Next Year, for Sure

January 16, 2017
After years of serial monogamy, Chris has, he assumes, finally settled down with his girlfriend, whom he dubs “Kathryn the Amazing.” Nine years into this relationship, however, Chris can’t stop thinking about a vivacious, gregarious young acquaintance, Emily. With Kathryn’s reluctant blessing, normally risk-averse Chris embarks on a relationship with Emily and tacitly encourages Kathryn to explore other relationships as well. This experiment in polyamory, however, soon highlights homebody Chris’s weaknesses, not to mention his inability to forecast the potential pitfalls of such an arrangement. A certain amount of introspection is bound to accompany decisions as life-altering as those explored here, but at times the self-reflection and second-guessing threaten to entirely halt the narrative’s forward momentum; the novel is almost entirely lacking in either humor or sexiness. The structural playfulness that characterizes many of the novel’s later chapters offers some respite, but feels tacked on when compared with earlier chapters’ more conventional storytelling.

December 15, 2016
In this psychologically perceptive debut, a young couple struggles with the realities of nonmonogamy. Kathryn and Chris are "the perfect couple"--all their friends think so. And when Chris starts to harbor feelings for his friend Emily, Kathryn encourages him to act. As the novel moves through their yearlong experiment, alternating narratives paint a tender emotional conflict between two lovers at war with their own happiness. Peterson's deft portrait of their relationship takes unexpected turns: there's the communal household that offers Kathryn a glimpse of a different life; the unlikely, but sweet, friendship that develops between Emily and Kathryn; and the rich offering of Chris' emotional inner workings, by turns myopic and generous. At times Peterson risks pathologizing Kathryn, who suffered a psychologically abusive childhood that leaves her vulnerable. Still, Peterson's commitment to exploring the idea of monogamy is refreshingly attuned to the shifting power dynamics between two--then three--players. And if Emily doesn't completely click into full view until the end of the novel, it may be because she started as a kind of Manic Pixie Dream Girl in Chris' imagination. "You're making her too mysterious," Kathryn points out in exasperation. Ironically, it's Chris' emotional weaknesses that help buoy Kathryn, who comes out of the affair stronger, more rooted, more open--and with a new family to boot. A crisp, exciting exploration of love, friendship, and everything in between. Peterson's one to watch.

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February 1, 2017
Chris and Kathryn have been together for nine yearsthey are each other's person. They share everything, which is how Kathryn learns that Chris has a crush on Emily, a woman he met at the laundromat. Because Kathryn wants Chris to be happy, and to get Emily out of his system, she encourages him to ask her on a date. Only, Chris starts falling in love with Emily, who also befriends Kathryn, which forces Kathryn to recognize her own loneliness and sadness over the course of her relationship with Chris. When she visits the communal house Emily lives in, she discovers her own new possibilities. Kathryn and Chris are reminiscent of characters in Miranda July's novels: quirky, vulnerable, and somewhat of emotional wrecks. Unfortunately, Emily falls a little flat and hovers around being a stereotype. What's most impressive is that debut novelist Peterson has written a book that concretely explores the beginnings of an open relationship, its joys and pitfalls, and pulls it off in this easy-to-read and sympathetic character study.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2016

Award-winning short story writer Peterson offers a first novel about relationships, circa 2016. Because lovers Kathryn and Chris are so close that they have their own private language, it's something of a surprise when Chris is attracted to a charming young woman he meets at the Laundromat. Kathryn encourages his fling as just that, failing to understand how deeply it will undermine their love.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.