"Lorna Mott Comes Home," by Diane Johnson

Diane Johnson is on my mental list of authors whose new novels I always seek out and read. I feel especially connected to them because they mostly take place in San Francisco, where I have lived (OK, now a few minutes north across the Golden Gate Bridge) and have worked for decades. She doesn’t just nominally set her books there; she immerses readers in details related to the city: streets, stores, weather, styles, trends, social distinctions, prices, and much more. She has also set some of her novels (the famous “Le Mariage” and “Le Divorce”) in France. She herself has lived in both San Francisco and Paris, and still divides her time between the two. Some of her plots seem to be semi-autobiographical, but of course we know we shouldn’t make assumptions about this. I just finished Johnson’s latest novel, “Lorna Mott Comes Home” (Knopf, 2021), which is set in both San Francisco and a small town in France. The title character, Lorna, comes from San Francisco but moved to France 18 years before the beginning of this novel, in order to marry and live with her charming second husband, a French man named Armand. But as the book begins, she leaves Armand (in a quite amicable split-up) because of his infidelity, and moves back to San Francisco. She is happy to be near her three adult children and their own families. But she finds living back in the U.S, especially in super-expensive San Francisco, harder than she remembered. She has money, but not a lot, and her former career as an art historian no longer brings her many speaking invitations and such. Her children each have problems of various sorts, and she wants to help them, but is not able to help them financially. Her first ex-husband is now married to a wealthy woman who has gained her fortune in the tech world (such a big part of the current San Francisco Bay Area’s wealth); the couple’s financial giving to his children with Lorna is erratic, and the cause of jealousy at times. The characters in this novel are realistic in that they are all very “human,” as we say about people who are a mixture of admirable and not-so-admirable, loving but complaining, supportive but jealous, predictable and unpredictable. In other words, although there is a strong note of comedy in this novel as in all of Johnson’s novels, the characters and situations are realistic and mostly believable, if unusual in some cases. My overall feeling about this novel is that I enjoyed it, as I knew I would, and I admire Johnson’s knowledge of human nature as well as her ability to create detailed and fascinating settings. She is clearly a literary writer but with a strong touch of not taking herself or her characters TOO seriously. I have to say, if I am being honest, that although I am glad I read this novel – and how could I NOT; as I said, she is on “the list” of authors I always read – I was a tiny bit disappointed in the novel. I can’t quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it is a little too “flip” at times? But overall, I can never regret reading one of Diane Johnson’s novels, with her unique blend of family drama, attractive settings, believable characters, comedy, and social commentary.

"Malibu Rising," by Taylor Jenkins Reid

As I have noted before, for various reasons I don’t post on this blog about every book I read. But I occasionally note some not particularly demanding but enjoyable books I have read (e.g., on 2/20/21). Today I write about a novel that I mostly enjoyed, and of which I mostly admired the craftwomanship involved. This book, like others I have read and sometimes written about here, exists somewhere between “literary” fiction and popular/bestseller fiction. Such novels are unlikely to be on “best books” lists in the New York Times or in literary magazines, but they are solidly written and they entertain and even move readers. “Malibu Rising” (Ballantine, 2021), is by Taylor Jenkins Reid, best known for her very popular previous novel “Daisy Jones and The Six,” which I also read and enjoyed (but did not post about here). As indicated in the title, the current novel takes place in Malibu, near Los Angeles; it involves a three-generation family that suffers and struggles but also, individually and together, becomes very successful and even famous. Fame and money, as we know, do not always bring happiness, especially if characters’ difficult childhoods undermine their seemingly ideal adulthoods. The main thread throughout, and the part I liked best about the novel, is the fierce family ties among four siblings, despite many obstacles and issues along the way. As with “Daisy Jones,” I started reading this novel with some resistance, but was drawn into the story. So no, it is not particularly demanding, but it provides an intriguing and even poignant world to share with the characters for a few hours. And that is a real and laudable accomplishment. (In case this post sounds condescending, I really don't mean it that way. I could not write such a novel, or any novel, myself. And I am grateful for every book that gives me and others pleasure.)