(Penguin, $26)
The subject of Emily Rapp’s memoir may sound too excruciating to engage with, said Buzzy Jackson in The Boston Globe. Two years ago in January, the writer learned that her 9-month-old son, Ronan, had Tay-Sachs disease—a rare genetic disorder that is always fatal and kills the average victim at age 3. This chilling diagnosis is shared with the reader in the book’s second sentence—“but you should keep reading.” Rapp has created “a beautiful and passionate elegy for her son, a book that offers deep wisdom” precisely because it’s no “trite tale of triumph over adversity.” In fact, it doesn’t even offer answers.
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The lessons the author learns obviously do not apply to her alone, said Heller McAlpin in the Los Angeles Times. “Her determination to envelop her son in love, protect him from as much suffering as possible, and then let him go is a protocol as applicable to an Alzheimer’s patient as to a sick child.” Ronan died this February, after this book was finished, but grief visits everyone eventually. We have no answer for it but love.
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Glinda vs. Elphaba, Jennifer Lawrence vs. postpartum depression and wilderness vs. progress in November moviesthe week recommends This month’s new releases include ‘Wicked: For Good,’ ‘Die My Love’ and ‘Train Dreams’
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‘The problem isn’t creation itself’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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‘Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America’ and ‘Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary’feature The culture divide in small-town Ohio and how the internet usurped dictionaries
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”