Marrying the Ketchups

I have seen Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close all over the place – all sorts of lists and book posts – so I decided to give it a read. The Sullivan family runs a restaurant in a Chicago suburb. It has a hold on all of them in different ways, and ultimately brings them all back together over and over again. This family drama is funny and thoughtful and did a good job capturing the complications of family. There wasn’t anything spectacular about this one for me – it landed at three stars.

Severance

On my finish-my-BOTM-backlist quest, I finally read Severance by Ling Ma. I’ve also been on a pandemic-fiction mission (albeit accidental) since 2020. Candace is the character we follow as a new fever swipes the world. She is so hyper-focused on her career, it takes a long time before she recognizes what is happening around her. A scene where she’s still going to the office and climbing tons of stairs because the elevators are out really stuck in my mind. Eventually, Candace joins another group of survivors and heads from New York to a complex in Chicago. The book is well-written and full of images that will stick with me for a while. I gave this book four stars and would recommend it! There are a few things that make it different from some other pandemic novels, but it wasn’t something totally new, either.

Atomic Love

Atomic Love by Jennie Fields was a mix of historical fiction, romance, and mystery – there are spies and glamorous dinners in 1950s Chicago. This was a great little escape that I read in only a few sittings – it was great! Every so often I struggled with the writing and sentences or paragraphs felt a little cringy, but those instances popped up on occasion and weren’t too overwhelming.

Rosalind was the only woman who worked on The Manhattan Project – and she harbors major regrets about all of the people who died at her hands. She is now 30 and living in Chicago, working at a jewelry counter when two significant things happen – her ex, who also worked the project with her then left her abruptly – gets back in touch, and she realizes she is being followed. The story unfolds from there. The balance of the romance and mystery was perfect for me.

The Great Believers

Over the weekend I read The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. This book was recommended and loaned to me by a lovely human in a book group I am part of. I have had it for way too long, and wanted to get through it so that whenever my book group is free to meet again I can return it!

This novel jumps between 1980s Chicago and 2015 Paris. The 1980s Chicago is focused on the AIDS epidemic and the significantly tragic impact it had on the LGBTQ community. Fiona’s brother and all of of his friends are slowly dying. Flash forward to 2015, and Fiona is in Paris trying to track down her daughter who she has not spoken to in many years.

This book started slow, but once it picked up, it became difficult for me to put down! The book is truly heartbreaking, but also allows you to glimpse into these eras (1920s Paris, 1980s Chicago, 2015 Paris)  that are all connected through Fiona’s family. This book is also a National Book Award Finalist and received a Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, which is certainly well-deserved.