Category: Year-end lists

#5 – Faith by Jennifer Haigh

Talented author Jennifer Haigh tackles the Catholic priest abuse scandal with grace and skill. She brings to bear her forte of familial relationships to a splintered family living south of Boston. Don’t be put off by a subject that you might have heard enough of, Haigh’s take is refreshing and powerful.   After reading two of Jennifer’s novels, this one and the outstanding 2008 work, The Condition, it’s clear this is an author to be reckoned with.  I look forward to going back and reading some of her earlier work, even as she moves forward to tackle ever more-complicated and powerful subjects.

 

#4 – The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar

Thrity Umrigar’s The World We Found is a powerful look at four Indian women who shared a galvanizing and complex friendship during college and are now facing mortality some thirty years later when one of their number is discovered to have cancer and given months to live. While the three who remain in India do what they can to reunite and travel to America to see their stricken friend, the depth and complications of their relationships are revealed. Thrity doesn’t just give us four wonderfully drawn women in this novel, she creates a couple of surprising male characters as well. And in what is perhaps most surprising, a story about bringing four friends back together after decades evolves into something so much more – a lost woman’s liberation. Bravo, Thrity! The World We Found is a fantastic book!

I am embarrassed to report that I forgot one of the books I read in 2011, and it should be represented in my Top 15. So, I am sad to report that Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One has dropped off my list, and Justin Javier’s We The Animals, and Tom Perotta’s The Leftovers have shifted down to #’s 14 and 15 respectively.  I have a new title that now comes in at #13.  It also happens to be my friend Chris’ #1 book he read of 2011.

#13 – Half Empty by David Rakoff

David Rakoff tackles pessimism in his usual sardonic and funny way. His acerbic and self-depracating wit make the topic of pessimism a funny yet thought-provoking read.  This collection of essays does involve a sobering twist that makes it one his most personal and moving efforts.

Oh, and while I’m sure that sharp tongue is not an act, Mr. Rakoff is one of the sweetest most charming authors I’ve had the privilege to meet.  And he was blown away by the art and architecture of the Boston Public Library.

#7 – The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

In the tradition of Jane Eyre, Gemma Hardy is a strong-willed, determined orphan living in Scotland who endures the kinds of trials only orphans in literature can endure before growing into the young lady that we would all love to be.  Livesey explores many of the tropes of this type of tale, but includes surprising detours, including Gemma’s exploration of her heritage in Iceland, a kindly lesbian couple who show her kindness andrefuge at a particularly low moment in her life, and a development of her character that goes far beyond the genre and into a more realistic growth.  Margot Livesey writes beautifully and while her story of the orphan mistreated by her adopted parent who escapes to boarding school only to be disappointed by the harsh cruelties of growing up is familiar, she avoids the melodrama that often accompanies these tales.  Her settings are unique and fascinating, and her characters rich and fully drawn.  In a different year, this one would be near the top of this list.  This book is due out at the beginning of February.

#6 – Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire wraps up his epic Oz series with a grand, complex journey centered around Rain, grand-daughter of the famous? notorious?  Elphaba, self-styled Wicked Witch of the West.  As usual, Gregory weaves Baum’s original tapestry into his work, while commenting with insight on politics, morality and human nature.  The cast of characters is large, with just about all the players from the previous three books making appearances again, but Gregory skillfully brings them in without your having to go back and reread the books from years past to remember what’s going on.  His Dorothy Gale is a strangely ridiculous and heroic character all at once.  It’s a tour de force, and it’s a very satisfying conclusion.

#9 – The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson was a new discovery for me in 2011, but his latest novel, The Family Fang, is a revelation. Annie and Buster are the children of Camille and Caleb Fang, two performance artists who value their art perhaps more than their children. When Annie and Buster finally escape their immediate family after growing up as Child A & Child B in their performance art troupe of a family, they think they’re done with all of that. But when hard times force them back to the family home, they find themselves embroiled in one of the most complicated pieces their family has ever launched. Insightful, touching and bizarre.

 

 

#8 – Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon van Booy

Three wanderers find each other in Athens.  Rebecca is young and beautiful, but lost.  She meets and befriends George, a translator who is lost in past worlds of language and Jack Daniels.  Both their lives are irrevocably changed when they meet Henry, a carefree archeologist who charms them both.  Spun with care using language that is rich with texture and emotion, Simon van Booy creates a nearly mystical exploration on love, grief, and heartbreak.  Truly a testament to a full year of fine novels, this book deserves to be much high on this Top 10 list.

#11 – Insignificant Others by Stephen McCauley

Known for his acerbic wit and well-drawn characters, Stephen McCauley sixth novel is a funny, insightful and ultimately poignant look at the long-term, slightly off-the-rails relationship between two men in Boston. The endearing yet slightly ridiculous characters in Insignificant Others struggle with love, adultery, work relationships, health and growing older, with Richard, human resources manager, compulsive gym-goer, and slightly past his prime in the center of it all.  I knew I would be amused; i was surprised at the emotional heft.

 

 

#10 – For the Win by Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow’s epic novel is really, really good. It features complex characters in their teens and explores such diverse and important issues as class, labor unions, economics, globalization, the Caste system in India, commerce, gaming culture, underground journalism and more, all without sacrificing a taut, exciting thrill ride of a novel. If there can be one slight complaint at all, it’s after building up to a really tense and powerful conclusion, the book’s conclusion is slightly (and only slightly) unsatisfying. Still – an epic for the ages.