Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford

It is spring in 2006.  Evelyn Beegan is 26 and is treading the same waters that most recent college grads have to brave: the first real job.  Evelyn is the newly minted director of membership for People Like Us, a new social networking site.  Think Facebook for the society set complete with invite-only membership.  As a teen, Evelyn attended Sheffield Academy- an exclusive eastern boarding school.  Now, we find our main character returned to her alma mater for the annual Sheffield-Enfield lacrosse match in order to do a little networking.  The book begins with Evelyn’s obsession to sign up all of the “right” people for the website but before we know it, she is desperately attempting to sprint to the top of New York City’s social hierarchy. 

Several reviews have likened Clifford’s Everybody Rise to an Edith Wharton novel set in the 21^st century.  This is an apt description, but Evelyn’s evolution throughout the book seems a much more positive one than any of Wharton’s female characters.  Evelyn must learn how to be a self-sufficient adult in a world outside that which her parents have always wanted her to find.  And more than that, to find a purpose in life.

Everybody Rise is available August 18^th.  Check out a copy now.

Bark by Lorrie Moore

In one of the eight short stories that make up the collection Bark, a woman comes to realize that, “Living did not mean one joy piled upon another. It was merely the hope for less pain…” Here, in one thought, is the theme of this collection by Lorrie Moore. Middle-aged men and women separate, divorce and try (without much success) to connect with new partners. Career choices and financial decisions have turned out to be mistakes. Children shock and disappoint. Illness looms in the future. Anxiety caused by financial collapse and a distant war hangs over society.  But this book is not as grim as it sounds. The characters in these stories are stoic. And, because Moore is an acclaimed wordsmith with a mischievous sense of humor, they deal with their problems by joking and wisecracking and punning. Moore also creates improbable scenarios that are gently humorous. A woman accidentally cooks a pan of chicken on the CLEAN setting of her oven but takes it to the party anyway. After a motorcycle gang realizes it is terrorizing the wrong outdoor wedding, they apologize and meekly drive away. The stories in Bark are about early 21^st century American life. They are sad, ironic and quirky, just like real life. 

Check out Bark by Lorrie Moore @ the library!