The Last of Her Kind

I just finished reading one of the best books I have read in years: Sigrid Nunez's The Last of Her Kind. The novel revolves around the relationship between two women, Ann and Georgette, who first meet as Barnard College roommates in the late 1960s.

Ann is from a wealthy New England family; Georgette comes from a rough and poor family in upstate New York. Ann feels shame and disgust for her privileged upbringing and finds her calling in the political turmoil of the times. She becomes an activist and lives her life as a pure idealist, which ultimately lands her in prison with a life sentence for killing a police officer. The intensity of Nunez's novel, told through the eyes of Georgette, is mesmerizing.

Anyone who enjoys novels that examine the politicized times of the 1960s and early 1970s will find something of interest here. This novel will also appeal to readers who simply love good writing, but be warned the book can be painful at times and is, in many ways, a tragic tale.