Colin Dwyer
Some weeks more than others demand that we take a breather or two from the news cycle, if only to mitigate the onset of debilitating ennui or despair. That's not to say that everyone answers this call, or that a break should lapse into long-term indifference – but pausing the ol' firehose of upheaval and violence every now and then can do wonders for one's state of mind.
That's a roundabout way of saying: Anybody else up for some fiction this week?
To be clear, this week's publishing highlights often get quite heavy, laden as they are with family tragedy, psychopathy and heartbreak. But it's a welcome relief to note that, for the most part, these catastrophes at least profess to be just fantasies.
Meet the Samuelsons: The middle-class Northern California family takes lead in Huneven's latest novel, which opens with light comedy, madcap road trips — and unexpected tragedy. What follows is an expansive meditation on loss and grief and getting on however you can, lovingly rendered in the lives of the Samuelson children and their parents, year after year, decade after decade. It is the sixth book by the versatile author, who has won the Whiting Award for Fiction and a James Beard Award for her food writing.
