The novel generates plenty of dark humor from its serious issues and predicaments.
An essay-writing Brooklyn academic who feels he has hit bottom discovers just how much further he can fall.
This novel attempts an exquisite balancing act between the farcical and the devastatingly sad and between the political polarities its protagonist sets out to address. The present moment is most certainly out of joint for Paul, who is in the midst of writing his first book in perhaps his last gasp toward relevance. He has titled it The Luddite Manifesto, and it attempts to connect the contemporary culture’s addiction to screens with the election of a president whom he finds abhorrent. The novelist plainly has sympathy for Paul, his positions, and his plight, yet he also presents him as a sad sack—self-important, oppressively judgmental, a divorced dad now living with his own mother, demoted by his college English department from lecturer (with benefits) to adjunct. Somehow he must navigate his way through the modern world, supplementing his income by driving for a ride-share, which requires him to get one of those smartphones he despises. Soon he finds himself sharing his opinions on a political website where he becomes desperate for “likes.” Having established a character who is both sympathetic and ridiculous, the novel must find something for him to do; he maneuvers through his daughter’s decreasingly enthusiastic sleepovers, a #MeToo accusation from one of his few prized students, and a chance encounter with the producer of a right-wing TV commentary show to which his mother is addicted. Paul makes a last grandiose attempt to establish himself as a “great man,” and it’s a doozy.
The novel generates plenty of dark humor from its serious issues and predicaments.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63557-872-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
A fairy tale stuffed with a meaningful moral, this is a funny and heartwarming novel.
A good Italian American daughter’s 30-something rebellion forces her entire family to reckon with their choices, resulting in a happily-ever-after for all that’s like the best affogato: rich, bitter, sweet.
Giuseppina “Jess” Capodimonte Baratta lives in her parents’ basement, and it’s not the finished kind, but more like an old-fashioned cellar with a bed and a dresser. Her family has long struggled with money problems, so many that Jess had to go to community college instead of the four-year institutions her sister and brother attended. At 33, she’s landed back at her childhood home in Lake Como, New Jersey (known for its location between a lake and the Atlantic Ocean), because she’s left her husband, Bobby Bilancia, heir to Bilancia Meats and blue-eyed local heartthrob. Jess may not know what she wants for her life, but it isn’t nightly TV and then several kids with Bobby, whose idea of sophistication runs to capicola-ham rosettes. Then Uncle Louie, the proprietor of Capodimonte Marble and Stone who has mentored Jess as his deputy, dies of a heart attack and leaves the business in her hands. Unfortunately, there’s also some funny business that includes a side hustle with an associate known as “Googs” and a quarry’s worth of unpaid taxes. Jess chooses to ignore her overbearing mother’s advice and fly to Carrara, the home of the world’s most beautiful stones—and stonemasons, like Angelo Strazza, whose specialty is applying fragile gold leaf to carved pieces. From brushing up on her Italian to investigating Uncle Louie’s somewhat mysterious past, Jess soon discovers she needs less of her family’s assistance than she or they ever believed. Trigiani risks gilding the lily here, but by placing Jess’ love affair with Angelo alongside her love affair with her own future, she maintains a balance that will leave readers as satisfied as an Italian Sunday dinner would.
A fairy tale stuffed with a meaningful moral, this is a funny and heartwarming novel.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593183359
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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