The Arrangement (by Sarah Dunn)

A suburban satire that straddles the line between litfic and chicklit; not sure which side I would place this on. Lucy and Owen, our main characters, decide to try having an open marriage for six months. Complications ensue.

The part of this that really didn't work for me is the ending. (Spoilers ahead.) There are hints throughout that The Arrangement will blow up in their faces and lead to tragic consequences. And it kind of does. Then we immediately flash forward by 15 months and the reset button has been totally hit on all the consequences, and now everything's fine again. Stakes completely undermined. It soured me on the entire rest of the book.  Also I did not enjoy the little epigraphs that began each chapter. On the nose and added nothing.

As a suburban satire it works, and is at times amusingly recognizeable, but doesn't hold a candle to Maria Semple's recent novel. Still, it's an entertaining and naughty novel that goes down easy. So to speak.

The Nix (by Nathan Hill)

I read this for (what else) the Tournament of Books, and I read it alongside Moonglow.

A lot of the ToB judges and commentators this year seem to have strongly preferred The Nix, but it was an interesting experience for me. Moonglow, despite being almost entirely fictional, is presented with this sheen of verisimilitude that, for me, The Nix lacks.  The ending went a ways towards mitigating this issue, but still -- Moonglow felt true for me; The Nix did not.

That's not to say it was anything less than a pleasure to read. It was deeply enjoyable, sometimes going off on tangents with side characters, most of whom are delightful. (I don't know that I needed Allan Ginsberg's point of view on the Chicago riots, but Pwnage's story is great.)  There's a chapter between Samuel, a professor, and his cheating student, presented in the form of logical fallacies, that is masterful. (And rings so completely true. We've all taught Laura Pottsdam at one point or another.)  There's a Choose Your Own Adventure chapter where the end of each chapter is only one choice. And so forth.

Overall, it's experimental in some ways, an impressive achievement, and very fun to read. I won't be mad to see it advance further in the tournament, and to discuss it more in the comments. But for me in terms of emotional resonance and a sense of authenticity, it falls a bit short.

Moonglow (by Michael Chabon)

The last Chabon book I tried to read was Telegraph Avenue, and I thought the writing was so horrible that I got barely half a chapter into it.  I am very curious to dig it up and see why I hated it so much, given my enjoyment of Moonglow.  Maybe it's a return to Kavalier and Clay form, or maybe Telegraph Avenue caught me on a bad day.

At any rate, this is an account of the life of Chabon's paternal grandfather, and the history he imparted to his grandson in the final days of his life.  Chabon jumps around in time to cover his grandmother's and mother's history as well. And of course, in all the interweaving stories, all the revelations of family secrets, the moon serves as a central theme.  It's assured, well-paced, wonderfully written, funny at times, authentic -- just a classic literary fiction delight.