Currently Reading
Her Last Affair (Mariner, 3/22/22) by John Searles
I described John Searles’ latest, Her Last Affair last week as “sad characters leading sad lives. Something a little bit off about all of them.” Definitely doesn’t make for good Valentine’s Day reading!
Recently Read
The Odds (Penguin, 2012) by Stewart O’Nan
The Odds by Stewart O’Nan turned out to be about a couple whose long marriage would be ending soon with a separation, divorce, and personal bankruptcy but who are celebrating a final anniversary at Niagara Falls over Valentine’s Day. My timing for reading this novel – novella, really – turned out to be perfect!
If you’re looking for an actual romance or something meant to be heartwarming,The Odds wouldn’t be it, despite its subtitle “A Love Story” and despite the author’s obvious sympathy for his two flawed characters.
Here’s Ron Charles on Stewart O’Nan. He says it better than I can.
Continue reading “It’s Valentine’s Day, What Are You Reading? 2-14-22”The Odds is another in his growing body of distinctly trim books. He can write long — “Wish You Were Here” was too long — but his talent shows off best in these careful miniatures. Once again, he’s given us a story line that seems daringly sparse. Even the opening punches — smuggling cash! highway crash! — immediately give way to the small, plain movements of a middle-aged couple in a hotel room. This willfully anti-dramatic structure succeeds only because O’Nan writes well enough to render the choreography of domestic life as captivating as the drama that usually keeps our attention in fiction. If the thrills are low, the stakes are nonetheless high.
Ron Charles, The Washington Post