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July 15, 2025 
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Dear readers,
You’ll be relieved to know there’s no insider trading here at the Book Review: I never know what our critics will say about a book until they actually turn in their piece.
And I had been terribly curious to hear what Dwight Garner would make of Mariel Franklin’s debut novel, “Bonding,” which I read during vivid stretches of insomnia last month. I don’t always enjoy books that have the trappings of a “millennial novel,” such that the genre exists, but this one stayed with me. The touchstones of our contemporary age — absurdly named start-ups, N.S.F.W. applications of virtual reality — didn’t jut out and interrupt the narrative as they so often can. I think it’s because, as Dwight writes in his review, “Franklin’s most salient gifts are old-fashioned ones.” You can tell, even from her first novel, that she knows how to tell a good story.
“Bonding” follows Mary, a 30-ish, financially precarious woman in London, who’s recently been laid off from her job at a start-up. On Ibiza, she meets the man she will soon fall in love with, a charismatic, sober renegade who believes the drug he’s working on will revolutionize society. And that’s all before Mary begins working for a dating app founded by her ex-girlfriend, Lara, a flush and pretentious art monster whose conscience appears just often enough to keep you on your toes.
In another author’s hands this story could’ve been absolutely tedious, but at its best moments I found it riveting. (And if you finish it, drop me a note and let me know what you think of the ending.)
See you on Friday.
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