NPR colleagues shared their favorite fiction reads of the year, highlighting various authors and genres. One correspondent praised a story about a mother solving her son's classmate's mystery as both fun and engaging. Another highlighted Hal Ebbott's 'Among Friends,' exploring old friendships and hidden resentments during a birthday weekend. A historical novel by Karen Russell discusses Dust Bowl tragedies and includes elements of magic. Each recommendation emphasizes compelling narratives and unique perspectives on relationships and history.
This book got me out of a reading rut! It's about a mom who is struggling to keep her life together - while simultaneously trying to solve the mystery of her son's missing classmate. It's got fun twists and turns and characters who surprise you. Very plot-driven and definitely hard to put down.
It's your oldest friends who can really grind your gears. Hal Ebbott's debut novel starts off as an examination of this relationship - two families spend a weekend in a house together to celebrate a birthday and, of course, old resentments and jealousies creep in and out of friendly tennis games and pre-dinner drinks.
A novel that's both an epic and an omen, this work of historical fiction is rooted in Dust Bowl tragedies that transcend time and place. In a landscape that surely feels cursed, Karen Russell introduces us to, among others, a Prairie Witch, whose gift is radical listening, providing a kind of proto-therapy.
Histories we collectively cannot withstand and what they mean for our future are at the core of this novel, in which Russell masterfully renders the strange quotidian and imbues the everyday with menace or magic.
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