We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge

A stunning debut novel, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s We Love You, Charlie Freeman, is a gripping tale of loneliness and betrayal.  The novel opens in 1990, as witnessed from the point of view of 14 year-old Charlotte Freeman.  The Freemans, Charlotte’s father, mother, and nine year-old sister, have been selected to take part in an important research study at the reclusive Toneybee Institute.  The family, specifically Charlotte’s ambitious mother Laurel, are fluent users of sign language, though they are neither deaf, nor mute. In turns crushingly earnest and insouciant, Charlotte is the “experiment’s” first skeptic. The research goals are suspiciously vague, and it soon becomes apparent (if only to the reader) that the study has far more psychological aspects than linguistic ones. The general idea is that the family “adopt” a young chimpanzee named Charlie.  Charlie had been abandoned as an infant by his adolescent, cage-reared mother, and it is the belief of the research team that, if he becomes fully integrated into a family setting, it may lead to ground-breaking data with regards to language acquisition and interspecies communication. The Freemans believe that their unique gift with sign language secured them this prized spot on the Toneybee team, but all is not as it seems. What none of the family can predict, as we learn as Greenidge gives each member their own narrative voice, is the toll the experiment will extract from all concerned.  Startling secrets, both within the family, and the institution itself, will keep you turning pages far past your bedtime!

-Jennifer Wilson

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

After a recent dry spell of disappointing novels, I happened upon Jennifer Egan’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad while trolling Overdrive for available downloads. During my recent spate of audio book borrowing,  I’ve noticed that unless the pacing and writing is beautifully crafted, I find my mind wandering to other things during my walks and drives as the book plays like so much white noise in the background. This is patently not the case for the audio version of Egan’s novel.  Written almost as a series of vignettes of a large cast of characters, A Visit from the Goon Squad is hard to put down and easy to pick up. Written with a wit so sharp a reader might hurt themselves, it held my attention from the introduction of its first character, Sasha, the former assistant of music executive Benny Salazar. Sasha is a kleptomaniac with a wry sense of humor and a hopeful, but realistic outlook. During her stint as the book’s protagonist, she reflects on her attempts at recovery, her relationship with Benny, and the pleasure she takes stealing; screw drivers, a child’s scarf, a note found in a lover’s wallet, bath salts, et cetera. The novel’s point of view then gracefully shifts to Benny himself, like a relay racer handing off a baton, and the story takes up, not from where Sasha left off, but before, during a time when she was still employed by the aging, desperate Benny Salazar.  Benny, for his part, laments his divorce and his apparent loss of libido during the day-in-the-life-of snapshot of his life that is chapter two.  The novel next picks up, over 30 years earlier with the tale of Benny’s high school friend in 1979. Here we are treated to a glimpse of the emerging Punk scene in San Francisco, and are also introduced to Benny’s future music industry mentor, Lou, as seen through the eyes of seventeen year old Rhea. The novel then journeys back five years earlier to an African safari and the point of view of Lou’s then lover and nanny of his children during a ten-day African safari.  The novel continues to introduce several other characters all somehow connected to Benny and/or Sasha as it winds back and forth through time.  Each of these segments or chapters could easily stand alone as a short story, as each is vivid and captivating in its own right.  Each and every person is written with care and insight, and as a fan of character-driven stories, I couldn’t be more pleased with their development. If you’re looking for a well-written book with a thoughtful and intimate take on human frailty and redemption, A Visit from the Goon Squad is available for checkout at the Delphi Public Library in hardback, audio, and EBOOK format.

-Jennifer Wilson