THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (November 26, 2023): This week’s issue features  Michael Cunningham’s “Day.”; the 2023 Notables list, “Kantika”, “The Nursery.” and “Western Lane” , because it’s a finalist for the Booker Prize, which will be announced on Sunday.

A Pandemic Novel That Never Says ‘Pandemic’

Michael Cunningham’s “Day” peeks into the lives of a family on one specific April date across three years as life changes because of Covid and other challenges.

By Caleb Crain

DAY, by Michael Cunningham

---

Michael Cunningham’s new novel, “Day,” visits a family on April 5 in 2019, 2020 and 2021 — before, during and after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which shadows the book although the words “Covid” and “pandemic” never appear.

‘Western Lane’ Finds Solace From Grief on the Squash Court

In Chetna Maroo’s debut novel, an adolescent girl mourns the death of her mother in the empty reverberations between points.

By Ivy Pochoda

WESTERN LANE, by Chetna Maroo

---

At the start of Chetna Maroo’s polished and disciplined debut, Gopi, an 11-year-old Jain girl who has just lost her mother, stands on a squash court outside London. She isn’t playing. Instead, she’s listening to the sound of the ball hitting the wall on the adjacent court, “a quick, low pistol-shot of a sound, with a close echo.” It is not so much the shot itself that Gopi is hearing, but that echo, the empty reverb, the lonely response as the ball’s impact gives the striker a split second to retreat to the T, the center of the court, and prepare to counteract her opponent’s responding shot.