The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne

I never heard of John Boyne until very recently when I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, "Book Riot: All the Books" by Liberty Hardy and Rebecca Schinsky. Liberty LOVED The Heart's Invisible Furies by this author so I checked out his other books and found this one - right up my alley! It takes place in Russia at the time of the Revolution. It's a fictionalized account of events that took place then. From Amazon:

"Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy, The House of Special Purpose illuminates an empire at the end of its reign. Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenev is haunted by his past - a past of death, suffering, and scandal that will stay with him until the end of his days. Living in England with his beloved wife, Zoya, Georgy prepares to make one final journey back to the Russia he once knew and loved, the Russia that both destroyed and defined him. As Georgy remembers days gone by, we are transported to St. Petersburg, to the Winter Palace of the czar, in the early twentieth century—a time of change, threat, and bloody revolution. As Georgy overturns the most painful stone of all, we uncover the story of the house of special purpose."

Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta

I read a lot about this book and read it quickly. I was totally involved in the plot and the characters. But it was NOT what I expected it to be:

Here is the final line from the NPR review:

Mrs. Fletcher isn't the first book by Perrotta to mix dark humor with serious issues; he's done so before in novels like Election and Little Children. But his latest might just be his best — it's a stunning and audacious book, and Perrotta never lets his characters take the easy way out. Uncompromisingly obscene but somehow still kind-hearted, Mrs. Fletcher is one for the ages.

And here is what Newsday says:

 I loved the characters of Tom Perrotta’s new novel, “Mrs. Fletcher,” but I was worried about them. After all, they’re in a social satire by the author of “The Leftovers,” “Little Children” and “Election,” and they’re making mistakes and misbehaving right and left — surely they’d have to pay. So convinced was I that comeuppance was at hand that the surprise happy ending almost brought me to tears. Perrotta has been called the “Steinbeck of suburbia” and an “American Chekhov,” but with “Mrs. Fletcher,” he’s become the Jane Austen of 21st century sexual mores.