Another great month for paperbacks should you need to top up that TBR pile after reading your way through a long pandemic winter. This first installment includes two from my 2020 books of the year list, beginning with Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain. Stuart’s novel follows the eponymous Shuggie over a decade from the age of five, ceaselessly bullied and devoted to his alcoholic mother. Agnes is a proud beauty, given to angry self-pity once the booze sets in. When his father moves them into the house he’s promised for years then promptly disappears, Agnes is appalled to find herself living in a poverty-stricken neighbourhood. Given that synopsis, you might expect this to be story of unremitting misery but Stuart delivers it with a great deal of sharp, dry wit. It’s a long time since I’ve been so excited by a Booker Prize winner, not least because it was on my wishlist.
I’d also included C Pam Zhang’s striking How Much of These Hills is Gold, set in a reimagined American West in the grips of the Gold Rush. Zhang’s novel is told largely from the perspective of two orphans, travelling through a land almost mythical in its beauty, searching for the perfect burial place for their father’s body. Exploring themes of family, home – or the lack of – and otherness through the stories of a Chinese family, three of whom are American but rarely accepted as such, this starkly beautiful debut is both thought provoking and original.
Much closer to home, Frances Macken’s You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here begins in ’90s rural Ireland where three ten-year-old girls are 
inseparable: Evelyn is the boss with Katie second in command and Maeve trailing behind. When a new girl disappears without trace, a long shadow of suspicion is cast over gossip ridden Glenbruff. Katie finally gets away to art school leaving Evelyn behind but not her pernicious influence. Macken has a sharp ear for dialogue, scattering her novel with smartly funny lines while capturing a desperate longing for bright lights and opportunity through Katie, torn between her idolisation of Evelyn and her need to escape.
Parties and madness 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 was originally put off Clare Chambers’ Small Pleasures but so many readers I trust have assured me it’s good that I’ve added it to my list. Set in ‘50s suburban London it’s about a middle-aged feature writer whose paper is contacted by a mother claiming her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. As Jean 
becomes increasingly involved with the Tilbury family, investigating this astonishing assertion, she sees the chance of happiness which will apparently come at a terrible price. Janet over at From First Page to Last loved it so much she’s championing it for NB Magazine which has pretty well convinced me. You can see her pitch here.
Emily St John Mandel’s dystopian Station Eleven was one of those titles impossible to avoid in my neck of the Twitter woods when it was published back in 2014 but I wasn’t a fan so you might wonder why I’m including The Glass Hotel here but I like the sound of both its settings and themes. The wealthy owner of the Hotel Caiette and its bartender begin a relationship on the same day as a hooded figure is seen scrawling a violent message on the hotel’s wall. Thirteen years later the erstwhile bartender disappears from the deck of a ship. ‘Weaving together the lives of these characters, Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel moves between the ship, the towers of Manhattan, and the wilderness of remote British Columbia, painting a breathtaking picture of greed and guilt, fantasy and delusion, art and the ghosts of our pasts’ according to the publishers which sounds like an altogether different kind of dystopia.
I began with one prize winner and I’m ending with another although I’m still in two minds about Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet despite its Women’s Prize for Fiction victory. As I’m sure most of you are well aware, it’s about 
Shakespeare’s son who died aged twelve. Described by the publishers as ‘a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written’, it’s the story behind Hamlet, apparently. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about reading this one, much admired by Karen at Bookertalk as you’ll see from her review.
That’s it for the first batch of April’s paperback goodies. As ever, a click on a title will either take you to my review or to a more detailed synopsis. If you’d like to catch up with April’s new titles they’re here and here. Part two soon…
Interesting to see your view on HAMNET. I bought it because my daughter said it was one of the best books she’d ever read but I was rather underwhelmed.
That re-enforces my idea that it might be a Marmite book.
Thank you for the kind mention Susan. I do think it is a book you’d appreciate. Lots of things going on but quietly and with deftness of touch. I still have Shuggie Bain to read from the hardback. I’m going to have to prepare myself for the trauma.
You’re welcome, Janet. I circled around Shuggie for some time last year. It’s a tough read but so good.
I didn’t really get on with Hamnet at all and I really like O’Farrell’s books. I did love The Glass Hotel though.
That’s interesting, Cathy. I’m a keen O’Farrell fan and wondered if that was part of the problem for me – this one’s so very different.
I thought it was fine Susan – a little overwritten – but my main problem was that the Shakespeare link just didn’t convince me, or add anything to the story. But I know I am in a small minority!
I suspect I will read it but won’t be racing to do so.
I loved Shuggie Bain! I’m also a fan of Irish fiction so will add You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here to my wish list. I’ve read all of Maggie O’Farrell’s books and love her writing but was a bit wary of Hamnet as I’m not a big reader of historical fiction, But I actually really enjoyed it and found it very moving. It’s a beautifully written novel and was one of my favourite reads of 2020.
Encouraging words re O’Farrell there! Wasn’t Shuggie wonderful.
I haven’t read The Glass Hotel yet, but it sounds really intriguing… And I keep going back and forth on whether I should try Hamnet.
Mixed views about Hamnet on here today which probably won’t help your indecision! I think I’m more likely to read The Glass Hotel.
I really enjoyed Hamnet, though it really seemed to divide readers. I was a bit surprised when it won the women’s prize though. I have Small Pleasures on my kindle, which I am looking forward to reading soon.
Good to hear some enthusiasm for Hamnet! The balance seemed to be tipping the other way. Janet has converted me to the idea of Small Pleasures.
I think my pick of these would be The Glass Hotel though, like you, I wasn’t a huge fan of Station Eleven. I went off Hamnet when I heard she decided to change Anne Hathaway’s name to Agnes – it seems so pointless and would annoy me every time she’s named…
I’d heard that, too. I wonder why she did it.
Loved Shuggie, was a bit disappointed in The Glass Hotel.
Such a lovely surprise when Shuggie got the Booker! Hopes aren’t hugely high for The Glass Hotel but the premise appeals to me.
A lot of these are on my TBR pile, although I need to feel stronger to read Shuggie Bain, I think. I did like Hamnet – but I’ve never read any other Maggie O’Farrell, so perhaps that helped.
I think your point about Hamnet being your first O’Farrell explains my own reluctance as I’ve been a fan of her previous dual narratives although I didn’t get on with Instructions for a Heatwave. As for Shuggie, undeniably a tough read but well worth steeling yourself for.
I listened to the abridged version of Small Pleasures on R4’s Book at Bedtime recently and absolutely adored it. Monica Dolan was the reader, and her understated delivery seemed like the perfect fit for the novel’s tone. I would thoroughly recommend it – almost Barbara Pym-like at times!
Interestingly, you’re not the first to have mentioned that Barbara Pym likeness. I’ve added it to my list.
There is one aspect to The Glass Hotel which is in contrast to Station Eleven, and it might just make the difference for you as a reader. (I read all her stuff when to review TGH when it was new in NAmerica.) Whenever I see Shuggie Bain, I think about how much you loved it. And that’s probably what will ultimately nudge it into my stack too (even though I have a lot of other reading projects preoccupying me in this very moment).
That’s intriguing! I’ll bear it in mind when I read it. I do hope you love Shuggie as much as I did.
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