Friday, January 08, 2010

January Magazine's best books of 2009, fiction

January Magazine’s writers and editors chose their favorite fiction books of 2009.

One title on the list:
A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein (Algonquin Books) 304 pages

Not long ago, I reviewed this book in these pages with unbridled enthusiasm, and I'm mentioning it again to drive home the fact that this is truly among the best books of the year. A searing portrait of two families in crisis, Lauren Grodstein’s novel is filled with characters as real as you are and conflicts that both define and undermine them. Her writing is crisp, insightful, and heartbreaking, particularly as we watch Pete Dizinoff, her protagonist, go over the edge of sanity to project his son and his family. What might seem like an easy, quiet, even unassuming book is anything but. You won’t soon forget A Friend of the Family. --Tony Buchsbaum
Read about another novel on the list.

The Page 69 Test: A Friend of the Family.

--Marshal Zeringue