So far I’ve read only the first chapter of Steve Toltz’s 544-page first novel, A Fraction of the Whole, but when I get around to unpacking my future-reading pile, the book will be waiting at the top of the box. Toltz’s narrator begins his story from prison, the morning after a rousing, mattress-burning riot. “It’s always something here,” he says. . . .
Should those of us who write nonfiction or twist life into fiction invade others’ privacy only after they’re dead?
I admit it: I started into Mary Swan’s The Boys in the Trees more out of curiosity than interest. The story of a brutal crime that shocks a 19th-century community and destroys a family, etc., etc. — the description didn’t grab me. But it seemed so unusual that a novel would bear enthusiastic blurbs from both the sharp-witted, gimlet-eyed Hilary . . .
The Smart Set is a weekly feature, compiled and posted by Lauren Cerand, that usually appears Mondays at 12:30 pm and highlights the best of the week to come. Special favor is given to New York’s independent booksellers and venues, and low-cost and free events. Please send details to Ms. Cerand at lauren [at] maudnewton.com by the Thursday prior to . . .
Emma Garman talks with Philippe Grimbert, whose wildly popular novel implies that unspoken trauma is heritable.