In Maggie O’Farrell’s sterling Hamnet, she seeks to fill in the blanks of history to tell a deeply human story. … More Life and Death in the Margins: Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell
A humane, sharply observed set of interlocked stories about a home care worker taking care of AIDS patients in the 1990s. … More A Handbook for Helping the Dying: The Gifts of the Body, by Rebecca Brown
Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with Lorena Hickok has been a source of controversy since the days it was happening in real-time. Were they secret lovers? Merely close friends? The topic has been endlessly debated. White Houses assumes that they were lovers, which seems reasonable, and purports to tell the story of their relationship. And it does, but … More The Secret Love Life of Eleanor Roosevelt: White Houses, by Amy Bloom
Warning: if you are not into novels as therapy, this is not the book for you. If authorial gimmicks are not your thing, this is not the book for you. Motherhood is 300 pages of highly performative therapy as a writer agonizes over whether or not to have children. Is this writer a stand-in for … More When Therapy Meets Novel: Motherhood, by Sheila Heti
An actress struggles toward sobriety in this fictionalized version of Carrie Fisher’s own struggles with substance abuse, famously adapted into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine. … More Postcards from the Edge, by Carrie Fisher: Book Review
If you’re looking for a book that will make you incredibly mad at the healthcare system, this is the novel for you. If you’re already mad or have been burned by America’s healthcare system, there’s a chance this novel could be a fist-pumping endorsement of your experience–except how could a novel about a young mother … More Alice & Oliver, by Charles Bock: Book Review
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