Us Fools

"“Junk kids.” That’s what Joanne and Bernadette, two girls growing up on an Illinois farm, call themselves; they’re neglected by their parents, whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the 1980s farm crisis. Nora Lange follows the lives of the sisters as they grow up to lead very different lives, both carrying the scars of their childhoods. This novel is tender and exceptionally moving, but also mordantly funny in parts, and it’s a razor-sharp critique of American capitalism. And it’s written so beautifully that it’s hard to believe it’s a debut novel."