David Mehegan
“Room on the Sea” is impressively crafted and written, but its lack of bite, drive, and action left me restless.
Richard Kreitner’s narrative shows that, in general, Jews were apparently no more intolerant of slavery than any other Americans – notwithstanding their spiritual and national history of liberation from bondage.
“Real Toads, Imaginary Gardens” is a power-packed guide to the way poems are made and understood, a useful addition to the bookshelf of anyone who reads the art for pleasure.
An absorbing novel that builds steadily, not to a shattering or violent conclusion (all the violence is in the past or offstage) but to a quiet release that is humane and persuasive.
Notwithstanding the book’s research foundation, albeit colorfully amplified with personal and historical anecdotes, as a civilizational story Inheritance is a lightweight effort.
This book is a fiery manifesto that charges that copyright law today is an outrageously unjust scheme that does nothing for 99 percent of authors, other creative people, and their fans, while it locks up a commodity that fills the coffers of large corporations.
The stories in this collection are uneven, although to my mind the beauty and brilliance of the best outweigh the others.
If this is a fable, is there a moral?
The plot of The Red Balcony ticks along briskly. Jonathan Wilson is a gifted narrator and scene-maker.
Book Review: Two Powerful Books from Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa — A Liberal Citizen of the World
Engagingly written by a limpid stylist, The Call of the Tribe marshals a corps of sparkling intellectuals who have in common first-hand experience of dictatorship, a commitment to individual freedom, a belief in reasonably regulated free-market economies, and a rejection of the political zealotry of religion or the doctrinaire left and right.
Read More about Book Review: Two Powerful Books from Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa — A Liberal Citizen of the World