The Red Address Book and The Museum of Modern Love

THE RED ADDRESS BOOK by Sofia Lundberg is a wonderful work of historical fiction.  Lundberg introduces her readers to Doris, an elderly recluse living in Stockholm, who is desperately trying to capture her life story for a faraway great niece, Jenny, who is busy raising her family in California. 

By cleverly referring to entries in the address book, Lundberg shares Doris's life events, spanning the Great Depression, WWII, and the latter half of the twentieth century. It is difficult at times to accept the gullibility and rather short term “luck” (particularly in regards to finding shelter and support) that Doris experiences while facing dire circumstances. She travels between two continents and deals with the deaths of family members, physical abuse, prejudice against homosexuality, and star-crossed love. 

THE RED ADDRESS BOOK is certain to evoke emotion in its readers. Adult book groups should enjoy this debut novel which is a LibraryReads pick for January 2019.  

THE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE by Heather Rose is the first novel by this award-winning Australian writer to be published in the United States.  Rose is exploring the transformative power of art and I found this text caused me to be contemplative and reflective.   

I was initially drawn to the characters, Arky Levin (a successful movie score composer facing a life crisis) and Jane Miller (a recently widowed art teacher), who meet at an art exhibit.  There, Marina Abramovic offers performance art where she sits completely still all day and leaves open an invitation for others to sit across from her. That part of the novel is based on fact; the actual performance was called “The Artist Is Present” and took place over 75 days in 2010 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In the novel, Arky and Jane return repeatedly to join others in observing this form of endurance art where some participants are even moved to tears.  Overall, I was intrigued, but felt that the book began to drag a bit and honestly would tend to recommend Meet Me at the Museum first which also features bonding across cultures by more mature characters. 

Please note, though that THE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE received a starred review from Booklist and has won several awards in Australia, including the Stella Prize and the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction. Definitely consider it for adult book groups.