Books to drive the groupchat wild. (Summer edition!)
Last summer, Miranda July’s All Fours drove certain groupchats to frenzy. Takes were hot. Hats were made. Some of us almost came to blows about that ending, while others circulated this meme in a general gesture of support. In certain milieus, it seemed like we all had opinions about the unruly yearnings of one fictional, perimenopausal heroine.
Whatever else it did for the culture, All Fours underscored the power of a great groupchat. It showed how wonderful it is, when a tribe finds its perfect material. This summer, there’s a whole new fleet of spicy books to get your crew talking. But which crew?
See below for some predictions, pairing each groupchat to its perfect book.
For the Zillennial Wrecking Crew: Rob Franklin’s Great Black Hope.
New York magazine’s summer book club pick is a buzzy debut. Great Black Hope is a confident, stylish, spin-out set among New York’s hottest club rats. Laced with refreshingly edgy observations about the buppie class and the kids today, this one’s destined to flap the wigs of your fellow Saturday night owls.
For the Serious Book Club: Susan Choi’s Flashlight.
Choi’s propulsive epic is at once a family saga and a geopolitical thriller. This is a big novel, full of ideas and ripe for dissection. Your new book club—I mean the ambitious one, assembled from your late grad school cohort—will probably have a lot to say about it.
For the Current Co-Workers: Kashana Cauley’s The Payback.
Cauley’s latest novel centers the conundrum of work. The author knows her subject well—she went from retail to anti-trust law to television writing before turning to fiction. Following a set of low-wage employees who square off against the (actual) Debt Police, The Payback will titillate if you’ve ever had to work for money.
For the Disgruntled Ex Co-Workers: Sarah Wyn Williams’ Careless People.
This dishy look at the inner-workings of Facebook, written by a former employee, is sure to raise eyebrows and blood pressure about our tech overlords. And maybe even conjure comps to your worst boss. Share and beware this one around the ghost of a water-cooler.
For the Gossipy Writers Group: Charlotte Runcie’s Bring the House Down.
This savvy, smart new novel is a perfect piece of inside baseball. It follows a theatre critic on trial for writing a negative review at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. All the “meta-terror and mischief” on display in these pages should be enough to get the peer practitioners screaming.
For the High School Crew: Linea Maja Ernst’s Waist Deep, translated by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg.
This novel, a hit in Denmark but still hard to find in the States, centers a group of old pals reuniting at a summer beach house. It’s already being lauded as a generational capsule piece for early thirtysomethings, and earning comps to Sally Rooney. In other words? Catnip for the OG groupchat.
For the Other Exhausted Parents: Hannah Zeavin’s Mother Media: Hot and Cool Parenting in the Twentieth Century.
I heard Zeavin describe this book on a recent episode of Anne Helen Peterson’s Culture Study podcast. This media history considers the uneven history of working women, and the evolving technologies that make modern parenting a trial. But it also historicizes ideas around attachment, and gets into the origins of the phrase, “boob tube.” Judging from the intro, this one will hit a chord with everyone in your frantic parents’ group.
For Your Dysfunctional Extended Family: Jess Walter’s So Far Gone.
Walter’s road novel about a grandpa caught in some political and literal cross-hairs care of a son-in-law’s Christian militia(!) is as fun to read as it is (unfortunately) topical. This book captures something about the generational divide striating so many households. Whatever side of the fight your uncle’s on, you can bet he’ll have something to say about this one. Possibly in ALL CAPS.
For Your Eerily Functional Extended Family: Catherine Newman’s Sandwich.
This breezy, down-in-one-gulp of a novel—now out in paperback—follows a charismatic family on one of their annual Cape Cod vacations. Everybody loves each other, and most friction is internal. Yet it’s a joy to read, in that Laurie Colwin way. If you’re one of the rare birds in a nuclear unit that tends not to combustion, let this one start a sweet mutual appreciation thread.
For the FKA All Fours Groupchat: Katie Kitamura’s Audition.
Though they don’t have a formal ton in common—but for a protagonist staring down the big middle, and some thematic DNA about women choosing to parent (or not)—Audition will be sure to keep the trusty group chat going. Because just like All Fours, this novel has unexpected turns, plot points that are open-to-interpretation, and the capacity to hold hot takes. Relish in Kitamura’s cool, strange vision, then fight about its meaning till the leaves change. You’ll need a new hat, but so it goes.
Happy texting!
