I’m relieved to say there are sufficient attention-grabbing titles for a two-part November preview, although there’s no contest as to which one tops my list. As fans will already know, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive, Again sees the return of Olive Kitteridge. Olive is both the star of the show and a bit player in these closely linked stories set in the small town of Crosby. The ‘spiky, obdurate and disarmingly human anti-heroine Olive Kitteridge [returns] for a fine chronicle of late love and generational division, set in the coastal Maine community that Strout has made her own’ promise the publishers and they are entirely right. Review to follow next month.
From a book by a thoroughly seasoned writer to a debut with Shannon Pufahl’s On Swift Horses set in 1950s San Diego where newlywed, Muriel, works as a waitress picking up tips from the denizens of the Del Mar racetrack but unwilling to split her winnings with her husband. It’s Lee’s brother who Muriel wants to share her good luck with but he’s patrolling the Las Vegas casinos where he meets and falls in love with Henry. ‘Through the parks and plazas of Tijuana and the bars and beaches of San Diego, On Swift Horses mesmerisingly charts the journeys of Muriel and Julius on their separate quests for freedom, new horizons and love’ say the publishers. Very much like the sound of this one.
Moving west, Daniel Handler’s Bottle Grove begins with a wedding in a forest followed by what sounds like a raucous party. ‘Set in San Francisco as the tech-boom is exploding, Bottle Grove is a sexy, skewering dark comedy about two unions–one forged of love 
and the other of greed–and about the forces that can drive couples together, into dependence, and then into sinister, even supernatural realms’ say the publishers. I’m a little worried about that mention of the supernatural but I like the setting and the promise further on in the blurb that everyone has a secret.
Parties are on the agenda in Binnie Kirshenbaum’s Rabbits for Food, which begins on New Year’s Eve when writer, Bunny, finally falls to pieces. Once admitted to a classy New York psychiatric hospital, Bunny refuses all meds and instead begins to write a novel about her fellow patients and what’s brought about her own breakdown. ‘Rabbits for Food shows how art can lead us out of-or into-the depths of disconsolate loneliness and piercing grief. A bravura literary performance from one of America’s finest writers’ according to the publishers. I have to admit I hadn’t heard of Kirshenbaum before but this does sound interesting.
I enjoyed Ben Lerner’s 10:04 very much when I read it back in 2015 but didn’t get on at all well with Leaving the Atocha Station. The Topeka School is about Adam Gordon, a senior at Topeka High School in 1997, who seems to be good at just about everything but whose efforts to include the class loner end disastrously. ‘Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is a riveting story about the challenges of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a startling prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the tyranny of trolls and the new right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men’ says the blurb which sounds extraordinarily ambitious to me.
I’m finishing with a book by the only British author in the batch – Sara Hall’s collection, Sudden Traveller which comprises seven stories whose settings range from Turkey to Cumbria. ’Radical, charged with a transformative creative power, each of these stories opens channels in the human mind and spirit, as Sarah Hall once more invites the reader to stand at the very edge of our possible selves’ say the publishers rather grandly. Jon McGregor has sung her previous work’s praises as has David Mitchell and Jessie Burton. I think it’s about time I read some of her stories.
That’s it for the first part of November’s preview. As ever, a click on a title will take you to a more detailed synopsis for any that’s snagged your attention. Part two soon…
Olive, Again is the publishing event of the year for me (The Testaments notwithstanding!!) – can’t wait 🙂
I read it last week, Liz. You won’t be disappointed.
I’ll be reading The Topeka School – my first Ben Lerner, although people keep telling me I should try him.
Well, I loved 10:04 but couldn’t get along with Atocha one bit so it could go either way for me but he’s definitely worth trying.
Susan, you’ve never read any of Sarah Hall’s stories? OMG, you are in for such a treat. The opening story in Sudden Traveller is incredible.
I knew that would shock you! Excellent. I shall look forward to that.
I’m also a huge Olive fan and can’t wait to be in her company again!
You’re going to love it, Helen.
I’m sure I will.
The return of Olive is exciting! I’ve had a mixed experience with Sarah Hall but she is really talented so I’d be interested to read these stories.
I’m delighted to say Olive, Again is everything an ardent fan could hope for.I’m hoping that Hall’s stories will be a good place to start with her work.
Olive, Again will be one of my top two or three fiction releases of the year, I reckon.
Rabbits for Food was enjoyable for the sarcastic voice, but it’s very dark. I’d read quite a lot set in mental institutions this year, so it didn’t stand out for me as much as it might have.
I plan to read the Lerner and the Hall — you must read “Mrs Fox” from her previous collection.
Mine, too, and thanks for the guidance and recommendation.
I like the sound of Rabbits for Food – and I love Daniel Handler’s adult books – quirky is the only word for them really!
That’s a nice endorsement. Perhaps I don’t need to worry too much about that ‘supernatural’ reference, then
I have only read two Elizabeth Strout books (two others tbr) but one was Olive Kitteridge so Olive again looks great. I have enjoyed a few Sarah Hall books so that looks interesting too. However I must stop buying books, I am reading too slowly at the moment.
Olive is well worth savouring, Ali. I think this will be the Sarah Hall that introduces me to her work.
I have high hopes for Olive’s return – she is such a fantastic character. The Topeka School also sounds intriguing. November already? This year is going by in a flash!
I’m afraid it is! Olive is just as crabby, forthright and essentially warm hearted as ever. It’s an absolute treat.
Marvellous!
By the looks of it, Olive is a great favourite. She is with me, too! I already have this book on hold at the library!
Loved it, Naomi. You won’t be disappointed.