5 must-read books featuring distinct voices
All of the themes this year have been inspired, but this one lent itself exceptionally well to a book list.
Voice—of both the author and the characters they create—is so essential in writing. It must come through the page to bring the words to life. Readers remember the voices that stuck with us from childhood (for me, that’s Scout Finch, Anne Shirley, and Claudia Kishi, among others).
My selections this month represent a variety of distinct voices. While they’re unique, they each have something incredibly insightful to say about the human condition.
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THE WIFE by Meg Wolitzer (FICTION)
“When the wife is the voice behind the voice”
Meg Wolitzer explores the age-old—if heteronormative—adage “behind every great man, there’s a great woman.” The novel centers around the marriage of Joan and her husband Joe, a renowned author on the verge of winning a prestigious literary award as the culmination of his storied career. The occasion forces them to confront secrets they’ve spent decades harboring.
CULTURAL THEMES: Women, Feminism, Masculinity, Marriage
READ SPEED: Fast
FRIDAY BLACK by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (STORIES)
“Voicing scary truths about society”
Both headlong and insanely imaginative, this collection of short stories tackles timely topics and the problems plaguing society. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Ray Bradbury as Adjei-Brenyah weaves a perfectly plausible vision of the future that is bleak but somehow hopeful.
CULTURAL THEMES: Race, Class, Dystopia, Ethics
READ SPEED: Fast
THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (NON-FICTION)
repeat pick!
“A voice advocating for the voiceless”
Excerpt from full review on @themanicuredshelf, 2020: Villavicencio empathetically listens to and spotlights the stories of the people who have been—and unfortunately are always—some of the most impacted and vulnerable to flaws in American society and policy. THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS amplifies how atrociously commonplace these hardships and exploitations are in America.
CULTURAL THEMES: Race, Politics, Immigration, Omniculturalism, Politics, American Decline
WANT by Lynn Steger Strong (FICTION)
“A woman at war with the voice in her head”
Want takes us inside the mind and rich emotional world of protagonist Elizabeth. As much as she loves her frazzled, routine yet complicated life, Elizabeth struggles with meeting her own needs, wants, desires. A meditation on the general struggle of making your voice heard in a chaotic and imperfect world.
CULTURAL THEMES: Motherhood, Class, Sexual Assault
READ SPEED: Slow
TW: Sexual Assault
THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo (NON-FICTION)
“The voices of real-life women”
An enthralling and brutally honest look inside the complicated lives, and even more complex minds, of THREE WOMEN as they search for the strength to honor their own needs in a world that tells them they don’t matter.
CULTURAL THEMES: Misogyny, Patriarchy, Women, Mental Health
READ SPEED: Slow
TW: Sexual Assault
Megan Collins is a Cultural Insights Analyst & Founder of @themanicuredshelf and a regular contributor to the M.T. Deco Blog