Purple People by
July 2020
Full disclosure: I’m biased because the author is a friend of mine - but that said, I think this is a delightful debut novel, and the “jolly dystopia” is both charming and frighteningly close to real life. The characters are charismatic and believable, like people you could imagine hanging out with, and the plot moves along at a brisk pace. I was genuinely curious about how the story would play out, so I looked forward to picking up the book every evening to see what would happen next. I’m also mightily impressed by the countless clever and poetic ways to refer to the color purple—phrases like “lilac lads” had me giggling throughout. Just the kind of darkly funny book to read during a pandemic.