With its economical prose, piercing wit, and eclectic, observational asides, Jenny Offill's
Dept. of Speculation reads like the love child of David Markson, Lydia Davis, and Alejandro Zambra. At its core, it's a novel about a marriage — a marriage that is starting to shatter just as the wife's life is starting to break down. But it's also a novel about motherhood, trust, faith, music, art, and astronomy, reminiscent of the myriad thoughts that fill our heads as we lie awake at night.
A nice companion piece to something like Connell's Mrs. Bridge, Dept. of Speculation combines insightful humor with astute analysis of modern life in a book I'll be recommending for quite some time.