Red at
the BoneGoing Dutch“LISTEN.” JACQUELINE
Woodson repeats
the command across
several perspectives
in her sublime new
novel, examining the
fractures within
an African-American
family. As it begins,
16-year-old Melody
is half the age of her
mother, Iris, who
abandoned her after
high school to reclaim
her freedom. In slim
chapters, Woodson
flashes back in time
to pivotal moments in
these women’s lives,
as well as Melody’s
father’s and grand-
parents’; realities of
race, gender, and
class shape who they
become. Woodson
covers nearly a cen-
tury, from the 1921
Tulsa race massacre
to 9/11. Her grasp
of history’s weight on
individuals—and
definitive feel for bor-
ough life, past and
present—is, as in her
last novel, Another
Brooklyn, emotionally
transfixing. A– —DCTHIS CYNICAL DEBUT
casts a scintillating
eye on the queer
urban millennial male.
Broke doctoral stu-
dent Richard Turner
pines for connection,
stuck as he is with
a detestable room-
mate and few close
friends. Luckily, the
rom-com gods are
looking down on him.
He goes on an app-
facilitated date with
lawyer Blake, which
ends poorly. Weeks
pass before they
bump into each other
again, when attrac-
tion sparks; in the
interim, Richard had
developed a confus-
ingly intimate dynamic
with his colleague
Anne. (A woman!) And
so, addicted to this
attention—perhaps,
love—Richard tries to
sustain the romantic
triangle. In this ten-
sion, Dutch plays on
a delirious high, dart-
ing around New York,
trying to keep up with
its hero’s impossible
scheme. B+ —DCAUTHOR
Jacqueline Woodson
PAGES
208AUTHOR
James Gregor
PAGES
352FictionRevıewshadn’t tweeted at me later
that evening.” The student
implied that Holt, 42,
was being discriminated
against; after going back
and forth and digging
deeper, the author discov-
ered that parents had
complained about her fea-
turing pride flags on social
media. (Holt’s book at
the time, Rhyme Schemer,
has no LGBTQ content.)
Holt heard from other
writers in response to the
essay. “Schools know
that if they’re going to unin-
vite an author...a ban gets
more attention,” she says.
“So we’re getting this terri-
bly gaslight-y thing. It’s
so insidious. It makes you
feel a little crazy, until
you start talking to other
people who are like, ‘Yeah,
that happened to me,
too.’ ” One such author,
Phil Bildner, 51, who taught
middle school for 11 years,
was banned from a Texas
district in 2016 for merely
discussing a book (not his
own) that included a
transgender character.
Taylor Norman, Holt’s
editor at Chronicle Books,
admits the problem is
“not inconsistent” for her
authors. MCPG declined an
interview, but a statement
by its executive director
of publicity, Molly Ellis,
conveyed strong support
for the company’s LGBTQ
voices, noting they “too
often” have had “negative
experiences on the road
based on their sexual or
gender identity, or related
themes in their books.”
All this gatekeeping, and
still it’s kids who ultimately
suffer. “We can save lives,”
Bildner says. “I didn’t come
out until I was 20. These
books could’ve changed
the trajectory of my life.”
Adds Petro-Roy: “These
aren’t ‘issues’ at all. It’s just
who these kids are.”