Christmas came early this year. In early December,
Libby informed me that I was head of the queue, for not one, but two new
releases.
Nick Hornby’s Just Like You tells the story
of an unlikely love affair between Lucy, a middle-aged single mum, and Joseph,
a twentysomething aspiring DJ. It’s 2016, and the chatter is all Brexit.
Everyone in her circle wants to stay with the EU. Everyone in his is looking
for a way out: “Life hadn’t been fizzy for a while. It had been hard.” As
the story unfolds, their resistance to the inevitable makes the ending even
more rewarding. And even though life doesn’t feel bubbly these days, Hornby’s
witty banter may leave you feeling a little lighter.
A fan of Sue Miller since The Good Mother,
I eagerly picked up (well, actually clicked on) her 2020 release, Monogamy.
At first, Annie and Graham seem like an annoyingly cute couple straight out of
a Nancy Meyers film. She's a locally known photographer. He owns a bookstore.
However, they don’t remain picture-perfect for long. After Graham dies, Annie
learns that he was having an affair. As we are all learning something about
letting go this year, Miller gives us a multilayered approach to grief and all
its manifestations. There's not one "right way" to be sad.
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