Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include two titles for Black HIstory Month, one a memoir of Trayvon Martin, the other a history of the Emmett Till case.
Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin; Spiegel & Grau, 331 pp.; non-fiction
The world will never know who Trayvon Martin — the unarmed 17-year-old fatally shot in Florida by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012 — could have grown up to be.
In a way, we never knew who he was. His humanity was lost, broken down into school records, headlines and 140 characters in the ensuing media scrutiny and trial of Zimmerman for his role in the altercation that ended in Trayvon’s death.
In Rest in Power, Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, gather the pieces and attempt to present the whole of who their son was when he was just a boy — before he became a martyr and before his death sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
But as much as the book is about Trayvon’s life, it’s also a meditation on the criminal justice system that his parents believe did not do him justice.
Paste BN says ***½ out of four stars. “Offers a prayer that someday, as Fulton writes, ‘the killing will stop’ and ‘the healing will begin.’ ”
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster; Henry Holt, 866 pp.; fiction
This novel takes the life of one man, Archie Ferguson, born in 1947, and offers four alternative versions.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Give Auster full points for literary moxie…4 3 2 1 must be applauded for its ambition.”
The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson; Simon & Schuster, 304 pp.; non-fiction
Re-examines the case of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy who was visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955 when he was kidnapped and brutally murdered by two white men.
Paste BN says ***½ stars. Tyson “(applies) diligent research, scrupulous perspective and a vigorous aptitude for weaving public and intimate details.”
Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran; Putnam, 469 pp.; fiction
Who will get custody of little Ignacio El Viento Castro Valdez — his young, undocumented Mexican mother, or the Indian-American couple in California who foster him?
Paste BN says ***½ stars. “Pulses with vitality.”
The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney; Ballantine, 336 pp.; fiction
The current renter of a gorgeous minimalist house in London tries to determine what happened to the girl who rented the house “before” she did.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Worth a few hours of idle pleasure.”
Contributing reviewers: Jaleesa Jones, Eliot Schrefer, Gene Seymour, Steph Cha, Charles Finch