INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Doxology | Nell Zink | $29.99 | HarperCollins Zink is one of the most unique and exciting voices in contemporary fiction. She has a style that is distinctly sly, sardonic and as sharp as a papercut. In Doxology we are propelled through thirty years of the protagonist’s lives, from the gritty punk underculture of 1990s New York, through the shattering events of September 11, and along the campaign trail of the 2016 US election. Yet Zink’s true power as a writer is her characterisations of people and their motivations, however flawed. Despite their idiosyncrasies these characters are utterly believable – in particular the childlike and all-too-trusting Joe. Zink revels in words and ideas, crafting cleverly constructed sentences that take several read-throughs to properly appreciate. Doxology is canny, perceptive and propulsively readable. — Sarah
“SHARP AS A PAPERCUT.”
Patsy | Nicole DennisBenn | $29.99 | Bloomsbury
Quichotte | Salman Rushdie | $32.99 | Penguin Random House
I loved Dennis-Benn’s debut Here Comes The Sun — an incredible novel interrogating homophobia, racial and class prejudice, and the impact of tourism trade in Jamaica. Her second novel Patsy is one I’ve been waiting for all year. It’s about a queer Jamaican woman who receives an American visa and leaves her young daughter behind, in the care of her aging mother, only to discover that America is not the land of opportunity for everyone.
Rushdie takes inspiration from Cervantes’ Don Quixote to create a complex, rich and decidedly epic commentary on contemporary American society and the role popular culture, especially social media, is playing in it. What he began with the gloriously sharp The Golden House, he extrapolates and explodes here into a glowing firework of a novel that, while deliciously satirical, looks deeply into love, the life we live today, and perhaps even the universe.
— Emma Co.
— Sylvia
The Man Who Saw Everything | Deborah Levy | $32.99 | Penguin Random House
The Dutch House | Ann Patchett | $29.99 | Bloomsbury
Levy is the brilliant novelist behind Swimming Home and Hot Milk. A lot of us at Better Read cannot wait to get our hands on her upcoming book, The Man Who Saw Everything. Anybody who has read her recent memoirs knows Levy is only getting better and better, so my expectations for this book are enormous! You can bet it will be beautifully crafted, luminous in its language, and tell a story that’s strange and unforgettable. — Emma Co.
Supper Club | Lara Williams | $29.99 | Penguin Random House This British debut has been recommended for fans of Sally Rooney (we are now legion) and I can see why – like Rooney, Williams successfully explores intense connections and equally intense disconnection in young adulthood. Our narrator Roberta is passive, isolated and apologetic. Her primary comfort is cooking, and eating. Men treat her poorly, to say the least. She finds her first significant female friendship with Stevie and together they start the Supper Club. These nights are devoted to a bacchanalian feast. The women eat and drink until bursting, they bloat and make a mess. They take up space and they do not apologise. For a brief time, they are free from expectations and free from fear. But when Roberta falls in love and starts settling down, her friendship with Stevie and their vision for Supper Club falters. Sometimes this novel feels too real, and there is some discomfort in that, but it is a terrific read – particularly in conjunction with Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women. — Kate
4
Reminiscent of some of my alltime favourite books, Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and Siri Hustvedt’s What I Loved, The Dutch House examines fractured family dynamics with the central motif being a painting. It has been some time since I have read one of these great beauties, an epic read where you can be engrossed in a detailed, perfect description of another family’s imperfect life. I recommend giving yourself over to read for pleasure. I assure you of a most wonderful time. — Dean
