The Oyster Diaries

by Nancy Lemann

From the author of the cult classic Lives of the Saints, a diaristic novel of middle-aged reckoning that roves from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, from court records to Don Giovanni, all of it riotously narrated by one of American fiction’s most singular voices.

Delery Anhalt—middle-aged, prone to “embroidering everything into vast ideals” like Don Quixote, but incapable of identifying the Shakespearean villains in her life, like Desdemona—is at a crossroads in life. Her father and his peers, the old guard of New Orleans, are entering their twilight years, her daughters are stepping into adulthood, and she is navigating the uncertainty of being midway upon the journey of her life.

Caught between a generation fixed in the past and one intent on changing the future, Delery decides to take stock of herself and the people around her through a series of diaries brimming with wry observations of her upbringing in New Orleans and daily travails in Washington DC, and frank appraisals on what she calls her lions at the the interior demands of insecurity, ego, annoyance, operatic wrath (felt most keenly towards bad houseguests), and remorse.

A disarmingly funny and poignant portrayal of the vicissitudes of adulthood that is as exuberant as it is indignant, The Oyster Diaries sees the return of the beloved character Claude Collier from The Lives of the Saints. Full of uncomfortable hilarities and potent truths, this novel proves to us, once again, that Nancy Lemann is one of our most fearless and original writers on the human condition.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Contemporary

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2026

About the author

American novelist.

Reviews

[John Caleb Grenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE OYSTER DIARIES
Nancy Lemann
Thank you for the #gifted copy @nyrbooks , out 4/7.

“By George, some things are difficult. Let’s get on with it. You have to have an iron nerve.
But I am a heartless maniac, blithe and cold. What planet are you from, lady? I keep asking myself. What planet am I living on, to be so coldhearted? I don’t know.”

Following Delery Anhalt between New Orleans and Washington D.C. as she sorts out end-of-life matters for her father and deals with her own trudging, life-altering mess, The Oyster Diaries makes much of the every day and really uncovers that side of us that just doesn’t care about things as much as maybe we thought it would.

I love the way Nancy Lemann is able to parse out the obscure sentiments we have that don’t always get named, the parts of ourselves we’re ambivalent toward, ignorant of, or confused about, but that we still bleed out from slowly but surely anyway.

I love how she builds a contrasting, complex America between New Orleans and DC, displaying disparity and joy, the wide gap of cultures (or the gap between places of culture and those without) and that she isn’t shy about spelling things out plainly.

Lemann has a dry, dry wit. It’s so dry I missed the jokes sometimes until I read back through parts again and realized I nearly missed the out-loud-chuckle this book came to make me anticipate. She’s able to place so much timelessness among modern concerns; it feels like you’re reading a Classic, but about someone you know.

I haven’t felt so deeply known and understood by a book in a long time. I don’t know if that means I’m currently going through the same sort of mental anguish as most middle aged women do, or if it speaks to just how much Lemann touches on the human side of things: the difference between being a good person and being a person who just halfheartedly tries to be one, and how she painstakingly-yet-humorously finds that little pit of eye-rolling, shoulder-shrugging anhedonia that is such a core tenet of being human.

It’s a book about trudging through when you have to, and I think we can all relate. I loved it.

[Colleen Grablick · Rating 4 out of 5]

sooo that’s my girl … she expands to me what a book can be. her voice is truly one of a kind. she’s so funny

[Tex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat scattered rendering of a chaotic life…but mostly about death. The primary settings are New Orleans, Washington DC, and several countries in Africa. There are some extremely poignant passages, but also a great deal of rambling with some unclear characters. Well, unclear as to relationship or family, but extraordinarily clear in philosophy.

[Hank Stuever · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently moved to New Orleans, where I spent my college years, but that was so long ago as to feel like a dream I once had, and not terribly useful for much besides nostalgia, which is one of the place's chief features -- grasping at a past. Nowadays, the New Orleans required reading list is daunting, but after a few common titles that exist on everyone's own version of it (and, in this century, includes a lot of Katrina reportage), it sort of falls off into dense histories and small-press fiction and essay efforts that only kinda-sorta wind up being what a reader like me is looking for. Native daughter Nancy Lemann, who left her Uptown roots years ago, wrote "Lives of the Saints" in the 1980s, and I think I always meant to read it because at the time in New Orleans there was a lot of talk about it, and I probably soon will. It's still on some locals' you-should-read list, but not many.

Lemann's "The Oyster Diaries" just came out, and Dwight Garner in the NYT liked it, and that's what brings me here. And I did find a lot of what I need right now: a thoughtfully ruminative novel (of sorts) that links a New Orleans then and a New Orleans now: a seasoned skepticism, bordering on misanthropy, that sees through the cliches of an overwrought (and overwritten) city and seeks something more meaningful, or gives into an idea that all meaning is easily lost? Sorry, that was a word salad, but that is also an effect of Lemann's affect here, almost like an extended muttering to one's self.

