May brings us to stories of alienation, cultural collision and looking for meaning in a harsh world. Our main read is about an Iranian son in search of family secrets, in Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar. Our subread follows three childhood friends as they collide with adulthood in Lisa Ko's Memory Piece.

A novel all of us found to be mixed in terms of quality. McBride has high points in his character depictions and creation of a believable town, and low points in his unfocused plotting and his occasionally meandering into angry-old-man ranting. None of us were compelled to recommend it, but there are definitely some good points if you choose to read it.

General praise for Murray novel about a flailing family in Ireland and the ways they are unknowable to each other. The writing is sharp and everyone found at least one character they loved, but we differed on which plot points we thought were necessary and about half the club had strong issues with the ending.