I love a frothy book as much as anyone, but sometimes, you need something with a little bit more heft. These books feel at home both on the beach and in your book club.
Detransition, Baby
Interior Chinatown
We follow three women in DETRANSITION, BABY: Reese, a trans woman who longs for a child; Ames, Reese’s ex who has recently detransitioned and is living as a man and Katrina, Ames’ boss who reveals that she is pregnant with his baby. Ames devises an unconventional plan: maybe Reese, Ames and Katrina can all raise the baby together. I really enjoyed this one! It’s super characterdriven but has the perfect punch of plot: what is this unconventional family going to look like? I’m a biiiig fan of a character-driven novel and I really liked getting to learn so much about the backstories of these characters through the flashback format. The characters are often messy and chaotic and flawed, which is just how I like them!
Written in a screenplay format, INTERIOR CHINATOWN follows Willis Wu, an Asian man who lives and works on the set of Black and White, a cop procedural show set at The Golden Palace, a restaurant in Chinatown. Willis sees himself as Generic Asian Man. He’s not a protagonist in both the show and his own life. The screenplay format was so inventive and smart. The writing is sharp and smart and sarcastic and perfect for the tone. The commentary on family, immigration and race was really fascinating and I loved seeing how Willis’s position as a bit player on the show translated to the way he perceives himself in life as an Asian-American.
Torrey Peters
52
Charles Yu
BEACH True Story
Kate Reed Petty In late 1990s Baltimore, a successful high school lacrosse team is plagued by a rumor of a sexual assault that took place after one of the team’s legendary parties. Over a decade later, Alice Lovett, a reclusive ghostwriter, continues to be haunted by what she can’t remember from that night. Petty did a really incredible job writing about not only the lingering effects of sexual assault, but rumors, misunderstandings and the lines between our memories and the truth. TRUE STORY plays with format in one of the most original ways I’ve seen in a long time. This novel is told in college essays, emails, memoir, audio transcripts, screenplays, a dual narrative that switches between first and second-person— basically this one has it all. It might seem overwhelming at first, but it works SO well.
