Book: Day by Michael Cunningham
Genre: Novel
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: 2023

Source: E-book borrowed from the library

Summary: Day is a family story about the kind of extended family that doesn’t fit neatly on a genealogy chart — like the sibling of your in-law. The characters live in New York struggling in various ways with midlife concerns of money, children, careers, and relationships.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints, going deep into each mind that we enter to reveal things that the characters are hiding from the people around them — their faults and fantasies.

We know it’s a pandemic novel from the table of contents:

• April 5, 2019: Morning
• April 5, 2020: Afternoon
• April 5, 2021: Evening

During the first part of the novel, the reader retains superior knowledge to the characters about what life may be like for them a year from now.

Thoughts: Today is the fourth anniversary of the first diagnosed COVID-19 case in my county. This book felt like a good way to honor that moment.

Day is the third pandemic novel that I read, each one very different.

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard was a thrilling mystery that shows the lockdown of Dublin in the early days of the pandemic.

Jodi Picoult’s Wish You Were Here was also set in the early days of the pandemic and covers more of the health and travel aspects.

Day takes a broader aspect than either of those two novels, giving us a glimpse of the before, during, and after (well, to the extent that there is an after) for one family.

I liked all three. Reading pandemic novels still seems to be a good way of processing for me, so please let me know if you hear of any others.

Appeal: Of the three pandemic novels that I read, Day is the least focused on the nitty-gritty of the real-time experience. You might like Day for its multiple viewpoints, New York City settings, or intriguing characters.

Have you read this book? What did you think?