July Reading Recap

I packed a lot of reading into July:

→ FOLKLORN by Angela Mi Young Hur: Elsa is a physicist nearing the end of a season at the South Pole, where she studies neutrinos, sometimes called "ghost particles." Maybe it's because she's stayed awake too long under the endless polar sun, but before Elsa leaves Antarctica, she's visited by another sort of ghost. The woman who appears to her is the grown-up version of her childhood companion, a friend who was imaginary, or at least invisible to everyone else. This elusive friend resembles a character from Korean picture books, or the folk tales Elsa's immigrant mother used to tell over and over. But her mother hasn't said a word in years, since an accident left her comatose. Elsa has tried to get as far as possible from the whole combination of misfortunes that is her family, until her ghost friend returns and she receives word of her mother speaking again. These events draw Elsa into an investigation of folklore, family mysteries, and the questionable boundary between story and reality.

This summary only covers a fraction of the things going on in this fascinating novel. The story shifts in and out of the past, circles the globe, and slips between genres, often self-consciously. The characters' conversations shift quickly as well, between ancient legends and modern pop culture, from science to history. Elsa is a great narrator, funny and perceptive, except when she's oblivious and frustrating, which I was soon attached enough to forgive her for. This is one of those ambitious, unconventional novels that might so easily have gone wrong, and probably won't connect as well for all readers, but for me, it was a storytelling success.

→ ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS by Rainbow Rowell: In the final chapter of the Simon Snow trilogy, Simon and his friends have just arrived back in England after their American misadventures. They've all come to various realizations about their lives and are ready to figure out what kind of futures are possible after saving the world a time or two. But some of those realizations still need some work, and definitely some working together, because much about being an adult is hard to figure out, both in and out of the World of Mages. Perhaps the rumored new Chosen One can provide answers, or at least raise different questions to get to the bottom of once and for all.

I'm very fond of all the characters in this series, and I was delighted to spend time with them again. The level of angst in Simon and Baz's relationship is less endearing to me, and while I appreciated watching them navigate their intimacy, I would have preferred less time spent on it. Mostly because of that focus, the story starts off slow, but once the plot is really in motion, things get exciting. The other characters have some great plotlines, though they all remain in separate plots for longer than I expected. Still, everyone comes together at the end to save the magical world again and conclude this wonderful trilogy.

→ THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig: Every decision Nora has ever made seems to be the wrong one, leading her to the worst possible life. After an especially terrible day that causes her to relive every regret, she decides to die. Nora takes an overdose and finds herself in a magical transition space, the Midnight Library. The librarian, in the form of a school librarian who was kind to her in childhood, tells Nora she has a chance to step into alternate versions of her life and experience what would have happened if she'd made other choices. By living out the result of each abandoned dream and possibility, Nora gets to choose a new future.

This popular novel is billed as a "feel-good" story, and I approached it skeptically for that reason, but I found it engrossing despite my preference for something less gentle. The smooth prose is a pleasure to read, the characters are lovely, and the story moves quickly through the expected beats, with a few surprises. I enjoyed this book, and though it didn't change my life, I don't regret following along as Nora changed hers.

→ LIBERTIE by Kaitlyn Greenidge: In 1860, Libertie is a freeborn Black girl in New York, where her mother is a respected doctor. She's in awe of her mother's accomplishments and wants to follow in her footsteps, but dark-skinned Libertie also knows the path of medicine will be harder than for her mother, who sometimes passes as white. As Libertie grows older, she discovers more differences in the way the two approach the world, and a rift grows between them. When her mother sends Libertie off to college to study medicine, she feels banished, and at school she realizes she no longer shares her mother's dreams of practicing together. In search of a different future, Libertie marries another doctor who is returning to Haiti. But life in Haiti is nothing like she imagined, giving Libertie more reasons to consider what freedom means and decide what kind of life she truly wants.

There's much to praise in the well-researched historical detail and lush writing of this coming-of-age novel. Unfortunately, my interest waned as the story grew increasingly slow and atmospheric, and I had more and more trouble understanding what was behind some of Libertie's reactions. Greenidge took inspiration from the real life of an early Black woman doctor, but when I heard her recount the whole story on the Code Switch podcast (audio and transcript), I was surprised by her choice not to use some of the most dramatic parts in the novel. Still, I admire Greenidge's ambitious use of history and structural experimentation, also evident in her first novel, WE LOVE YOU, CHARLIE FREEMAN, which I recommend.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Chris Drangle presents a typology of short story titles at Literary Hub: "The one-worder is a classic, from Chekhov's 'Gooseberries' to Mary Gaitskill's 'Secretary.' Both of those are decent, I'd argue—solid if unremarkable eighty percenters. Then you've got 'Gospel' by Edward P. Jones and 'Apostasy' by Mary Robison, both of which are fairly great, in my humble opinion. (Maybe one-worders benefit from religious connotation?) And then there's 'Give' by James Salter, which is just terrible. Poor James Salter—the man wrote exquisite, harrowing fiction, and his tables of contents read like the track listings of pretentious folk albums."