You-review-it Monday

For me, the weekend included a long drive east, which meant lots of quality time with Serius satellite radio's Broadway channel (but enough with "Kinky Boots," already).

I also finished Roxane Gay's soon-to-be-released "An Untamed State." The remarkable first novel starts with a kidnapping in Haiti but evolves into a clear-but-complex study of survival both during and after trauma. One of Gay's many strengths is avoiding straight-line storytelling and obvious through lines. Never shying away from her story's brutality, she also doesn't shy away from its complicated aftereffects. She also wisely makes clear the political and social circumstances that lead to the crime without apologizing for those who carry out these acts. Not for the squeamish, but as powerful as it is grueling.

And you? Read any good books lately? Get to the one-minute play festival at the Phoenix, the ISO, or IndyFringe (where "A Streetcar Named Desire," see review here, played its final performances)?