Reading post: Lily King in March

March is over and done with, time for another reading post. In March I decided to read books by Lily King, a contemporary writer who is about three years younger than I am. She grew up in Massachusetts, went to school in North Carolina and New York, and has lived in Maine for many years.

Since I had already read her fourth novel -- Euphoria (2014), which I adored -- I decided that I would read her first, second, and third books, all of which were available from local libraries.

• The Pleasing Hour (1999). King's first book was published the year she turned 36 -- which is kind of old to be a first novelist, now that I think about it. I believe she struggled a lot with this first novel, and it's a little mixed. It's the story of Rosie, who becomes an au pair in Paris at age 18 after a traumatic experience back home. And then things happen with her French family, too. King writes really well, and the characters are appealing and interesting, but I didn't quite believe in Rosie and I didn't get a sense of closure. At the end I had no idea what Rosie would do next, although I knew some things she wouldn't do. Do you always have to know that, at the end of a book? I guess not, but in this case I did want to know. Rosie was still very young and I was worried about her.
  
  
• The English Teacher (2005). This was a hard book to read (and to write, apparently). It's the story of a woman who is very damaged -- you sort of gradually figure out how, and eventually you're given the whole story -- and how she falls apart and then begins to recover. And it's really hard to watch. Lily King is an amazing writer, really great at portraying human beings and how they think and feel and interact. She's particularly good at writing about sexual feelings. But I didn't want to look so closely at this particular person, although the parts that focused on her teenage son were OK. It all works out in the end, there's plenty of closure in this book, but before you get there you have to experience some real agony. So I don't know about this one. I kept making excuses not to read it, and that's never a good sign.
  
  
• Father of the Rain (2010). This was my favorite of the three books, but again we've got a really difficult character to deal with. The main character is Daley, who has just turned 11 when the book begins and is around 45 when it ends, just after Obama is elected (when Lily King would also have been 45). She's OK -- it's her father who's the impossible one. He's an abusive alcoholic, very attractive to women of his age and class (he marries three times), and really horrible to Daley, who for some reason keeps trying to win his love. The book probably would have made more emotional sense if I could have seen what Daley sees in her father, but he just seemed disgusting to me from start to finish. Despite all that, despite knowing that something awful would happen in every chapter. I found the book compelling and kept picking it up again. But I don't know if I'd recommend it.
  

I think I now understand why Euphoria was Lily King's breakout book. She's a fabulous writer -- she was just working with bad material before. She herself must have had a traumatic childhood, probably involving alcohol abuse or perhaps some other kind of addiction or trauma, and she needed to write her way through it. It took three books.

Now I want to read her most recent novel, and her book of short stories, and I also want to see what she writes next. She's 60 now -- I really want to know what her 60-year-old self will write about.

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This month I also read another book from the piles by my bed: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez. I bought this at Target a year or so ago, thinking I would read it to the twins, since it's about a teenager. Neither of them ever picked it from the pile, nor did I, and eventually I realized it wasn't the best choice for them. I read it during our trip to St. Louis and did not enjoy it at all. I could have brought it home and put it in a little free library, but instead I left it for Rocket Boy to deal with.

And I also read another book of poetry. I've been trying to choose poetry collections that have something to do with the author of the month, but it's difficult. In January I read poems by Nick Laird, who's married to Zadie Smith, and in February, failing to find any South African poets in our library, I read a book of poems by Michael Ondaatje, who was born in Sri Lanka and a collection by an African-American poet, Angela Jackson. This month I read The Blue Estuaries by Louise Bogan, because she's from Maine and Lily King is considered a Maine writer (sort of). Hmm. I understood maybe two or three of the poems in the book. Not really my kind of thing at all. Too mannered, too obscure.

I've been struggling with whom to read in April, and I've come to the conclusion that I need a break from serious writing. In April I have to have a colonoscopy, I may start taking Mounjaro, I have lots of other medical appointments, and the kids will need lots of help with school. Also, I need to acquire a new bathroom door and cut up thousands of branches and work on our messy files. 

I need to read someone more fun. 

So I am going to try Mick Herron, the British spy writer who was profiled in the New Yorker a while back. My little sister likes him and he sounds like someone I would like. He's another youngster -- born in 1963, same age as Lily King, three years younger than me. And our library owns most of his books (I've requested the first one). So that's the plan. We'll see how it goes.