Doxology – Nell Zink

Nell Zink’s fifth novel, Doxology, is basically two inter-connected stories with a tragedy separating them.  The first half is the tale of a punk adjacent couple and their friend who somehow becomes a pop sensation.  When the World Trade Center is attacked on 9/11, the couple bring their daughter to Washington DC, leaving her with her grandparents, and the story follows her life, through high school, college, and the 2016 Presidential campaign, which leaves her pregnant and, in a twist of fate, headed back to New York and her parents.

I picked this book up after seeing a review in the Chicago Tribune calling it the “Gen-X novel of the year.”  I don’t know if I’m willing to go that far, but I enjoyed the work.  The first half more than the second, as the story of Pam and Daniel, and how the attacks of 9/11 changed their world, resonated a little more than the coming of age of Flora, who wants to save the world and works for the Jill Stein campaign.  I haven’t come into contact with Zink’s work before this, so I may keep a look out and see what else she has to offer.