Glass Bottle Season

Michael (Vulture) delivers with a genial but meandering coming-of-age set in Providence, R.I. It’s the summer of 2017 and Ray Wilson-Domingo, 22, who is half Cuban and grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, hopes to one day feel like less of an outsider among his college friends, many of whom descend from old money. As the others plan their futures, Ray flirts with the idea of law school, but remains undecided. In the meantime, he spends the summer working at a wine shop and partying with his friends at the Newport Folk Festival, polo matches, and a society wedding, as well as speculating about the mysterious older woman who has just moved into an abandoned mansion. The summer seems off to a good start, but hard-partying Ray is prone to making bad decisions—in one comic scene, he and a fellow bartender get drunk while working at the polo club and steal a bunch of lobsters—that threaten his status in the community. Though Ray’s drifting course can leave the novel feeling light on structure and tension, Michael perfectly captures the confounding moment between college graduation and adult responsibilities. All in all, the drunken escapades are great fun. (June)