The Last American Road Trip by Sarah Kendzior

Journalist Kendzior, freaked out by changes in American culture and politics, combined with climate change and Covid, starts taking her family around to as many states as time and her budget allows as a reminder and demonstration that there are good people everywhere.

This impassioned mix of travel literature, political analysis and history told mostly from two lane highways in flyover country hits hard - I don’t think I’d ever appreciated the impact of overturning Roe v Wade on an individual, fertile woman until I’d read this. As bad as things documented here are, and taking into account how they’ve only gotten worse since this was published in April, there is humor here nonetheless, reasons to hope and fight for change. And you’ll likely want to hit the road yourself.

Adult Non-Fiction pr7725302

The Doorman: A Novel by Chris Pavone

Chicky Diaz works as a doorman for a luxury Central Park West co-op in this Tom Wolfesque examination of Manhattan society in the immediate post-Covid era.

Intersecting story lines combine Chicky’s social strata with some of the building’s ultra-rich residents. This book was not at all what I was expecting, which was a read it and forget it airport bookstore thriller: it’s so much more, in the same way that Richard Price’s recent Lazarus Man goes far beyond genre conventions into social commentary. Negative reviews on Goodreads from readers that want Pavone to stay in his lane didn’t surprise me, but I’d rather read something with this heft, and applaud the author’s courage in this change of direction. Note that this is still a thriller – but pulp, it’s most definitely not.

Adult Fiction pr7725302