Neshama’s Choices for September 30

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Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

Julia’s son Ben, in graduate school, drops a bombshell. His girlfriend Sonny is pregnant and they’re getting married. Things between Julia and her hubby Mark, a very nice guy, have been strained and this event serves as a petri dish for heating up old family tensions. There was trauma early in the marriage when Julia had a brief affair with her best friend and mentor Helen’s son (we learn about this gradually) and its effects still ripple through trough their relationship. At first, I thought this would be yet another round of familiar territory: an entitled family's dysfunction. But soon I realized what made it so special: Lombardo can anatomize and transmit emotions with such precision that it stirred up many visceral feelings in me. There’s also considerable wit: wedding plans are such rich fodder. 

Four Squares by Bobby Finger

In NYC Artie burns the cake he’s making for his own birthday, but all is well when his three chums join him at their favorite gay bar. There Artie is intrigued by Abe, a mysterious, off-putting stranger reading a book. Artie strikes up an uneasy conversation with him and thus a complex relationship is launched. Action toggles between 1992 when AIDs was rampant to 2022 as Artie, now 60, tries to remake his sad, lonely life. An association for gays and lesbians fills the bill awkwardly but it works. Lots of tragedy and secrets, but Artie, so modest and touching, gives the book a warm, light quality that I really appreciate

The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian

Crissy bears an uncanny resemblance to Princess Diana, and her long-running impersonation act at the mid-range Buckingham Palace casino in Las Vegas is chugging right along. Then her sister Betsy comes to town with her new daughter in tow, a 13-year-old foster kid she adopted. Betsy’s new boyfriend Frankie has a job in Vegas with Futurian, a crypto currency enterprise. We learn it has a connection with the mob and dead bodies start to pile up fast. The sisters look uncannily alike which the bad men exploit to a scary fare-thee-well. Bohjalian encapsulates the grotesqueries of real life in a city based on fantasy and tells a ripping good yarn along the way.

Ex-wife by Ursula Parrott

Published in ’29, the book became a scandalous success. It’s the Roaring Twenties.  Patricia, very young and pretty, is married to Peter in NYC and works as an ad copywriter.  The couple do lots of drinking and partying. They seem happy, so why does she veer into a tryst with his best friend Ricky while Peter is away? Perhaps because he has his longtime friend Ruby along. Patricia finally fesses up but doesn’t want to implicate Ricky so implies it was with several men. Along the way she had a miscarriage, then a baby who was sent to live with her parents and who died at two months old, and an abortion before she met Peter. That’s the way real life intrudes on all this apparently sparkling gayety. She and Peter split, though she still loves him, and she connects with other ex-wives who introduce her to how to navigate this new territory. After many other men, both single and married, she has a serious love affair with Neal, but he dies. She finally makes a marriage of convenience with a rich guy, and around the world they go. The writing style is sprightly and astringent and gives us a look into an era now long gone, though material about women’s roles and feminist yearnings come through with relevance for today.  Published in ’29, the book became a scandalous success.