The Road to Tender Hearts
Ok, The Road to Tender Hearts is a BOP. A book that’s a bop? That’s a little different than what I call a Gobble-Up Book — Annie Hartnett’s third novel is just a tinge too quirky for that — but it’s similar. Call it Gobble-Up-adjacent. (And btw, we all know the best bops are better than simple bubblegum pop and that a layer of complexity always lies underneath a catchy melody.)
Here’s my criteria:
* A string of *almost* implausible situations (plausibility is not the point);
* Endearing characters that, if they were real, would be subject to 1,000 side eyes;
* Genuine lol humor. I very rarely laugh while reading, but The Road to Tender Hearts summoned at least 4 or 5 from me;
* A crescendoed, page-turn-y ending. (I mean, obviously. Because a bop has to keep you dancing or drumming your steering wheel until the end.)
The Road to Tender Hearts feels like Nothing to See Here (Kevin Wilson), Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Rufi Thorpe), and Early Morning Riser (Katherine Heiny) all wrapped together. (I think I’d throw in Maria Semple’s books too perhaps.) It also reminds me a bit of The Nix (Nathan Hill), but that book is a Gobble-Up, so you can see where the criteria here is a bit blurry. (I still have some kinks to work out with my rubrics.)
When you’ve got tragedy upon tragedy (a murder-suicide, a dead prom queen, the gripping tentacles of addiction — just for starters) coupled with some classic narrative tropes/scenarios (road trip, orphans, romantic quest) and it’s presented by a skilled writer who’s able to make it not just palatable but pretty funny too, the result is what blurbers/reviewers/publishers will call “poignant” or “big-hearted” (or how about…“tender”?!!)
But if you’re me…you’ll just call it a bop.
originally published on instagram