it raises really varied points of discussion. 

The Opposite of Loneliness- Marina Keegan

This is a collection of essays and short stories by Marina Keegan, a writer who was killed in an accident a couple days after her graduation at just 21. What would already be an incredibly accomplished collection of work is brought into stark focus by her age, her writing is intelligent, moving and funny. Alongside the essays and fiction are a few extracts from Keegan’s poetry, and I would have loved for her poems to also be included in the book. Above all, this collection honours an incredibly talented young woman and allows her voice to live on.