Hello, my Bookpeach darlings! 🍑
Apologies for the brief hiatus. My mom came to visit me in Berlin, and then we spent a wonderful few days together in Budapest. Neither of us had visited Hungary before, and it was such an interesting experience. On top of the educational aspects (The House of Terror Museum, the Dohány Street Synagogue), we also had delicious food and enjoyed local favorites like the “ruin bars” (Szimpla Kert was the best!) and a traditional bath house. Overall, I think Budapest may be the most underrated “big city” in Europe.
Since my mom left, I’ve been going through the hefty bundle of family documents she brought me from home. It’s an amazing collection, including my great-great grandfather’s journals (in Hebrew, German, and English), books written by his daughters, and myriad newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and handwritten notes about emigrating to America. I clearly come from a long line of readers and writers.
It’s incredible to trace how decisions made by people a hundred years ago have directly shaped the outcomes of my own life. And seeing idiosyncrasies in their language — and even handwriting — that matches my own is thrilling.
This fascination carries over into the fiction I love best. For as long as I can remember, multigenerational books about families have been my favorite genre. I love reading about the intricacies of one unit, and how relationships — big and small — have consequences that last for decades. Below, I’ve compiled a list of just some of my favorites. What am I missing? 💌
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
It feels right to begin with this book — the go-to tome for family drama. Although Franzen has historically pissed me off, I have to admit… The dude can write a hell of a story.
I have read (and loved) several of his books, and I think The Corrections is the best entry point. The story follows the Lamberts, an elderly Midwestern couple, who are attempting to coax their three adult children home for “one last Christmas.” Be warned: the characters are deeply flawed, borderline repugnant, but I think that’s kind of the point. My pal
put it well in her newsletter this week:None of the characters are particularly likable, but at the same time, you can see how a series of small errors, self-doubts, and poor decisions – things all of us have experienced in one way or another across our lives – over time have led them to a place where they are stuck, and they cannot escape the mess of their own making. It’s frustrating, baffling, and humorous to read about.
Read if you like: family group chats, awkward holiday parties, midlife crises
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Wow. Thinking about The Vanishing Half brings me back to deep COVID times — crying and staying up until 3 AM to finish this book. This is a quintessential page-turner, and I often recommend as a “deslumpifying” read.
The story centers on the the Vignes twins — sisters who grow up in a small, southern Black town. Although identical, one sister decides to “pass” as white, and the other remains in the community, eventually raising a Black daughter. Bennett deftly weaves together multiple strands of this family, and the story travels from the Deep South to Detroit to the film sets of California. Although the book spans four decades, it’s never bloated or dull. There’s a reason it was so popular, and I am still waiting for the show to enter production!
Read if you like: old Hollywood, complicated sister relationships, Passing by Nella Larsen
The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
I loved The Plot by Korelitz last year, so decided to give her earlier novel a chance. Thank you to my colleague Nelli for the rec!
The Latecomer has some classic pieces I enjoy — super-wealthy New Yorkers, difficult siblings, romantic triangles (or parallelograms, really). The story follows Salo and Johanna, a Jewish couple who use early-stage IVF to get pregnant with triplets. Despite Johanna’s best efforts, the three siblings — Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally — feel zero connection to one another and cannot wait to go their separate ways. When they leave for college, Johanna, who is facing a marital crisis, decides to have a fourth child using an 18-year-old frozen embryo. The last chunk of this book is a gut punch, and it was one of my favorite novels I read last year.
Read if you like: medical ethics, Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, window shopping on the Upper East Side
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
This book took a second for me to get into, but once I did, I was fully hooked. The story follows Deming Guo (later renamed Daniel Wilkerson) as he struggles with his identity and assimilation. When his mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, doesn’t return home from her job at a nail salon, Deming is adopted by two “liberal” white professors in upstate New York. He spends the novel trying — and failing — to learn what happened to his birth mother and decipher his family’s origins.
I haven’t read Ko’s new book Memory Piece yet, but The Leavers really put her on the map for me. I especially recommend this book given our present political moment.
Read if you like: Ocean Vuong, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Caitlin Dickerson’s journalism
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
And now for a fun one! This is my favorite of Ann Patchett’s books, and I think it’s a classic family novel at its best. Taking place in the groves of Virginia, the story spans five decades and follows the lives of four parents and six children, the Keating and Cousins families. I don’t want to give too much away, but there are affairs, a case of stolen identity, and one ill-timed theater performance.
Like The Leavers, this book also takes a minute to get into, but once you do, you’ll be reaching for a glass of orange wine and washing it down with mandarin slices.
Read if you like: semi-autobiographical works, Sandwich by Catherine Newman, extremely messy family reunions
📚 On my shelf
For Fulbright research, I read Minor Detail by Palestinian novelist Adania Shibli, which made headlines in Germany last year. The dispassionate prose and disturbing story reads like a parable, and I can see why this slim novel, which has comparisons to Camus’ The Guest, has garnered such a massive reception.
Over the weekend, I also finished The Thinking Heart, an essay collection from International Booker Prize-winning Israeli author and long-time peace activist David Grossman.
I got two Libby holds last night - Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman and Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter. Has anyone read?
📚 Links and things
I finally finished “The Wire” — albeit 20 years late. With full recognition that I sound like a cinephile bro, I really do believe this is the greatest show ever made?! The characters (OMAR!!), the sense of helplessness, the depiction of a city on the edge… Ugh. I am wholly depleted.
🎧 songs for train rides in cold winter weather: “watch you sleep” by girl in red, “Trashfire” by Tommy Lefroy, and “Immune” by Jensen McRae
This lovely essay on romanticizing February from
💌🧠 did you know people who read live 20% longer on average? Loved this excellent episode of It’s Been A Minute on NPR.
Happy reading! 💛
XOX
Alli
Love this edition, as per usual! I think Laurie Frankel writes about family in a gorgeous way that gives me new perspectives to ponder. "This Is How It Always Is" and "Family Family" both blew me away.
Love your book recs! I've read one, wishlisted one, and pulled the other two from the depths of my ebook tbr backlog!