Ana Turns

September 15, 2023
The day of a woman's 60th birthday becomes a kaleidoscope of encounters with the significant people in her life. Ana Koehl has put her degree in social work and her master's in literature to marketable use as a "manuscript therapist" who whips her clients' texts into shape. On April 28, 2017, her birthday, she has arranged her day to see all her favorite people in New York City before a large family dinner: There's her best friend, Fiona, whom she's known since grad school; her husband, Henry, an anesthesiologist who manages his chronic pain with medical marijuana, which has caused distance between the two spouses; her lover, Lance, with whom she's been having an affair for seven years; and her adult child, Simon, who is rapidly changing before her eyes. Yet scattered into Ana's day are other appointments she feels obligated to keep: calling her abrasive mother, who has sent a birthday email noting the financial costs of raising Ana; seeing her brother, George, who is both distant and dismissive; and meeting with one of her clients, a writer struggling with how to bring her book manuscript into final form. Ana's account of her day is interspersed with third-person sections told by other people in her life. Gornick has written a novel in the vein of Mrs. Dalloway (which Ana reads throughout the day), structured on the progression of one significant day while also moving through time in the alternating sections to show how some of Ana's complex relationships coalesced into their current forms. Ana is a richly developed main character surrounded by an intriguing supporting cast (though there might be slightly too many sub-storylines) in this thoughtful meditation on how time affects the bonds of family, friendship, and romance. Engaging and introspective.

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October 16, 2023
Gornick (The Peacock Feast) spins an immersive story of a Manhattan editor on her 60th birthday. Among those invited to Ana Koehl’s celebratory dinner are her stoner anesthesiologist husband, Henry; her best friend Fiona; her son, Simon, who has begun questioning his gender identity; and Lance, her long-term lover and proof positive that Ana is a “careful cheat.” Also invited are Ana’s semi-estranged brother George and her caustic mother, Jean, who sends her a terse email on the morning of her birthday detailing how much it cost to raise Ana (“Had I invested that money starting at your birth rather than spending it year by year on you, it would have grown with compound interest”). Gornick complicates the story by alternating Ana’s perspective with those of the other characters, including Henry, who meets with Fiona for lunch before Ana’s party. It turns out the two once had an affair, and Henry thinks they should tell Ana (“You need to be a bit less shtetl and a bit more français,” Fiona responds). Crisp and clever writing abounds, and Ana’s response during the climactic dinner scene to her mother’s cruelty is particularly piercing. Gornick strikes all the right notes in this complex and moving character study. (Nov.)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the protagonist’s occupation and mischaracterized the relationship between two other characters.