The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
6 — Wednesday, September 8, 2021 

With the return of school comes heavy 

books, dense nonfiction and endless essays. 
To balance the hefty academic reading, the 
Daily’s Book Review writers have compiled 
a list of six must-reads for the back-to-
school season. Some are summer releases 
that might’ve slipped under your radar, 
while others have been on your to-read list 
for years. These books are exciting, sharp 
and fast-paced: From celebrity memoirs to 
gruesome thrillers, the recommendations are 
perfect to combat the incoming fall semester 
fatigue and keep you reading for pleasure. 

— Lilly Pearce, Daily Book Review Editor

‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik
Wonderfully funny and sharp, Novik’s 

novel is a post-Harry Potter fantasy 
response to “what if (insert all-powerful, 
big bad villain type here) grew up in a 
loving hippie household” and then went to 
a dangerous wizard school. The concept 
is ridiculous, but the novel works because 
it doesn’t take itself too seriously; at the 
same time, Novik’s novel is more than 
an experimental Harry Potter clone. “A 
Deadly Education” boasts a compelling cast 
of characters and brilliant world-building, 
and reveals Novik’s deep understanding 
of fantasy conventions. Some pop culture 
familiarity will help readers catch some of 
the more tongue-in-cheek references, but 
the novel’s charm holds even without it.

— Elizabeth Yoon, Managing Arts Editor

‘Interior Chinatown’ by Charles Yu
An intellectual successor to Viet Thanh 

Nguyen’s “The Sympathizer,” “Interior 
Chinatown” prods at what it means to pass 
through life unseen, reduced to tropes 
and epitaphs. Yu’s main character is an 
actor playing “Generic Asian Man,” but he 
aspires to be “Kung-Fu Guy.” Each epitaph 
and character comes with a predetermined 
plot and role. Primarily dialogue and 
formatted as a script, the novel delves 
into all the hot topics in Asian-American 
discourse: marginalization, the perpetual 
foreigner syndrome, the fetishization of 
Asian women. However, what sets the 

novel apart is its keen understanding of 
internalized racism and the bounds of self-
rationalization.

— Elizabeth Yoon, Managing Arts Editor

‘Greenlights’ 
by 
Matthew 

McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey’s “Greenlights” 

captures both the dramatic exhilaration 
of a celebrity memoir and the sincerity 
of a philosophical work of nonfiction. He 
reflects on his 50 years of life, starting 
with the tale of his family and his 
boyhood growing up in Texas. It’s fast-
paced, hilarious and authentic all at once. 
McConaughey’s humor is perhaps the 
book’s greatest captivator — the audiobook 
does the book greater justice with 
McConaughey’s 
spontaneous 
laughter 

and gasps, making the book an experience 
rather than a simple read. His easy 
Southern accent provides an additional 
layer of warmth to his genuineness which 
wraps the reader in an intimate recollection 
of his past: memories from his first gigs, 
travels to rivers he swam in, dreams and 
rites of passages he failed and fulfilled. It’s 
the kind of book you read twice: First, to 
laugh and listen; second, to learn. 

— Lilly Pearce, Daily Book Review Editor

‘One Last Stop’ by Casey McQuiston
The New York Times best-selling 

author Casey McQuiston’s “One Last 
Stop” is a contemporary queer romance 
set in New York with an interesting twist. 
It begins with August, a 20-something 
transfer student, fleeing her mother and 
her obsession with her brother’s cold case. 
August is a self-proclaimed loner but finds 
it difficult to fight her solitary tendencies 
when she starts to fall for the girl on the 
train, Jane Su. The problem is that Jane 
can’t get off the subway, nor can she 
remember how long she’s been on it. With 
the help of her roommates, August tries to 
solve the mystery and help Jane — but it 
might mean that saving her means they’ll 
never see each other again. McQuiston 
does a wonderful job balancing the 
fantastical elements of unsolved mysteries 
with the realistic sentiments of romance 
and friendship, making “One Last Stop” a 
must-read. 

