It's not unusual for me to plow through 4 or five books a week. However, in recent weeks, due to an increase in reading material for my MFA courses, and in thanks to the heaviness of this post's feature books, I only have 3 to review this time. I know...I'm a slacker. I would also like to apologize, there are no indie books on this list. I'll do better next time. Pinky swear.
That said, shout out to my sister for recommending Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things. Although this book was published in 2016, the uncomfortable subject matter is sadly still all to relevant. Follow Ruth Jefferson, an L&D nurse with twenty years of experience, as she answers the complicated question, Do I help the baby of the white supremacist who specifically said I'm not allowed to touch his child? Or do I uphold my oath as a nurse and defy his wishes and the orders given to me by my supervisors? No one should ever be in this situation but this is exactly where Ruth finds herself and the results of her decision threaten to unmoor the foundations of the life she has worked so hard to build for her and her son. I read this book slowly and carefully, aching for the characters, mourning the fact that these issues are still very real and shamefully still present in our society. I couldn't put this one down.
Matt Adcock's Complete Darkness just about did me in. I was fascinated and confused from word one. Relying on an unreliable narrator, the sci-fi, future-world of L2 is filled with AI technology, immersive gaming, homogenized religion, mind-altering drugs, secrets, magic, and old-world mythologies. All of those things shouldn't work together, right? But, incredibly, Adcock manages to weave a fraying narrative with characters I couldn't help but care about, even if I did spend the book wondering how on earth all these people and groups would ever resolve themselves in a cohesive ending. This entertaining, and at times disturbing, SFF commentary on theology, social mores, and humanity is well worth the read.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks promised a break from both textbooks and heavy social pressures. I can't say this is a light read - because you know, COVID-19 pandemic. A fictionalized version of historical events, Year of Wonders tells the tale of a small English village, engulfed by the Plague in 1665-1666, which voluntarily shuts itself off from the world in order to save the rest of the country from a nationwide outbreak. Our narrator, Anna, loses everything that was once important to her but, in the end, gains a life she can truly call her own. I probably should have been prepared for the unintentional parallels between this story and our own experiences in the past 17 months but I wasn't. Excellent story, told in a voice which evokes the formality of the period, heartbreaking and hopeful all at once, I recommend Year of Wonders wholeheartedly. But, only if you aren't still exhausted by the current world health situation. If you are, I suggest you put this one on the bottom of your TBR stack and read it later. It's been out since 2002 so there's no hurry.
