BEST* 2024 BOOKS : REVIEWS [1]

 

' GOOD MATERIAL.' By Dolly Alderton : In Alderton's brisk, witty novel, a 35-year-old struggling comedian in London tries to make sense of a recent breakup at the same moment when the majority of his friends seem to be pairing off for life.

Cue snappy dialogue, awkward first dates and a memorable quest for a new home; toss cliched gender roles, the traditional marriage plot and a ho-hum happily ever after.

Not only does Alderton cement herself as a latter-day Nora Ephron, she also puts her own mark on the classic comedy form.

There are no second fiddles in '' Good Material '' ; every character sings. And there is a deeper message, revealed in a surprise twist, having to do with independence, adventure and charting your own course.

' JAMES ' By Percival Everett

It takes a lot of ambition, skill and vision to reinvent one of the most iconic books in American letters, but Everett demonstrates that he has those virtues in droves in '' James.''

The novel is a radical reworking of Mark Twain's '' Huckleberry Finn,'' telling the story not from Huck's perspective, but from the point of view of the enslaved man who accompanies Huck down the Mississippi River :

Jim [ or, as he clarifies, James ]. From James's eyes, we see he is no more sidekick but rather a thinker and a writer who is code-switching as illiterate and fighting desperately for freedom.

Everett's novel is a literary hat trick - a book that highlights the horrors in American history and complicates an American classic, all while also emerging as a work of exquisite originality in its own right.

The Publishing continues towards '' The 10 best books of 2024.''

The World Students Society thanks most profoundly The New York Times Books Staff.