— Lilly Pearce, Daily Book Review Editor

‘Goodbye, Again: Essays, Reflections, 

and Illustrations’ by Jonny Sun

Throughout 
Sun’s 
debut 
essay 

collection, plants pop up repeatedly: 
Their resilience is described in “Cactus,” 
their struggle for stimulation is detailed 
in “Pothos” and their sensitive nature is 
profiled in “Air Plant.” In “Succulent,” Sun 
writes, “Never water a succulent to try to 
get it to grow faster. It will not grow faster. 
You will drown its roots and the roots will 
rot and then the plant will die.” It’s a line 
I’ve been thinking of often. Plants often 
represent the self, and this essay collection 
is no exception. Sun describes his previous 
struggles with self-preservation while 
describing plants with care. Ultimately, 
“Goodbye, Again” sneaks up on you. It 
doesn’t make any large promises, and 
maybe that’s part of its charm. Sun 
reflects on the mundane, offering up a 
carefully-guarded piece of himself. Don’t 
tear through the book like I did (the first 
time); Sun’s labor of love deserves to be 
savored in tender, comforting chunks. 

In “Peperomia,” Sun writes of a rebirth: 
“Over time, with a little bit of watering a 
few times a week, a tiny sprout grew, with 
two tiny, fragile leaves reaching up. And 
now something else is growing, a new 
plant, in the same spot as my first plant. 
Like some sort of rebirth.” “Goodbye, 
Again” is Sun’s unmissable transition into 
an essayist. 

— Meera Kumar, Daily Arts Writer

‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn
I’m not sure if I read Gillian Flynn’s 

“Gone Girl” the way it was intended to 
be read. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 
concept of the death of the author — in fact, 
one of my favorite aspects of literature is 
its allowance for observers to take away 
meanings that are radically different from 
the author’s intentions. But I’ve read some 
interviews by Flynn, and the themes I 
pulled from the novel were clearly not 
intentional on her part. Yet that’s what 
makes “Gone Girl” so exhilarating for me. 
This psychological thriller follows Nick 

Dunne, a suspect in the disappearance 
and presumed murder of his wife, Amy. 
Without spoiling anything, there comes 
a point in the novel when you’re clearly 
supposed to feel bad for Nick — many 
people I’ve talked to can vouch for this 
— but I never did. But, in all honesty, this 
made the novel all the more captivating, 
because it was so fleshed out that it took 
on a life of its own, independent of Flynn’s 
imagination. Flynn’s ability to write 
complex and morally dubious characters 
and build tension by contrasting Nick 
and Amy’s perspectives resulted in 
an explosive novel I finished in one 
sitting. And, in spite of how delightfully 
tangled the characters’ schemes and 
webs become, Flynn manages to craft 
the perfect ending, so uniquely hopeless 
yet appropriate that it reminds me of 
masterpieces such as Jean-Paul Sartre’s 
play “No Exit.” Needless to say, my 
experience reading this novel will stay 
with me for a long time.

— Tate LaFrenier, Daily Arts Writer

“Annette” tries to throw the 

audience off from the outset. 
Over a blank screen, a voice 
tells the audience that noise of 
any kind, including breathing, 
will not be tolerated during the 
film. This transitions right into 
the opening number, asking 
the audience for permission to 
start the film while introducing 
the main characters. It’s an 
opening that will either have 
you immediately hooked or 
rolling your eyes and looking 
for the exits. 

The film is not afraid to take 

bold risks, and once it has you 
in its grasp, it refuses to let go.

“Annette” 
follows 
the 

marriage 
of 
comedian 

Henry 
McHenry 
(Adam 

Driver, 
“Marriage 
Story”) 

and 
opera 
singer 
Ann 

Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard, 
“Inception”). These professions 
perfectly convey the film’s 
tone with the combination of 
the sadistic, dark comedy of a 
shock comedian and the big, 
emotional melodrama of an 
opera singer. The couple has a 
child named Annette, portrayed 
by a wooden puppet, the center 
of tension between Henry and 
Ann. By making Annette a 
puppet, the filmmakers avoid 
gambling on the performance of 
a child actor, while enhancing 
the themes of Henry’s control 
in all domains of life.

Director Leos Carax (“Holy 

Motors”) 
bombards 
the 

audience 
with 
unexpected 

twists, yet almost none of 
them would work without the 
completely committed central 
performances of Driver and 
Cotillard. It doesn’t matter 
what 
kind 
of 
ridiculous 

nonsense Carax asks them to 
do in a given scene; both actors 
are fully on board and give 
everything they have to get 
earn the emotional investment 
of viewers.

Driver delivers one of the 

best 
performances 
of 
his 

already illustrious career as he 
compels you to be on the side 
of a truly despicable man. The 
physicality of his performance, 
aided by his tall frame and full 
use of his remarkable skill as an 
actor, captivates the audience. 
During 
the 
scenes 
where 

Henry is performing stand-up, 
Driver expertly navigates the 
conflict with both the crowds 
at his shows and himself, and he 
perfectly portrays the character 
losing his mind.

