Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Ms. Brodesser-Akner is a well-known writer for NYTimes, GQ, NYMagazine, but this is her first novel. And what a début!

Meet Toby, a 40 something newly divorced doctor; short (emphasized in the book), a good dad and living in New York. His ex-wife Rachel, a highly successful actor-agent is constantly reaching for the perfect life for herself and her family. Toby and Rachel have two ‘tweens’, who find themselves are thrown in at the deep end of the divorce, but both kids love their parents very much. 

Then – with a hint of ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Where’d you go Bernadette’ – Rachel disappears. She doesn’t return calls, she doesn’t go to work – she simply disappears. Toby has no idea what’s going on. He flips between being mad at her for not showing up, picking up the kids etc AND messing up his new dating life on multiple media platforms and believing that Rachel has died and worrying how her disappearance will effect their kids and their childhood.

It’s not a crime like Gone Girl, but much more in the league of novels by Maria Semple and Nicole Krauss, with a mix of tragic and comic. It is a very readable début about marriage at midlife, and how difficult it can be to live a modern life – even on New York’s Upper East Side with private schools and wealthy social circles. The seemingly perfect life is not always a happy life.

The book has three main narrators. It is mostly Toby’s story but we also hear from Libby, an old friend of Toby’s, who also struggles with modern life and marriage. The novel also reaches back into Toby and Libby’s college years. 

While Rachel’s disappearance is more of a ‘character’ than Rachel herself, she does get her say at the end of the book, showing once again that there are, of course, always, two sides to every story. Rachel’s story actually nailed the book for me. Her reflections on the complexities of her life and their family life, and of how we as human beings have a need to feel a sense of belonging are very on point, and will bring Brodesser-Akner across the Atlantic as a writer. 

Pick it up if you liked…’Where’d you go Bernadette’ by Maria Semple.

Happy reading!

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My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

I promise you that this is not like anything else you will read in 2020, and this book might also go straight into your Top 10 reads of 2020. 

This book is raw, real, disturbing, controversial and a powerhouse of its own. It is a debut from Kate Elizabeth Russell, and she will probably be asked a billion times if it is her own story.

There are two timelines in the books. We first meet Vanessa aged 15 and in love with her English high school teacher, and then we meet her again at age 32, struggling to get her life together. 

Vanessa starts a sexual relationship with her English teacher, Jacob Strand, 45, at her boarding school when she is 15. But is it love or is it abuse? Vanessa is clearly vulnerable and at the same time starts to get an understanding of the power that the relationship gives her. There is no sugarcoating this relationship, but the writing is just so good, that you will find yourself turning pages. 

Somehow, while Vanessa changes school, the rumor is already ahead of her, and she is defined as the girl who might have had a sexual relationship with a teacher. You can feel the teenage hormones and girltalk in the pages. 

The second timeline is when a former student from the boarding high school comes forward, and accuses Jacob Strand for sexual abuse. A true #metoo campaign is gathering, and Vanessa is contacted by a journalist covering the case. However, Vanessa is still in touch with Jacob, but no longer in an intimate relationship with him (and she asks herself, as does the reader, is that because she is too old now for him? At the age of 32?)

This is a debut, and a mind-blowing one. The story feels personal and I found myself wanting to shake Vanessa up, I felt angry at her mother, and imagined what it would feel like if this were to happen to my own daughter. I got engaged in the book.

What is also interesting, is that there is no real victimization of Vanessa. She is there, and it is heavy material, but it is her life. 

The book has already been sold to a Swedish publisher, and it will probably be a bestseller worldwide and a book that everyone will have a strong opinion about. Read it! Also if you follow Kate Elizabeth Russel on Instagram, you will find her funny and talented. 

Reviewed by Lotte Bastholm

Happy reading!

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Agent Running in the Field by John Le Carré

If I am still writing reviews when I’m 88 years old, then please give me a high-five…

You have to admire John Le Carré for still writing, and you have to fully admire him for still keeping such a high standard. This is not another “cold war spy novel” but a novel that proves that John Le Carré is still sharp and on top of his game. 

Here is Nat, in his mid 40s, semi-retired but still working for the British Secret Intelligence Service. He and his wife Prue, a human rights lawyer, have been around the world for the Service. Nat enjoys a game of badminton to take his mind of the modern, political spy game of today. Of course, in classic British fashion, Nat is also a member of a private club and kind of sticks to himself. 

Enter Ed, an awkward 20-something, challenging Nat to a game of badminton. The game turns into a series of matches. After each match the two of them have a drink at the club, where Ed fumes about his job, Brexit, Trump, EU, etc. Nat listens to the rants of “there will always be an England…” and sometimes puzzles over them, but he is also preoccupied by work where he is coordinating a huge operation around a Russian oligarch - an operation which will have unexpected consequences for both Nat and Ed…

Another well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book by John Le Carré who once again proves his talents as a master storyteller. 

Pick it up if you liked…any one of the previous 25 books by John Le Carré

Happy reading!

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American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

So – what to write about this book and the author, both of which have landed in a controversy they could not have foreseen. Well – I actually dared to read it, and found it to be both really well-written and an amazing story. 

Let’s start with the book and the story that takes place in Acapulco, Mexico. Lydia is a bookseller, happily married to journalist Sebastian, and they have 8 year old Luca. One day Javier enters the bookshop. He is charming, knows a lot about books, has the same favorites as Lydia, etc. They flirt. They share stories (they both lost their fathers to cancer as children) They become friends. 

One evening Sebastian talks about a story he is writing about the Mexican cartels. It turns out that Javier is head of Los Jardineros, the cartel that has taken over Acapulco, and has a history of drug dealing and assassinations. The story is not dangerous in itself, but it leads to a couple of tragedies that force Lydia and Luca on the run towards el norte. 

Lydia’s feelings are well described, and we also hear the story from Luca’s point of view, as well as through the eyes of some of the others migrants that join Lydia and Luca on the run. It is a story about hate and hope, of dreams and of running towards the unknown, of being on the run when chased by something bigger than yourself. 

I was totally spellbound by the story. Lydia is a very likable character and her motives are easily understood. I found myself cheering for her. Luca is adorable, and breaks your heart. The rest of the characters come from places that have a history, and the things that happen on the journey to the United States are very believable.

Amazing book and it is perhaps the fact that the book is so realistic that has landed it in so much trouble. The book, the author and the publisher have been getting a lot of bad press. I don’t recall a book being criticized this much before. The critics even have their own hashtag on Instagram this time: #ownvoices

The biggest issue is that the author isn’t Mexican, but tells a Mexican story, that could be interpreted as reality. Cummins makes no attempt to hide that she is American and lives in New York. The critics want you to ditch the book, and instead read Mexican writers that have written about the same story. 

In the Author’s Note Cummins carefully describes how she did her research, how she was in doubt of being able to tell the story, and how she felt unqualified. But she was told that “we need as many voices as we can get, telling this story. So – she wrote it. Now, she has become the story, which is not fair for the book. 

Pick it up if you liked…Miracle Creek – it is fiction meets thriller. 

Happy reading!

Reviewed by Lotte B.

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