Day by Michael Cunningham

 Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024--San Antonio

Day by Michael Cunningham was named a best book of 2023 by NPR.  It centers around an extended family in Brooklyn.  Dan and Isabel are the parents of Nathan (10) and Violet (5).  They own an apartment that has an upstairs loft apartment which they rent to Isabel's brother Robbie.  Nearby lives Garth (Dan's brother), Chess (a lesbian) and their co-parented infant son Odin.  The adults are all in their 30s and are not satisfied with their lives.  Isabel has a very good job, but it is with a magazine which means there is a real possibility of the job disappearing; budget cuts and layoffs are already occurring.  Dan wanted to be a musician, but didn't make a success of it and finally offered to be a stay-at-home dad taking care of the children, doing the housework, and cooking the meals.  Robbie was accepted to three medical schools, but passed on those to remain in NYC as an elementary school history teacher; he is beginning to burn out in his job, plus, as a gay man, he has been unsuccessful at establishing a long-term relationship.  Garth is an unsuccessful artist and an undependable co-parent which Chess resents.  In addition, he wants them to be like a family while Chess would prefer that he not be in their life at all; all along, she just wanted him as a sperm donor.  The book covers 3 days (all Apr. 5) in 3 successive years--2019, 2020, and 2021--just before the pandemic hit, at the height of the fear and the restrictions of the pandemic, and as life started to return to more normal.  There's no real plot.  We get slices of life among these people that allow us to learn who they are, what they are like, what problems they have, etc.  Robbie is the most likable.  His family group has greatly depended on him being the glue that keeps things okay among them, but he has been asked to move out because the daughter and son need to have separate rooms due to their ages now.  His relationship with them seems to be the key to keeping the "family" stable and is about all he has that is important in his life. Everything seems to be threatened by his impending move.  There are complications, tragedies, stresses, etc., as the story progresses from year-to-year.  By the end, I felt that I knew these people well, and I "suffered" as I became aware of what had happened/was happening.  There were times when the dialogue didn't seem to fit for the vocabulary and maturity of a 5-8 year-old girl which bothered me.  Mostly for that reason, I gave the book only 4 stars out of 5 instead of more.