Day, by Michael Cunningham

Michael Cunningham’s latest gem, Day, is a beautifully crafted peek into one family’s complex relationships with each other, and the complicated inner lives of its individual members.  It is told in three days: April 5, 2019, April 5, 2020, and April 5, 2021. 

The fulcrum of this family is Robbie, who is, at the start of this novel, living in an upstairs annex of the apartment of his sister and her family. Sister Isabel and Robbie have always had an unusually close relationship.  In addition, Robbie has also grown close to Dan, Isabel’s husband and their two children, Nathan and Violet. 

As much as Robbie enjoys living with his sister’s family, and they enjoy him, Isabel and Dan’s children are getting too old to share a room, and they are becoming cramped. Robbie needs to give them back their space.

While Robbie is going about doing his work as a teacher, looking for an apartment, and going through his things, we quickly learn his backstory, and the fact that he and Isabel share a sort of imaginary friend named Wolfe (I admire the use of that name). Robbie has created an instagram account for Wolfe,  and he and Isabel discuss what Wolfe is doing from time to time. 

Robbie, not the imaginary Wolfe, is a strong support for his unhappy sister, happily helping out with her children, and it is hard to imagine that any of them will be nearly as content when brother, in-law, and uncle is gone. This is a group of people who prop each other up.

During the first day, April 5, 2019,  we see how these individual lives dwell together.  On the first anniversary of that date, Robbie has set out for a new life, and then the pandemic happens, so Robbie is separated from family, but the rest are very together. Lastly, in April of 2021, we spend the day with a family in which each member is attempting to find a path forward after all the changes and losses that have occurred in a relatively short period of time.

I am fascinated with how Cunningham tells us so much about his characters in a way that seems both beautiful and detailed, yet occupies so few pages. I also admire that story  was told in three parts, emphasizing the heartbreaking passage of this time for this family. 

Many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing me the chance to read this remarkable novel.

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

 This is not a Netgalley book--I borrowed it from the library, and finished it the night before it disappeared from my device! I will get back to Netgalley soon, though.

I'm including it here because it might be the best book I've read this year. 

Demon Copperhead is a modern update of the Charles Dickens classic, David Copperfield. It revisits the topics of poverty and disadvantage, especially for children.

Barbara Kingsolver has set her story in Virginia, among a population in the Appalachian region, where many children are subjected to a flawed foster care system and lack of good education. Meanwhile, drug addiction and poverty are a fact of life and hope for a better future is not.

This newer tale, which is faithful to the older, follows Damon Fields, AKA Demon Copperhead, through the arduous and dangerous years of a childhood filled with unstable and tortuous living arrangements, neglect, and emotional harm. Along the way, Kingsolver makes a powerful statement about the history of this region and the poor, damaging conditions many children face, to this day.

Charles Dickens wrote about a time period when defenseless children could be worked as hard as adults, and that seems hideous, but in some cases, the modern story is every bit as bad, in different ways. Children in foster care are often used by their guardians, against their best interests, and Demon's personal history is additionally affected by the opioid crisis.

This novel is beautifully executed. Demon's voice is compelling, believable, and very likeable. I was fascinated by the way Kingsolver adapted and unfolded the plot. I rooted for Demon, even though I knew he would find his way to the other side of his nightmare childhood, even after all the adults failed him. Demon is like one of the talented superheros he enjoys drawing. Not all of his friends are so lucky.

Bravo! (That means, I highly recommend this)