So, I thought Haslett wasn’t gonna write anymore? I was told that after writing one of the most well received books of 2002, our good friend Adam would be finishing up at Yale Law, then becoming a lawyer. This was sad for me; don’t these authors know that they owe me something? I’m glad I was mistaken. Haslett is back with another wonderful book. Selected as Indie Bound’s cover pick for January, the novel is sure to be a hot seller at independent bookstores around the country. That popularity will put a smile on the face of Random House, but, more importantly, if you like talking to other people about books, it should put a smile on your face as well. If you want to know what the reading public will be talking about this season, this novel is the answer.
Union Atlantic, his first novel, is full those dark character studies that made You Are Not a Stranger Here a wonderful collection. Money, sex, small town power struggles, and world shaping mistakes make this book hard to categorize–or recommend, but those willing to expand their reading interests are rewarded with the retired schoolteacher Charlotte Graves. I want to give her a big literary hug and take her talking dogs for a long Northeasterly walk by the lake. That’s right, her two large dogs talk to her, advising her on how to best unravel her life. A modern day Quixote, Graves chases her phenomenally important and obviously martyred windmills, and, like our old friend Don, we root for Charlotte to succeed, while silently hoping she’ll quit, and avoid the inevitable decline of the idealist. Don’t read blurbs about this book, you are sure to find something unappealing in them, just read the book, and find out why Haslett is considered one of the rising stars of American literature.
–Brian Contine
BookPeople 