In this glossy, oversize, deluxe edition, filled with photographs, The New York Times celebrates its 125-year history of reviewing books.
In the last section, 1996 to 2021, twelve works of fiction, memoirs or poetry are reviewed. Many are debut works in a given genre (signified below with an asterisk). In some cases, I’ve reviewed books by the authors at my How Jack London Changed My Life site. I’ve noted this with parentheses.
The Times’ selection may say something about where we are in the world of literary fiction and what the future landscape looks like. You can draw your own conclusions.
Jhumpa Lahiri – Interpreter of Maladies*
Lahiri’s parents were Bengali, but when she was three the family relocated to the United States. The stories all have Indian protagonists but are not set in India. (2)
J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Needs no comment.
Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones*
The first person narrator is dead, having been a victim of a rape/murder/dismemberment.
Alison Bechdel – Fun House*
A graphic memoir, combining cartoons and words. The author, a lesbian, chronicles her childhood in a family beset by problems, notable of which is her father’s homosexuality. (1)
Andre Aciman – Call Me by Your Name*
Homosexual love on the Italian Riviera.
Junot Diaz – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao*
Diaz was born in Santo Domingo, but his family immigrated to the United States when he was six. The novel is populated by Dominican characters. (1)
Jennifer Egan – A Visit from the Goon Squad
The Times reviewer writes: “A narrative that feels as freely flung as a bag of trash down a country gully.”
Celeste Ng – Everything I Never Told You*
Ng’s parents moved from Hong Kong to the United States before she was born. Her novel is about a mixed-race Chinese-American family whose daughter is found drowned in a nearby lake.
Jacqueline Woodson – Brown Girl Dreaming
A memoir in verse.
Lucia Berlin – A Manual for Cleaning Women
Berlin was a short story writer who died in 2004; in 2015 this collection of her short stories was published. According to the Times reviewer, “Berlin spins you around, knocks you down and grinds your face into the dirt.” (1)
Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad
A novel addressing slavery and its aftermath. (1)
Tommy Orange – There There*
Concerns the problems of Native Americans by a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
2 comments:
To me this list says as much about the New York Times as about the state of literature. On the one hand it does reflect the current state of society and the Times knows that the positions it takes have an outsized influence on the already tattered social fabric. They are no doubt under tremendous pressure to promote inclusiveness and viewpoints that had little or no voice in previous generations. Probably best that they do so. The good news is that for readers like you and me literature is still a free market. We are free to read, review and reject whatever we feel like. I don't think there's a monolithic consensus about literature outside what a few college professors and The New York Times and other journals might promote. There are dozens of totally different and independent niches existing side by side. This is as it should be, the way I see it.
But it's not a free, open market if books never see the light of day. Or exist only in obscure niches.
While some doors open, others are tightly closed.
At any rate, the New York Times best seller list reflects what people do turn to: John Grisham, Nora Roberts, James Patterson, etc.
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