Book Review: By Nightfall

Book #113 of 2010

I love Michael Cunningham. I’ve actually read all his books except Flesh and Blood (and I’ve bought it, so I’m rectifying that soon). I think the man is incredibly talented.

By Nightfall was probably the book I was looking forward to the most in 2010.  I was so impatient for the book that I couldn’t wait till the UK version came out, and I am so, so glad that Cunningham didn’t disappoint. 

The story centres around three people: Peter and Rebecca, a married couple, and Mizzy, Rebecca’s younger brother. The story felt like an exploration of modern life and troubles, about the feelings accompanying growing old and introspection into past mistakes. What Cunningham does so skillfully is proves that even when you’re thinking about past mistakes and how you’d fix them, you are not exempt from making mistakes in the present. 

It’s a brilliant book, with a couple of turns that would perhaps surprise a non-Cunningham reader, but which fit in with my perception of him and his work. I can’t wait for his new book, although if we go by his previous publications, it won’t be until somewhere around 2015. That, my friends, is too long a way away.