Word’s pick: “I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son” by Kent Russell
For better or for worse, Kent Russell’s “I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son” has a specific, two-part question in mind: in the face of a failed and failing masculine sense of self, what, exactly, is a young man to do? And who will his role models be? If Russell comes up with any answers, he comes up with several, and what could be a series of small, deluded, nostalgic monuments to a bygone era is instead a testament to a historical lack, passed on from generation to generation, with as much love as despair.
— Zach Barocas, Word [126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbrooklyn.com].
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick: “The Peregrine” by J.A. Baker
Baker’s devotion (madness?) results in some intensely memorable descriptions of both physical nature and the emotions of his birds. I found myself reading with two minds: fascinated as an outsider tracing his obsessive spiral, but totally observed by his hypnotic, immersive routine. Beautiful, misanthropic, and often brutal nature writing that forces you to go outside.
— Julian Elman, Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com].
Community Bookstore’s pick: “Preparation for the Next Life” by Atticus Lish
Hello and please listen to me. Atticus Lish has written one of the most singularly powerful American novels of the last five years. Bringing together an Iraq War vet with PTSD and an undocumented Chinese-Muslim immigrant, “Preparation for the Next Life” scans the horizon of our current American Adventure, taking in the tired, the poor, the dispossessed, the traumatized. With its muscular prose, careful pacing, and keen sense of the ways we talk, now, about love, Lish’s debut novel is most stunning for its deep wells of empathy and humanity. The bleeding edge of the American love story, stained on 400 pages.
— Hal Hlavinka, Community Bookstore [43 Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.commu
