Staff Recommendations, Week of July 27, 2021

 

Why hello there. We're back again with the Boswellian's favorite books of the week.

First, we've got Tim McCarthy for the latest from Wisconsin author Nickolas Butler: Godspeed. Tim says: "True Triangle Construction is just three guys who've managed the modest step of starting their own company with three matching trucks. They don't even have a website. So why would a wealthy, worldly, beautiful San Francisco lawyer pick them to build the majestic house she plans to tuck perfectly into the Wyoming Tetons, next to hot springs and a cold, pure river? How did Gretchen Connors even find them? These are the questions they ask as they start to dream of all the ways a project like this will change their business, and their individual lives. There’s all that money and a shiny new reputation, but can they do it, and at what price? Gretchen’s expectations are so high, and the timeline! Why? Butler has given us a study in desire, where it comes from and the damage it can cause. It’s a fascinating and very intense ride, and the best part is that we see both sides of the story in the detailed lives of characters, the rich woman and the men struggling with a transformation that’s making regular guys like them feel less at home in their own town. I felt compelled to stay with them, and I felt rewarded for seeing them through to the end."

Next it's Daniel for the latest from another Wisconsinite - Jennifer Chiaverini and her novel The Women's March: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession. Daniel says: "Chiaverini brings to life a seminal moment in American history. Channeling the story through three of the players, Alice Paul, Maud Malone, and Ida B Wells, the event, which seems like it was successful in building momentum for a Constitutional amendment, at the time seemed like it was anything but. I enjoyed the detailed research that clearly goes into Chiaverini’s stories; you can feel Paul’s anxiety trying to follow contradictory commands, the determination of Wells to march in the Illinois contingent and not in a segregated squad, and the exhaustion Malone must have felt marching from New York to Washington before the main event even started, only to be faced by a huge angry mob that almost derailed the event. While the three strands of storytelling never quite mesh except in the march itself, this decision allows The Women’s March to highlight the achievements of Black and working-class women who have been previously overlooked in the movement’s progress and history. "

And that's what we've got! See you next week.