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Perhaps you’ve recently been feeling a call to reread Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All the King’s Men. It could be because our world is a disturbing mirror to that dystopian tale of populism. It could be because we have our very own Willie Stark in the president’s seat and seemingly countless Jack Burdens […]
Chang-Rae Lee’s A Tender Age, Virginia Eubanks’ A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving, and Téa Obreht’s Sunrise all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. * Fiction 1. A Tender Age by Chang Rae-Lee (Riverhead) 10 Rave • 1 Mixed “Luminous … In his masterful almost-ending, Lee shrouds what exactly happened on that […]
Our quintet of quality reviews this week includes Lauren LeBlanc on Téa Obreht’s Sunrise, Jane Hu on Chang-Rae Lee’s A Tender Age, Stephanie Burt on Marlon James’ The Disappearers, Laura Miller on Rachel Cusk’s Life of M, and Julia Case-Levine on Daniel Poppick’s The Copywriter. * “Obreht flexes her skills as a literary writer who […]
Paul Yoon’s Etna, Dave Zirin’s The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn, and Chris Bohjalian’s The Amateur all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. * Fiction 1. Etna by Paul Yoon (Scribner) 7 Rave • 1 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from Etna here “For all its compactness, Etna […]
Our mixum gatherum of marvelous reviews this week includes Rachel Vorona Cote on Paul Yoon’s Etna, Anahid Nersessian on Jorie Graham’s Killing Spree, Daniel Felsenthal on Molly Crabapple’s Here Where We Live Is Our Country, Walton Muyumba on on Claudia Rankine’s Triage, and Hermione Hoby on Gwendoline Reilly’s The Palm House. * “Etna, Paul Yoon’s third novel, […]
Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine, Rachel Aviv’s You Won’t Get Free of It, Sigrid Nunez’s It Will Come Back to You, and David Thompson’s A Sudden Flicker of Light all feature among July’s best reviewed books. * Fiction 1. Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) 17 Rave • 4 Positive “A dizzyingly brilliant measure of the versatility and […]
Our feast of fabulous reviews this week includes Niela Orr on Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine, Lily Meyer on Valeria Luiselli’s Beginning Middle End, Jonathan Derbyshire on Emily Eakin’s The Frenchmen, Jamie Quatro on Emilee Hackney’s All That’s Unseen, and Meghan Racklin on Emily Labarge’s Dog Days. “At the start, he deployed humor as a […]
Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine, Michael Cuningham’s Unsayable, and Claire Vaye Watkins’ Yellow Pine all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. * Fiction 1. Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) 14 Rave • 3 Positive “A dizzyingly brilliant measure of the versatility and depth of the acclaimed author’s literary talent … The intricacy […]
I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars. Today marks the 138th anniversary of the birth of Raymond Chandler, patron saint of Los Angeles noir and perhaps the most famous crime fiction writer of all time. Each of his nine novels, from The Big Sleep (1939) to the posthumously published Playback (1953), center around […]
Our tasting menu of terrific reviews this week includes Brandon Taylor on Michael Cunningham’s Unsayable, Grace Byron on Missouri Williams’ The Vivisectors, Alex Shephard on Franklin Foer’s How Soccer Explains the World, Robert Rubsam on Amitav Ghosh’s Ghost-Eye, and Charlotte Shane on Sean Hotchkiss’s Hating Women. * “To this genre of graduation literature, I would […]
Sigrid Nunez’s It Will Come Back to You, Lauren Collins’ They Stole a City, and Julie Buntin’s Famous Men all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. * Fiction 1. It Will Come Back to You: Collected Stories by Sigrid Nunez (Riverhead) 9 Rave Read a profile of Sigrid Nunez here “It Will […]
