Roberta Silman

Book Review: “A Brief Stop on the Road From Auschwitz” — Destined to Become a Classic

February 23, 2015
Posted in , , ,

Göran Rosenberg has written a calm yet passionate account of events after Auschwitz, a memoir marked by great intelligence and equally great emotional intensity.

Book Review: “Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli, A Strange Romance” — But an Amazing Marriage

February 13, 2015
Posted in , ,

Daisy Hay turns her sharp yet sympathetic eye on Mary Anne and Benjamin Disraeli, whose marriage seemed unlikely at the start but which grew into something not only strange but, even in modern terms, amazing.

Theater Review: “Breath & Imagination” — Inspirational, Then and Now

February 1, 2015
Posted in , ,

Breath & Imagination is a realistic, moving, and very revealing take on what it means to be a black artist in America, both then and now.

Book Review: The Remarkable Life of Storm Jameson — Attention Tenderly Paid

January 2, 2015
Posted in , ,

After reading this scholarly and accessible biography, I am convinced that Storm Jameson’s life is a must for anyone fascinated by the history of women writers in the 20th century.

Book Review: “Havel: A Life” — A Splendid Biography of a Seminal Artist/Statesman

November 24, 2014
Posted in , , ,

What this magisterial biography does so well is give us an even-handed portrait of a remarkable, flawed man who is obsessed with a need to help the disenfranchised.

Poetry Review: “Gabriel, A Poem” — A Terrible Beauty

October 17, 2014
Posted in , ,

Gabriel is a searing experience to read, filled with sadness but also humor and forbearance, and may give comfort to parents who are dealing with difficult children.

Book Review: Marilynne Robinson’s “Lila” — A Vision of Life More Damned Than Redeemed

October 2, 2014
Posted in , ,

Lila is an ambitious book that is deeply flawed and not nearly in the same class as Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gilead.

Book Review: “In Certain Circles” and “The Last Lover” — The Powerful and The Disappointing

September 22, 2014
Posted in , , ,

Elizabeth Harrower’s In Certain Circles is a stunning novel about class and marriage and power; Can Xue’s The Last Lover is a tedious surrealistic farce.

Book Review: “Love Made Visible” — A Poignant Memoir About Life With a Boston “Renaissance Man”

August 27, 2014
Posted in , ,

We become participants in a chapter of American art history that raises important questions about what fame means, how much a part luck plays, and how we treat our artists. .

Classical Music Commentary: The Boston University Tanglewood Institute — A Marvelous Experience For All

July 26, 2014
Posted in , ,

Precision and obvious competence were only part of the story. What made this concert from The Young Artists Orchestra so special was the joy conveyed by these fledgling musicians.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives