Karen Joy Fowler (photo credit Brett Hall Jones) is at Ragdale for a multi-author event, much like the one Gail Tsukiyama participated in last year. And like Tsukiyama, she's taking advantage of her central Chicago location to do a mini-midwestern tour. (The public event, by the way, is Friday, September 27 and also features such literary stars as Ruth Ozeki and Lauren Groff). You can get more info on their website.

Barbara Kingsolver in The New York Times Book Review notes that "The last writers to be unscathed by spoilers were probably the Victorians, who pounded out the likes of Great Expectations in weekly, serialized installments. So she basically says, "I shouldn't tell you but I have to." Her raves notes that the novel can be a bit madcap, but in the end, proclaims "this is a story of Everyfamily in which loss engraves relationships, truth is a soulful stalker and coming-of-age means facing down the mirror, recognizing the shape-shifting notion of self."
Here's Chris Barton in the Los Angeles Times:
"Rosemary Cooke's personal life has put the broken in 'broken family.' Her sister Fern disappeared when she was five, and her brother Lowell ran away by the time she was 11. She herself has abandoned Bloomington, Indiana for a college life at UC Davis where she has left her past behind. Relations with her parents are strained. Nobody knows her terrible secret. Nobody's going to call her names now. Then her brother fleetingly shows up, on the run from the law. Will this exposure destroy her life once again, or will it be the impetus to slowly put her life back together?"
To the outside world, they are just another family of science freaks. Is it any different from Geek Love, about the parents who give their kids drugs to make them freak show worthy? It reminded me of the rash of books about conjoined twins. In some strange way, these books all try to contemplate normality. I thought of two other recent novels, Ape House, by Sara Gruen, which I read, and The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, by Benjamin Hale, which I did not, though I did go to a meet-the-author dinner that was arranged to get us to read the book. And then there's Peter Høeg's 1996 novel, The Woman and the Ape.
In the end, of course, Karen Joy Fowler's uses this unique setup to tell a story about ourselves, and not necessarily about chimpanzees. But isn't this what good literature does? The story must remain the same, as truth doesn't change, but we need to dress it up in different clothing to make it fresh. In Fern's case, she liked a tartan skirt with a safety pin clasp.
And maybe it's the animal thing. I don't think Sara Gruen's Ape House followed up Water for Elephants as well as, say, The Mermaid Chair followed up The Secret Life of Bees. Hey, I'm not writing or publishing novels, so for me, it's more sport than anything.
And when did I start equating bestsellerdom with literary achievement? Shame on me! I have friends like Michael in Boston who has been a huge fan of Karen Joy Fowler since her first novel, Sarah Canary. And Jane Hamilton is a big fan too, which is why she stepped outside her comfort zone to put together this mini-midwest Fowler tour. I wound up enjoying We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves as well, as have several Friends of Boswell who've stopped by.
So in the end, all I can do is encourage you to come to our event with the charming Karen Joy Fowler. It's next Monday, September 23, 7 pm.
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