The Maris Review, vol 6

In which I try to be reasonable but end up getting pretty damn mad

What I read this week

THE COIN by Yasmin Zahar

The Woman Unravelling is one of my favorite micro-genres, and The Coin is an ugly and beautiful addition. The unnamed narrator is a wealthy young woman in New York City who refers to herself as a “dirty Arab” and has a terrible case of mysophobia —she channels Lady McBeth with the most labor intensive skincare regimen ever. I’m reminded very much of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, with tones of After Leaving Mr. McKenzie and After Claude, books that detail the loneliness and narcissism of mental illness, but also the structural reasons (misogyny, for starters) why such angst is the only reasonable response.

HOUSEMATES by Emma Copley Eisenberg

I need hope right now, hope that art can make the world better and hope that human connection can still heal. Maybe you do too. If so, this wonderful road novel about two young, queer Philadelphians who travel around the state of Pennsylvania is for you. Housemates beautifully captures the special intimacy in collaborating with another person to make art, a particular kind of joy that reminds me of a particular favorite novel: The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker. I loved being along for the ride with Leah and Bernie, and seeing the world through their eyes.

Fine, let’s discuss that terrible NYT Opinion piece to which I won’t link

Let’s discuss antisemitism in publishing (again). I’m in a unique position where, after many years of freelancing for a variety of publications, I’m mostly just writing a column for beloved Lit Hub and sending out my newsletter. So I don’t have to face many professional consequences for speaking out against the war in Gaza and the murders of thousands of innocent people.

Yesterday the New York Times ran an op-ed that I won’t link to, in which the writer calls out Lit Hub for “a near-daily torrent of agitprop invective” against the state of Israel.

I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with Lit Hub and all of the ways that Lit Hub has covered the war, celebrating Palestinian writers and journalists and poets all while doing excellent original reporting. Strange for a Jewish writer to go the nation’s most influential paper with a platform eons larger than smaller publications and talk about the chilling effect in publishing for Jews while denouncing the actions of Lit Hub and also the Guernica staff (all of whom were volunteers).

I don’t deny that things are Not So Great For the Jews now. The world is watching devastating video after devastating video of the destruction and horror that the IDF is inflicting on the Palestinian people and their institutions, so often with glee. We watched with horror as Jews were attacked on October 7, and we watched the state of Israel take that tragedy and compound it astronomically. Being Jewish for sure feels weird now, especially in a world that equates Judaism with Zionism, as if we all agree that the only response to the murders of Jewish people is many, many more murders. We don’t.

I find a lot of solace in knowing I’m not alone among Jews who denounce this war, that Jewish writers are speaking out, that organizations like Jewish Voices For Peace exist. I’m also terrified of people like Jewish billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, who seem to think that the best way to deal with our fear of antisemitism is to actually go out and vote for Donald Fucking Trump. These kinds of solutions will only add to our problems, even as we watch Gaza burn. Sickening.

Do we need an interlude? Probably yes.

FSG revealed the cover for the new Sally Rooney novel, and I am so ready.

This meme comes from Doubleday publicist extraordinaire Michael Goldsmith. It really sums up all of the feelings.

New releases, 5/28/24

HOUSEMATES by Emma Copley Eisenberg

See up top!

THE WINNER by Teddy Wayne

No one writes a creep like Teddy Wayne does. He makes white cis men interesting again! Our friend Jami predicts that The Winner is going to be this summer’s The Guest…

THE SAFEKEEP by Yael Van Der Wouden

I met the author at a press lunch and decided we should be best friends, so I should really read the book! I’m trying not to read too much about it in advance so I can stay spoiler free, but I’m ready for the intrigue. Also, the book cover, designed by Grace Han, is perfect: simple yet entirely evocative.

CUNNING FOLK: Life in the Era of Practical Magic by Tabitha Stanmore

THE EDITOR: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. Franklin

Always here for the biography of a publishing legend. Another Life by Michael Korda is one of the reasons why I wanted to work in books in the first place.

TRIUMPH OF THE YUPPIES: America, the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation by Tom McGrath

Here’s what I wrote about it last week.

Yep, it’s a micro-history of the yuppy, a kind of young urban professional who existed approximately from 1980 to 1987. The yuppy is a high-achieving who loves gourmet food and fancy gyms and designer briefcases and interior design. For the yuppy, their consumption is their identity. These are all criticisms, but as a kid growing up in a suburb of New York City I absolutely aspired to be one of them, flipping through Sharper Image catalogs and watching Baby Boom on repeat. McGrath makes fun of yuppies in just the right way, preferring to be harsher on the people in the Reagan administration who enabled their rise while allowing the rest of the country to fall.

And now a little treat for paying subscribers