I have not read everything by Michael Cunningham, but most of his novels: "A Home at the End of the World" (1990), "Flesh and Blood" (1995), "The Hours" (1998), "Specimen Days" (2005), "By Nightfall" (2010), "The Snow Queen" (2014), "A Wild Swan and Other Tales" (2015). His latest novel, "Day", comes nine years after the previous one, and it's possibly the least memorable of all.
He describes the relationship and inner aspirations of a couple, Dan and Isabel, with two children before, during and after lockdown, somewhere in Brooklyn, and integrating some of their friends the wife's brother, Robbie, into the scenery. The story meanders forward. The context changes, feelings and sentiments change. Something dramatic happens, like in so many lives. It's the story you hear from so many people. And that's maybe the novels biggest problem: it's too real. Even if he brings the perspectives of all the characters separately, as a kind of kaleidoscope of views and feelings, it's too programmatic. Just like the story, the style is not exceptional either. It's in any case not at the same level of his other work.
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