HOPE, by Andrew RidkerIf for Emily Dickinson “hope” is the thing with feathers, for Andrew Ridker, in his novel called “Hope,” it’s an upstanding liberal Jewish family outside Boston, grasping at air as they plummet from grace. Think Harvard-educated physician father, socially conscious Brookline mother and young adult offspring struggling to self-actualize. He does this for the money: The green energy start-up he invested in has failed, and his octogenarian mother, Marjorie, needs help paying for an elite retirement community. In different ways, the books explore American males overseas (here, Israel and Syria) and do-gooderism gone wrong. They jump smoothly around in time (“Hope” takes place over a year in the Obama era) and skillfully enter the viewpoint of all main characters, lending each depth and humanity.

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Persons: Andrew Ridker, Emily Dickinson, ”, Scott, Marjorie, ” Ahmet —, “, Franzen, grapples, Obama Organizations: Harvard, ” Locations: Boston, Brookline, Turkish, Berlin, Israel, Syria