Jami Attenberg's comic, poignant novel about a family thrust into crisis by the mother's food obsession "starts off seeming like a funny book," says Nelson. "But it is a much deeper book than it first seems." Attenberg follow this suburban Jewish Chicago family through the demise of a marriage and ultimately, says Nelson, it becomes a book about people finding themselves. "I felt like I know these people," says Nelson. "Maybe I am these people." She predicts that "The Middlesteins" will be the "sleeper hit of the season."
