Mention the Underground Railroad
and the first name that likely comes to
mind is Harriet Tubman, one of hundreds
of tireless workers who, by 1850, together
helped to liberate nearly 100,000 slaves.
Maxon and Young’s book describes itself
as “a novel of the reverse underground
railroad,” describing the kidnapping of
free blacks and returning them to slave
states for sale to slave owners. Comfort, a
former slave, is living as a seamstress in
Delaware in 1816, only to be sold into
indentured servitude by her husband,
Cuff, in order to pay his gambling debts.
Forced to leave her daughter behind,
Comfort harbors a fierce determination to
regain the precious freedom she’s lost, and
to eventually make her way back to her
their days working odd jobs, and Sylvie
more readily adapts because of her entre-
preneurial bent. Sadly, as the 2008 finan-
cial crisis hits, Cassandra does not, cre-
ating an interesting dynamic between the
two. The book’s pace is too slow, and the
reader can never really reconcile the fact
that Cassandra and Sylvie don’t really seem
to like each other much, but Silver (Summer
Invitation) excels at characterization and
deftly blends tragedy and comedy. (July)
Comfort:
A Novel of the Reverse
Underground Railroad
H.A. Maxson and Claudia H. Young. Parkhurst
Brothers Publishers, $18 trade paper (240p)
ISBN 978-1-62491-044-9
Little Beasts
Matthew McGevna. Akashic/Kaylie Jones,
$15.95 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-61775-
347-3
A teenager’s frustrated crush and a
squabble between schoolboys form the
framework of this subdued debut novel.
Playmates James, Dallas, and Felix scrap
with a group of youthful foes in their
working-class Long Island town; in a
nearby garage, angry teenage artist David
Westwood nurses his longing for the pretty
Julia, with her “small, upturned nose.” The
characters contend with the usual assortment of family demons and troubles—
parents struggling with alcoholism, financial
problems, burdensome religion—until at
last David and the kids face off in a fight
that has irreparable consequences. Despite
the intriguing plot, it’s difficult to work up
any feeling for the story’s hapless players.
The point-of-view shifts are often confusing, and anachronisms dim the glow of
the nostalgic 1980s setting. Loosely based
on a true story, the novel piques curiosity
about a long-ago crime, but doesn’t quite
bring it to life on the page. (July)
Bennington Girls Are Easy
Charlotte Silver. Doubleday, $24.95 (272p)
ISBN 978-0-385-53896-1
Silver’s novel is about a pair of irresponsible Bennington grads as they navigate
their 20s back home in Boston and New
York City. Cassandra Puffin—who likes
her men “upperclass and intellectual, with
a fine, sadistic verbal edge”—and her
bestie, the charismatic, selfish, and prescient Sylvie Furst, graduated Bennington
in 2003 lacking any ambition other than
Sylvie’s intense desire to move to NYC.
She accomplishes her goal by using
another Bennington grad, only to suffer
the consequences of her choice later.
Cassandra stays in Boston for some time,
but moves into Sylvie’s Brooklyn apartment several years later. They go through
Allen Appel
Chris Barsanti
Kristin Baver
Vicki Borah Bloom
Bill Boisvert
Monique Bos
Mitzi Brunsdale
Charlene Brusso
Kristin Centorcelli
Laura Cerruti
Donna Chavez
Rebecca Coleman
Lynda Brill Comerford
Sue Corbett
Dan Cullinane
Jessica Daitch
Kate Dunn
Stefan Dziemianowicz
Laura-Eve Engel
T Fleischmann
Jordan Foster
Elizabeth Foxwell
Donna Freitas
Laurie Gold
Judi Goldenberg
Brachah Goykadosh
Daphne Grab
Acacia Graddy-Gamel
Yulia Greyman
Sophie Grimes
Laine Gyurisin
Bob Hahn
Brian Heater
Michelle Heiss
Samantha Henderson
Don Herron
Beverly Jackson
Shavonne Johnson
Michael M. Jones
S. T. Joshi
Hilary S. Kayle
Kendra Korte
Gary Kramer
Michael Lala
Anaea Lay
Daniel Lefferts
Michael Levy
Adam Lipkin
Kathryn Livingston
Rob McMonigal
Sheri Melnick
Diane Molleson
Libby Morse
Julie Naughton
Diana Khoi Nguyen
Eric Norton
Joy Parks
Allyson Paty
Hope Perlman
Lenny Picker
Gwyn Plummer
Eugene Reynolds
Joe Sanders
Aya Satoh
Lorraine Savage
Antonia Saxon
Liz Scheier
Martha Schulman
Matthew Seidel
Steven H. Silver
Max Thorn
Misty Urban
Kevin Walter
Martin Ward
Rona Wilk
Michael J. Wilson
Our Reviewers ;
; The State We’re In
Ann Beattie. Scribner, $25 (224p) ISBN 978-1-5011-0781-8
The 15 loosely connected stories in Beattie’s latest col- lection, set on Maine’s southern coast, feature drifting adults and their rootless offspring at seemingly unim- portant moments that are in fact critical. In “What
Magical Realism Would Be,” a high school student living
with her aunt and uncle rants about summer school.
“Writing essays was retarded,” Jocelyn asserts. “It totally
was.” Jocelyn prefers nights on the beach with friends.
“Road Movie” describes an unlucky tryst at a California hotel; “The Fledgling”
shows an ungainly attempt to rescue a wayward bird; Elvis lamps are auctioned
off in “The Repurposed Barn,” in which Jocelyn sees her teacher in a new
light. “Adirondack Chairs” uses furniture to reflect a couple’s abandoned
future; in “The Little Hutchinsons,” a wedding hosted by the titular characters
goes awry. In “Missed Calls,” an encounter between a photographer’s widow
and a writer distracted by concern for his stepdaughter starts with the widow’s
memory of Truman Capote but becomes an unsettling view of the stepdaughter and her family. “Major Maybe,” in which a Portland doctor remembers 1980s New York, begins with a woman getting hit by a car, then weaves
its way back to the narrator, her roommate, and the flower in their apartment
window. The collection demonstrates Beattie’s craftsmanship, precise language, and her knack for revealing psychological truths. Agent: Lynn Nesbit,
Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Aug.)
