Literary Fiction | Book Chatter

The Many
By Wyl Menmuir
Salt, 2016, 160pp.

The Short of It:

Mysterious. Deep. A lot to chew on.

The Rest of It:

On the surface, his move to the isolated village on the coast makes perfect sense. But the experience is an increasingly unsettling one for Timothy Bucchanan. A dead man no one will discuss. Wasted fish hauled from a contaminated sea. The dream of faceless men. Questions that lead to further questions. What truth are the villagers withholding? ~ the publisher

Grief, loss, societal and environmental collapse. It’s all here in this short book, but what a punch it packs. Tim is suffering a great loss. He heads to an isolated coastal village to begin fresh. The house he settles on, has been abandoned for years; once belonging to a man whom no one speaks of. Why is this man’s name taboo? Whenever Tim tries to find out, he’s shut down and sometimes in a violent way. Harm to his person as well as the house he just bought.

He wants very much to make a home for his wife, but he doesn’t feel comfortable bringing her there without completely understanding what he’s dealing with. He has nightmares. The fishing boat he finds work on detracts from the horrible visions in his head but once he’s back on land, he plummets once again into a very dark place.

This story that can be interpreted in many different ways. I’m sure Menmuir knew which direction he wanted to go with it, but I refrain from sharing what I believe as it could be a spoiler for anyone wanting to pick up this obscure novel.

Did I enjoy it? It’s not a book to enjoy. It took a little time to get a feel for the writing but it’s very atmospheric and welling with meaning. It was shortlisted for a Man Booker. You know the type of novels that make that list. This is that. I found it to be quietly disturbing and while reading it, it haunted my thoughts and still does.

My book club discusses it in March. It’s no longer in print, which makes it difficult to find a copy but I managed to snag the ebook from the library.

Recommend.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

More Than Enough

More Than Enough
By Anna Quindlen
Random House, February 24, 2026, 256pp.

The Short of It:

Wholesome and sweet but with depth.

The Rest of It:

High school English teacher Polly Goodman tells her book club everything. The women are her closest friends, the ones who know about her students, her strained relationship with her mother, and her painful struggle with IVF.

When they give her an ancestry test kit as a joke, Polly expects nothing from it. Instead, the results link her to a stranger. Certain it must be a mistake, she tries to move on, but curiosity pulls her into her family’s past and toward a truth she never expected.

A well meaning gift, but what it uncovers for Polly is a yearning to know her true origins. Surprising and slightly alarming since she never questioned this before. Honestly, had no reason to. With her struggles to start a family though, her thoughts are centered on family and what it means so naturally when the results come back with a big question mark, she’s forced to look into it.

Polly is surrounded by a very supportive group of ladies. But they are also cautiously guarded over these test results. Are they accurate? Do they need to be repeated? Polly doesn’t know but in her heart she feels there is some truth so what the results say and isn’t it important to know when trying to start a family of her own?

There are some tender moments as Polly navigates this new landscape. In addition to infertility she is dealing with her father’s descent into dementia; a very dark place where loving memories surface one day, only to be forgotten that she exists the next. Painful.

I found this novel to be sweet in the telling but it lacks plot. If you are a plot driven reader, you might find it a little too safe but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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