3 books to read this month: Big Shadow, Lapvona & The Marigold

More about books you should read, and the authors who wrote them, that were recently featured on the Weird Era podcast, by co-hosts Sruti Islam & Alex Nierenhausen.

Big Shadow by Marta Balcewicz

Big Shadow is a novel that looks at its surroundings with laser sharp focus. Judy is a young girl who very much lives to observe, and aches to experience. She was raised by an overprotective mother, and at the book’s onset, her closest relationships outside of this involve her cousin and his friend — two characters who are devoted to a momentous (and possibly non-existent) event that they dub, the “Big Shadow.” In an effort to escape the claustrophobic albeit genuine care of her family, she loses herself when showered with attention by a summer poetry class professor, Maurice, a man formerly famous from the 1970s New York punk scene. There is an obvious #MeToo element in the book that’s so obvious, I already regret mentioning it. Yes, there are power and gender dynamics at play, but is Judy naive or wistful? She’s smart, that’s for certain. I spoke with Balcewicz about how intimacy can tether us to things (and people) we don’t actually like, Sarah Schulman novels, why young women seek to feel singular, and so much more. (Sruti Islam) 

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

Freshly released in paperback, this absolutely unhinged novel is set over one year in the fictional Lapvona, a mediaeval fiefdom plagued by drought, disease and incessant bandits. You’ll follow a morally questionable cast of characters as they navigate a world that really couldn’t care less about them and their needs. The depravity of the period and setting is on full display here, but fret not! Moshfegh delivers said depravity in the most consumable of ways — especially if you have a taste for cannibalism and pitch dark humour. Our episode with Moshfegh covers a myriad topics, including her stance on mentorships, her recent foray into screenwriting and whether or not anyone is truly “happy.” (Alex Nierenhausen)

The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan

With Toronto’s housing crisis in full swing, Andrew F. Sullivan brings us to the fictional Marigold, a theoretically luxurious tower of high-end condo units in the GTA, that realistically cannot deliver on its promise of opulence. Stanley Marigold knows this, but decides to build the Marigold II anyway, as a means to secure his legacy. Meanwhile, a mysterious and murderous sludge is creeping its way through Toronto’s sewer systems and claiming lives as it does so; it will take this novel’s stacked cast of characters to work together to figure out just what is happening. Don’t let the novel’s slow start put you off — much like a real-life build, construction starts slow but will eventually take you to vertigo-inducing heights. Tune in to this episode to see what Andrew had to say when I asked him why capitalism makes the illusion of choice something desirable. (Alex Nierenhausen)

The Weird Era podcast is available via Apple and Spotify.

This article was originally published in the June 2023 issue of Cult MTL.

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