This year’s Beach Read Book Club is presented by Madewell.
Made for Summer. Meant for the Beach.
Dear Readers,
As the summer equinox approaches, so, too, does the moment to hit the sand — or grass or poolside lounge chair or your favorite air-conditioned coffee-shop bench — with a great book in hand. A group of our editors and writers is waiting in the wings, ready to dive into a lively debate about the summer book we can’t stop thinking or talking about. But first, we need your help in finding it!
This year, we’re once again inviting our readers to cast a vote for the book you most want to read alongside New York staffers. By voting, you will be automatically signed up to receive newsletters from the Beach Read Book Club. Learn more about the contenders below.
Photo-Illustration: NYMag
Following her National Book Award–winning Trust Exercise, Susan Choi returns with Flashlight, the epic, unpredictable story of a fractured American family. It starts with the shadowy disappearance of the father, an immigrant from Japan named Serk, while walking on the beach at night with his young daughter, Louisa. From there, the story jumps around in time and space and alternates point of view as it chronicles the disillusioned Serk’s move to the U.S. and his marriage to Anne, the white mother of the precocious yet troubled Louisa. As the captivating central family mystery is slowly illuminated, Choi’s prose shines with poetry and intelligence. This is a beautiful meditation on memory and estrangement. —Jasmine Vojdani
“Flashlight is obsessed with what we know and what we don’t, what we keep from one another, and what we keep from ourselves — and the stakes of all this alienation.” —Sam Worley
Read New York’s review of Flashlight.
David Smith, a queer, Black, 20-something New Yorker who works in tech, is out partying in the Hamptons when police catch him with .7 grams of cocaine. Upon returning to the city, he is haunted by memories of the death of his socialite best friend, seemingly due to an overdose, only months before; the investigation into what actually happened that night is ongoing, tabloids report. As Smith lawyers up and preps for his court appearance, he navigates his world of relative privilege and attempts to process his friend’s loss, all while providing social commentary on the many scenes he finds himself in, from a star chef’s birthday party to the Atlanta of his childhood. Franklin’s debut novel tells a sometimes biting, always propulsive story about class, race, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. —J.V.
Vote by noon on Friday, June 20, and we’ll announce the winner the following Monday.
