Review of FRIENDS LIKE US by Lauren Fox

Meganne Fabrega, special to the Minneapolis Star Tribune

When I survey my stacks of books, there is a paucity of lighthearted novels. Most of them are stories of heartbreak, love gone awry or family conflict, and while these novels are well written, they tend to leave me with a slight sense of despair. Enter Lauren Fox (author of "Still Life With Husband") and her second novel, "Friends Like Us."

Willa and Jane are best friends muddling their way through their mid-20s when Willa reconnects with her old friend Ben at a high school reunion. Seeing him brings about "the lingering sadness of unfinished business" and she and Ben try to find their way back to a friendship that never ran its full course. When Jane and Ben fall in love, Willa plays the supportive friend, but she wants to have her cake and eat it, too, and fools herself into making an irreversible decision that ultimately leaves her with an empty plate.

Fox, who earned an MFA from the University of Minnesota in 1998, includes the elements of many good novels in "Friends Like Us" -- heartbreak, love gone awry, family conflict -- and infuses her writing with a clever, unforced humor that softens the edges of uncomfortable scenes. As I finished "Friends Like Us" I did not despair, but reminisced about that bittersweet time of life that Fox captures perfectly with a writing style that rings with the familiarity of a long-lost friend.

Review of UNORTHODOX: THE SCANDALOUS REJECTION OF MY HASIDIC ROOTS by Deborah Feldman

Meganne Fabrega, special to the Minneapolis Star Tribune

While most females in their late teens today are preparing for college, entering the workforce or otherwise exploring a multitude of options, Deborah Feldman's memoir, "Unorthodox" (Simon & Schuster, 272 pages, $23), reminds us that there are religious communities in the United States that restrict young women to marriage and motherhood. These women are expected to be obedient to their community and religion, without question or complaint, no matter the price.

Feldman grew up in the Satmar sect of an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, and although she was only 23 when she started writing her memoir, she has the eloquence and composure of a more experienced writer. She patiently leads the reader through her experience growing up within the strict confines of her extended family's expectations, while she has the added challenge of having been abandoned by her parents as a child.

She knew she was ideologically different from her family at an early age, and she risks punishment in order to read forbidden books. She finds solace in novels, from Roald Dahl's "Matilda" to Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," and as she gets closer to her "marriageable" age, an age she associates with great freedom, she reads and rereads "Pride and Prejudice" for a glimpse of how she can maintain a modicum of independence while fulfilling her role as a wife.

When Feldman turns 17, she is married to a member of the community and her most challenging journey begins. Neither spouse was ever taught about basic anatomy, let alone how a marriage is physically consummated, so for a lengthy period Feldman is blamed for her husband's inability to perform sexually. As Feldman soon discovers, their plight is not unusual in the community but is considered too shameful to discuss. In "Unorthodox" she boldly addresses the subject in a way that elicits both shock and sympathy.

Eventually, Feldman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, which impels her to take risks she never had the courage to take before, including applying to college, shunning select traditions and, in a triumphant moment, wearing jeans in public instead of the required skirt. She also reaches out to her estranged mother and ultimately decides to leave the Hasidic community and her husband.

"Unorthodox" is heavily influenced by Feldman's early reading choices, and while we know how the story ends, we still root for her as if she were Francie Nolan or Elizabeth Bennet. Feldman writes, "It takes a long time for shame to fade away, but underneath it there is pride."

Sunday Morning Rapture

Review of HEFT by Liz Moore

 Meganne Fabrega, special to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 27, 2012

Isolation and loneliness take many forms in musician and writer Liz Moore's most recent novel, "Heft." There is the large -- the extremely large -- middle-aged character of Arthur Opp, who stays hidden away in his childhood home. Then there is Kel Keller, a teenage baseball wunderkind whom his peers see as an equal while he struggles to maintain the illusion of confidence. And there is Charlene Turner, Opp's former student and Kel's alcoholic mother, whom we encounter primarily through memories.

While the three main characters remain physically apart for the majority of the novel, their stories intersect and create a narrative that pulls in other stories of hidden sadness along the way. Charlene contacts Arthur after a long period of silence, which sparks Arthur's need for company that he had buried long ago beneath excessive eating and daytime television. Kel's tumultuous home life forces him to crack his hard emotional shell in order to ask for help from people he had thought were his adversaries. As Arthur and Kel break down their own barriers, they unearth the fragile interiors of the people around them.

This is not a novel with a happy ending, and that's a good thing. Moore doesn't tie her story up in a pretty package and hand it to the reader with care, but artfully acknowledges in the end that some heavy loads cannot easily be left behind.

Browsing the stacks

Once upon a time I worked at our local library. While it ends up I didn't have the chops to continue in library service, I still frequent the library on a regular basis. I spend a lot of time requesting new titles and finding old ones that I had seen references to in various articles or on twitter. While most days I feel an embarrassment of riches with my piles of ARCS to review and enjoy, there was a short period a couple of weeks ago where I just let myself aimlessly browse the stacks.


For some reason all of my library picks were titles I missed in 2008. I finally read NETHERLAND by Joseph O'Neil, which had an air of Richard Ford to it (in a good way). I read Joyce Maynard's memoir AT HOME IN THE WORLD and while I can't say that I've enjoyed any of her fiction, I'm glad I read her memoir which mostly takes place here in New Hampshire. Janice Erlbaum's memoir HAVE YOU FOUND HER kept me glued to the sofa for a day or two as I contemplated how willing people are to believe in the goodness of strangers...myself included.


While my desk sags with the weight of the new spring books I'm off to the library to browse the new mags, tiptoe through the stacks, and see if I can find some inspiration for the walls of my office. (Speaking of inspiration, take a peek at Emma Straub's marvelous new wallpaper.)

Wonder what it's like?

Have you ever considered fostering a dog? I wrote about fostering Joey for Small Dogs Big Hearts today, if you have a moment hop on over to see what it's all about.

My Year of Books

It’s been a great year for books, as many other listmakersin the know have said. My only regret is that there were not enough hours in the day to read all of the great books that made it onto the shelves and into the hands of readers.

I’ve made a list of the books that stayed with me long after I read them, that answered the question “Have you read anything good lately?” Some were for paid reviews, some were sent to me as ARCs (Advance Reading Copy) directly from the publisher, some I bought and many I checked out from our awesome public library.

In compiling this list I realized that I need to be much more organized in my reading for 2012. Next year I hope to make a list of all of the books I read, not just what I think you should read. Some big titles are missing because I did not read them or didn't care for them, or more often than not, took the time to read a less popular title. I included a title if I couldn't put it down, if dishes went unwashed and emails unanswered. All of these titles were published in 2011, starred titles would make particularly good reads for a book group. None of them should be missed.

Fiction..........

We the Animals by Justin Torres*

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett 

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka*

Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell

The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson

Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam*

You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber*

Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan

Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson*

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

There But For The by Ali Smith

Memoir........................

One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing by Diane Ackerman

I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl by Kelle Groom*

Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of an Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Townie by Andre Dubus III

Ghosts by Daylight: Love, War and Redemption by Janine di Giovanni*

The Foremost Good Fortune by Susan Conley

A Widow's Story by Joyce Carol Oates

You Had Me at Woof: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself by Julie Klam

Miscellany.............

Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented by Matt Lewis and Renato Polliafito

The Repurposed Library: 33 Projects to Give Old Projects New Life by Lisa Occhipinti

Design*Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney

Full disclosure: I do not get paid for linking to Powells. It's just one of my all-time favorite bookstores.

                                                   Photo from Crooked House's blog.