There is something really lovely going on here in the story of the narrator's frequent returns from Washington, DC, to New Orleans to help care for her dying parents and reconsider her dying/reviving/re-dying city and its gauzy past, her past.

I mean, I guess? The last third of the book gets too incoherent to really know what I signed up for. The writing remains lovely to the end. I imagine as many people won't be able to makes heads nor tails of it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When you're young you spend a certain amount of time finding yourself; but in the middle of this journey of our life, you tend to lose your way. Probably the same amount of time it took to find yourself when you were young, is the amount of time it takes to realize that you have lost your way again and must renew the search” (p.51)

“I had no Jewish culture but that which is innate. If there is such a thing as Jewish culture which is innate. It did not involve actual knowledge. Complete ignorance characterized my knowledge of Judaism. I only had the spark of the outsider, something that keeps you apart from the general crowd and gives you a harder road to travel. Is that the spark of Judaism?
It could be the spark of individuality or nonconformity, etc. What I'm saying is that in New Orleans my Jewish character could be discerned in contrast to the Catholics. Such traits as being sort of intellectual, bookish, studious, and basically not being drunk” (p. 95)

“Sometimes in life I find myself standing in the middle of a room repeating his name when ridden with angst and anxiety, trying to calm down. I don't know exactly why. But to this day when I am nervous and mired in angst and malaise, I still say his name” (p. 184)

[Paula W · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Oyster Diaries is the new novel from the author of the cult classic Lives of the Saints, which I had a great time reading recently. In this new one, our main character Del Anhalt finds herself to be a middle-aged woman caught in those in between times — her children are moving off into adulthood while her father is entering his twilight years. The novel is written in diaristic style and its entries hop from present day Washington DC to her daily life in the New Orleans of her past. And Del has a lot to vent about.

I love Lemann’s style, her voice, and her fondness for New Orleans even in its ugly phases. I love her character’s frankness and her irritation with houseguests. I loved this novel. 4 stars.

Thank you to New York Review Books , Nancy Lemann (author), and Edelweiss for a digital review copy of The Oyster Diaries. Their generosity did not influence my review in any way.

[Roxane · Rating 3 out of 5]

a strange, unique, and very meandering account of middle age

this is a multi-part sort of diary through which the narrator explores her key relationships with her parents, children, in-laws, and (unfaithful) husband; she is in pursuit of deeper understanding: of others & of her own self

it’s also an exploration of meaning, which she mostly finds through beauty

i was toying between a 4 and a 3 but the last portion felt really off & tone death to me, and I’m not sure why it was even included

overall i liked the bits and pieces about intellectual pursuit & the search for beauty but it was a bit too all over the place for me

the writing reminded me a liiitle of Offil and Jong but it just didn’t do it for me the same way

[Brian Roemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It's a bit ragged and unkempt, maybe down at the heels, and like New Orleans itself, where this is largely set, that's a lot of its appeal. Nancy Lemann's voice is clear and distinctive and shines through every passage.

It's been awhile since I read something and immediately started devouring all of the published and available works of an author (if anyone has a copy of Sportsman's Paradise they'd like to lend me, please reach out).

It's an absolute joy to spend time in Nancy Lemann's company during her Wastrel Youth.

[Spiros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where has Nancy Lemann been all my life? This is a brilliant, funny dissection of a life by a woman who has reached the mid point in her journey through life, and is frankly discomposed by where she finds herself. I need to track down a copy of "Lives of the Saints" when NYRB releases both these books in April.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would imagine Nancy Lemann is not every reader's cup of tea, and this is not a perfect novel, but I love her idiosyncratic style and her sly wit. The interactions between Delery and her Gen Z daughters were particularly entertaining. I celebrate this newfound interest in Lemann's work!

[Marianne Kaplan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realize I’m the outlier here but I did not enjoy this book. The author writes with humor and uses a lot of big words but what is her point. My biggest take away is that I never want to do a safari regardless of the guide’s charm. Do not recommend.

[Kris Lackey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Lemann's New Orleans novels are always top of my read list, from Lives of the Saints to The Fiery Pantheon. Her latest revives her signature comic repetitions, classical allusions, fey protagonist, and ironic doom-saying. Easy to relish, as always.

[michal k-c · Rating 4 out of 5]

nearly every detail of this book is shot through with melancholy but it is truly so funny, maybe the funniest new novel I have read in quite some time. A novel that understands the rot at the centre of most of "high society" -- highly recommended

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up. Loved the middle of this novel. Beginning and end- not so much.

[Kristi Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

icon

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can’t really say I enjoyed this. Lives of the Saints was much better.

[Chris Piel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad I read this book on my iPad as an ebook from our library because I had to look up a lot. Funny honest read from a women’s point of view.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow...