Vintage Contemporaries
Dan Kois
Two friends named Emily, 90s New York, and the way close friendships shift over decades. Kois nails the ache of growing up and apart.
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★ 5Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
I read Shuggie in three hours during a sleepless night (in retrospect, it probably exacerbated my insomnia rather than curing it.) This novel is relentless. The setting and situation—a crowded tenement apartment in 1980s Glasgow—is bleak when Shuggie begins, and things get bleaker. And bleaker. And bleaker. If you can stand the emotional flagellation, Shuggie will reward you. The characterization
The Wangs vs. the World
Jade Chang
A Chinese-American family loses its fortune and road-trips across the country. Funny, chaotic, and warm.
Audition
Katie Kitamura
An actress, a young man who may or may not be her son, and two versions of reality that refuse to line up. Slippery and unsettling in the best way, and no surprise it made the Booker shortlist.