As expected from a film 

that swings for the fences 
almost every second of its 
141-minute 
runtime, 
some 

choices strike out. The songs 
are surprisingly weak for a 
musical, and while they work 
fine within the context of the 
film, they aren’t going to be 
stuck in your head for weeks 
after hearing them.

The film also drags on a bit 

in the second half. A new plot 
development at the midpoint 
means it takes time to ramp up 
a new conflict, killing the film’s 
existing momentum. Once the 
new tension between Henry 
and his daughter is developed, 
“Annette” once again becomes 
entirely engrossing, but the 
tedium may lose viewers who 
weren’t totally sold by the film 
from the start.

“Annette” 
has 
been 
a 

polarizing film since it opened 
the Cannes Film Festival back 
in July, which isn’t unexpected 
given the outlandish choices the 
film makes. However, these are 
exactly the kinds of films that 
make the medium so wonderful. 
It’s a film that doesn’t play it 
safe and isn’t concerned about 
crashing and burning. It’s a film 
that, if enough people were to 
see it, should spark fascinating 
discussions for months, if not 
years.

Not all of it works, but 

“Annette” is one of the best 
films of the year so far precisely 
because not all of it works. It 
makes for a far more interesting 
and 
invigorating 
experience 

than something that aims lower 
and succeeds.

‘Annette’ is an 

audacious, chaotic, 
mesmerizing tragedy

Six reads for the back-to-school season

MITCHEL GREEN

Daily Arts Writer

LILLY PEARCE, ELIZABETH YOON, 
MEERA KUMAR, TATE LAFRENIER

Daily Book Review Writers & Editors

Design by Megan Young

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By Mark McClain
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/08/21

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

09/08/21

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2021

ACROSS

1 Chess result
5 “NASCAR on 

NBC” analyst 
Earnhardt Jr.

9 Metalworker

14 Cancún coin
15 A party to
16 Island near Maui
17 *Devoted ESPN 

viewer

19 Uneasy feeling
20 Word after box 

or law

21 Bullish sound?
22 Wail
23 *Spec for 

sandpaper or salt

27 Coll. near the Rio 

Grande

29 Hard rain
30 Dance class topic
31 First name in skin 

care

33 Caddie’s offering
35 Make a wrong 

turn, say

36 *Quarry that 

supplies 
aggregate

40 Guys
43 Jai __
44 Quebec’s __ 

Peninsula

48 Racecourse 

shape

50 Ready for bed, 

briefly

53 Long-running 

CBS series

54 *Garden walkway 

component

57 Malarkey
58 Pachelbel work
59 Treasury 

secretary Janet

61 Sahara features
62 Last player 

selected for 
a Wimbledon 
ranking ... or part 
of each answer to 
a starred clue

65 Locale
66 Heck of a hike
67 Dell rival
68 Brings in
69 Actor Grant
70 Drive-__

DOWN

1 MLB rally killers

2 Researchers’ 

publications

3 To date
4 Klingon officer in 

the “Star Trek” 
franchise

5 ’70s hot spots
6 Strengthen, as 

glass

7 Seuss’ Cindy __ 

Who

8 Suffix with exist
9 Language 

student’s 
challenge

10 Medieval estates
11 Thankless sort
12 Preferable, 

gastronomically

13 Major success
18 Half a mint?
21 Contrived plot
22 Alert for an actor
24 Checkout printout
25 Unload, say
26 “Morning Edition” 

airer

28 Alternative to 

Margie

32 Noted period
34 Important
37 Square up
38 Hotel shuttles

39 Light earth tone
40 Short flight
41 Hurricane 

mandate 
responder

42 Tropical 

grassland

45 Sudden stop 

sound

46 Trailblazer
47 “C’__ la vie!”
49 Umpire’s 

pregame request

51 Olympic star 

Jackie __-Kersee

52 Deceptive
55 Wine qualities
56 Building wing
60 Challenge for an 

atty. wannabe

61 TiVo, for one
62 Agcy. concerned 

with fraud

63 Gershwin 

brother

64 R&B’s __ Hill

SUDOKU

4
9

5
3

6

7

1
6

3
8

6
3

9

4

4
5

7

9
8

8
2

1
4

3
7

4

6

8
6

9
3

1
4

1

2
7

WHISPER

“Classic 
yellow.”

“Game day!”

WHISPER

