Review of Girlchild, by Tupelo Hassman
A daring debut novel about breaking free from the consequences of our parents’ bad judgment and of the expectations of the class we are born into.
Review of Coral Glynn, by Peter Cameron
A suspenseful yarn involving murder, sex, and a biting critique of social mores.
Review of Ampersand, Mass., by William Walsh
A unique perspective that allows the reader to be surprised, touched, and disgusted by a wide range of stories set in the same small town.
Review of Damascus, by Joshua Mohr
Reminiscent of Bukowski and Barfly, but without all the sweetness, Damascus is a sad mix of stories that is not without redemption.
Review of Blueprints for Building Better Girls, by Elissa Schappell
A collection about women, girls, and the stories we tell ourselves.
Review of Night Swim, by Jessica Keener
A subtle, frank, intense portrait of grief, growth, and a family’s unravelling.
Review of NowTrends, by Karl Taro Greenfeld
Spanning the globe, Greenfeld’s stories touch universal feelings while creating unique moments of epiphany and loss.
Review of A Tendency To Be Gone, by Pamela Ryder
A look at an artist unmoored, ascending exultant heights while demonstrating the perils of dead reckoning.
Review of Divorcer, by Gary Lutz
The characters in Lutz’s fiction are often trapped in the confinements of self and language.
Review of Curse the Names, by Robert Arellano
Call it paranormal noir, but don’t go thinking that means aliens are around the corner.
Review of Tracks, by Eric D. Goodman
A novel-in-stories whose characters are attached to a single track, trying to change paths but unable to jump their rails.
Review of Don’t Smell the Floss, by Matty Byloos
A neurotic, humorous and fascinating collection riddles with eccentricity.
Review of Tres, by Roberto Bolaño
Reading the works of Roberto Bolaño is a bit like hitchhiking in some godforsaken frontier territory.
The YA Novel Tailor-Made for Digital Immigrants and Facebook Addicts
Rachel Kramer Bussel wonders whether she’d want to be able know about her future, like the characters in the new YA novel The Future of Us.
Review of How the Mistakes were Made, by Tyler McMahon
A novel with the fever dream of rock and roll in spades.
Review of Dollhouse, by the Kardashian Sisters
Slor? Manwhore? Or no more! Keeping up with the Kardashians’ debut novel.
Review of Green Girl, by Kate Zambreno
There are strangers here who wear your face.
Review of The Fixed Stars, by Brian Conn
A book mathematically languaged over a violent pastoral landscape of disease and dis-ease.
Review of Widow, by Michelle Latiolais
A brave and insightful novel about the power and depth of grief, and of the women who struggle with it.
Review of The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, by Shannon Cain
People in love understand the necessity of certain behaviors.
Review of God Bless America, by Steve Almond
Stories about feisty Americans who view life through the rosy lens of their desires.
Review of We the Animals, by Justin Torres
Torres’ style feels so essential, so focused and concentrated, so taut and fiery and startling, like a cup of maple syrup made from ten gallons of sap, that everything else starts to sound loose and slack by comparison.
Review of My Father’s House, by Ben Tanzer
A blunt look at death, family and all the usual pop culture concerns that describe Ben Tanzer’s best work.
Review of The History of Arcadia: Snotty Saves the Day, by Tod Davies
A sly, humorous and self-referential book-length fairy tale that teaches its central character the purpose of learning itself.
Review of Stone Arabia, by Dana Spiotta
A deeply philosophical novel about the vagaries of memory, the pleasures and limits of fantasy, the value of art, and the way the media turns us into pain tourists. And, yes, rock and roll.
Review of Carry Yourself Back to Me, by Deborah Reed
A coming of age novel about music, betrayal in love, infused with sensory detail.
Marie Finis, Perhaps: A Review of Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s Running Away and The Truth About Marie
Two satisfying atmospheric novels from a brilliant author whose work continues to mature.
Review of Crimes in Southern Indiana, by Frank Bill
The twigs you hear cracking out in the woods are the sounds of vengeance come home to roost.
An Essay about Beryl Bainbridge, and a Review of her Final Novel, The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress
A consideration of the enigmatic final novel of one of the best prose stylists of the 20th century.
Review of Short Bus, by Brian Allen Carr
Whether the bus is short or long, sometimes you can’t stop it from going over the cliff.
Review of The Postmortal, by Drew Magary
An interesting population-bomb version of the apocalypse in the ever-growing landscape of dystopian novels, The Postmortal is an often unflattering commentary on human beings–present, past and future.
Review of Light Lifting, by Alexander MacLeod
Sports play unexpected roles in many McLeod’s stories, as he subverts the Hollywood genre of narratives about winning against all odds on a field of dreams.
Review of Once Upon a River, by Bonnie Jo Campbell
It’s a battle of the sexes in this haunting, lyrical, and unsparing coming-of-age novel.
Love & Squalor: All-Terrain Stories
Dika Lam reads a month’s worth of twisted bedtime stories in her review of Ben Loory’s Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day.
A Reader’s Log(orrhea) #6: Unmoored Confessions and Other Diversions: Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s The Daydreaming Boy
John Madera examines Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s labyrinthine prose in The Daydreaming Boy.
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