Reviews of FAW's 2019-2020 Literature Award Winners
The Altruists by Andrew Ridker
The Municipalists by Seth Fried
Both of this years Adult Award winners have humor and offer messages of hope and connection. Because they should be read slowly to absorb the humor, they are perfect books for this time of social distancing. The Adult Awards Committee encourages members to buy and read these gems now.
The Altruists
By Andrew Ridker
Hardcover 320 pages, Viking (March 5, 2019)
Reviewed by Ida Hagman
May, 2020
The Altruists by Andrew Ridker is funny and touching novel structured around a family reunion. It begins, "The Alter family was beset by fire. All autumn there were flare-ups, happenings, the kind of uncoordinated auguries that look ominous only in retrospect." These flare-ups included the son, Ethan, singeing his thumb trying to light a cigarette. A burner on the stove malfunctions, catching the mother's cuff on fire. At a birthday party for the father, a candle falls and ignites a pile of leaves, which the daughter, Maggie, stamps out. In this first, brief paragraph, Ridker introduces the main characters, ignites our curiosity, and sets the poignant tone.
The writing in these stories is impressive, poetically playing with language rhythms, metaphor, and forms, and even with print and fonts. Some of the text is hand-written notes from one character to another, or lists, or recipes; here and there is a drawing. The author never goes for the obvious plot twists and events really move along, so this very literary book is also a page-turner.
After the prologue, the book jumps ahead a few years. The mother has died of breast cancer. Arthur, the father, can no longer pay his mortgage. He believes that his son and daughter have money so he invites them home to St. Louis in hopes they will save the family home. But, the father is so consumed with his own perspective and needs, he is completely out of touch with his son and daughter. All three characters are frozen by the loss of the mother.
This is a book about family dysfunction, selfishness, lack of self-awareness. It features flawed characters who nevertheless are well drawn and quite compelling. The most sympathetic character is Francine, the mother. Maggie thinks, "You could never grieve too long for women like her mother. Eagle-eyed but never critical, intelligent without the need to show it. Francine had selflessly sacrificed career advancement for the preservation of her family — for which she'd served as moderator, referee, and peacekeeping body. She was to Maggie, both a role model and a cautionary tale.
Committee members praised Ridker's lyrical style, his descriptions of St. Louis, and his ideas, and there are so many ideas. What does it mean to live a good life? What are the limits of altruism?
Andrew Ridker grew up in Boston and attended Washington University in St. Louis. He is the editor of Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Guernica, Boston Review, The Believer, St. Louis Magazine, and elsewhere. The Altruists drew high praise from critics. More than one critic complained that it was unfair that someone so young should be so talented.
The Municipalists
By Seth Fried
Paperback 272 pages, Penguin Books (March 19, 2019)
Reviewed by Ida Hagman
May, 2020
Imagine a government agency that would collect data on cities and fund programs to improve city life. Let's say people's commutes are getting longer or that employment is stagnating or that high school test scores continue to drop. This agency would fund programs, monitor results, and give advice to solve these issues. Wouldn't it be great if we had the resources to do that, to nip problems in the bud? Imagine using our resources to improve things, rather that react to emergencies? In his novel The Municipalists, Seth Fried has created just such an agency, The United States Municipal Survey (USMS).
The novel begins in a golden age of urban planning and an era of collective optimism. This idyllic mood is destroyed when the agency is attacked by terrorists, and a cyber attack scrambles the supercomputer that runs the agency. Phones explode and government drones rain from sky. Henry, a mild mannered bureaucrat the narrator, and OWEN, a 3D projection of the agency's supercomputer, set out to find and immobilize the terrorists. These two are an odd couple and a source for rich comedy.
Henry is a loner bureaucrat, a total rule follower, who is mocked behind his back. His deadpan descriptions of his interactions with coworkers are hilarious. Contrary to our expectations, OWEN, the AI holographic projection, is the Oscar to Henry’s Felix. OWEN borders on a sources for chaos, focusing on trifles such as the color of his tie, while Metropolis is in jeopardy. OWEN has created a program to make him drunk, and he enjoys his inebriation, which frustrates and worries Henry.
Henry and OWEN take off to find the mastermind behind the terrorist attack and also to find Sarah Laury, the daughter of the mayor of Metropolis. Manic action follows.
Seth Fried is the author of The Municipalists, and the acclaimed short story collection The Great Frustration. He is a recurring contributor to The New Yorker's "Shouts and Murmurs" and NPR‘s "Selected Shorts," and his stories have appeared in Tin House, One Story, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Kenyon Review, Vice, and elsewhere. He is also the winner of two Pushcart Prizes.
