29 Sep / The Very Nice Box by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett [in Booklist]
Ava Simon’s life might seem, well … predictable: “She liked to think of each day as a series of efficiently divided thirty-minute units.” For now, she’s quite content as an engineer for STÄDA, a Brooklyn minimalist furniture-maker, where The Very Nice Box is her “Passion Project.” She eats her ideally portioned-and-packed lunch with co-worker Jaime on Mondays. Her dog, Brutus, is her closest companion as the lone survivor of a different former life she shared with a fiancée and parents, who were killed in a car accident.
Her controlled order since is suddenly challenged when new marketing hire Mat Putnam infuses the company with enthusiastic energy. Even Ava can’t seem to resist – but at what cost to her wellbeing?
Seasoned narrator Rebecca Lowman knows just what to do with Ava’s anxiety, bewilderment, and resolve, just as she gives Mat initial buoyancy that can’t possibly last. She’s just as facile with ciphering supporting characters, from doubting Jamie to exasperated HR chief Judith, straight-laced Helen, and plenty of others. Lowman ensures debut authors Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett’s piercing examination of hipsters, corporate bro culture, and wellness-overload gets well-heard.
Review: “Media,” Booklist Online, September 17, 2021
Readers: Adult
Published: 2021