Review

Children’s Book Reviews: A Pair of Notable Women

March 12, 2026
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Two new biographies spotlight women whose remarkable achievements have enriched our understanding of our world.

Book Review: Unquiet Graves and Uneasy Truths in “Centroeuropa”

March 12, 2026
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An engaging and entertaining mystery, told in an evocative period setting, that deconstructs narrative conventions, analyzes the artifice of identity, and critiques the capitalist patriarchal system.

Theater Review: “Like Flies” — A Cauldron of Female Fury at Portland Stage

March 11, 2026
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Is anyone surprised that playwrights like Kearnan are creating works that show us women who are resourceful — and ready to fight back against their oppressors?

Book Review: Dead but Dealing — Alain Mabanckou’s Pointe-Noire Necropolis

March 11, 2026
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“Dealing With the Dead” achieves something else no outsider, however gifted or knowledgeable, could pull off: showing how magic, superstition, religious faith and credulity (as in, a hunger to believe) play into the everyday lives of most Pointe-Noireans.

Jazz Concert Reviews: Jamie Baum Quintet and Miguel Zenón Quartet

March 11, 2026
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Reviews of live performances by bands led by flutist and composer Jamie Baum and saxophonist Miguel Zenón.

Theater Review: “You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!” — A Hardy Party

March 11, 2026
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Keiko Green’s play about the end of the world is a robust vaudevillian entertainment.

Film Review: Echoes of Passion — Arnaud Desplechin’s “Two Pianos” Plays on the Keys of Loss and Love

March 10, 2026
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Here’s a drama that explores with uncommon pathos the ways that people confront—with grace or with fury—what they’re compelled to give up.

Film Review: “Hoppers” — Pixar’s Madcap Eco-Fable Hops Between Absurdity and Alarm

March 10, 2026
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“Hoppers”‘ climax is a valuable reminder that none of us —  from mammal to ant — are safe from the fury of a Mother Nature we have badly wronged.

Jazz Concert Review: Kris Davis Trio at Arrow Street Arts — Bold, Inventive, and Fearlessly Fluid

March 9, 2026
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Kris Davis appeared with her current trio of acoustic bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake, a simpatico unit that clearly responds to both the pianist’s genre-pushing forms and spontaneous sense of adventure. 

Book Review: “Eating Ashes” — A Haunting Tale of Migration and Mourning

March 9, 2026
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Sliding back and forth between the past and the present, “Eating Ashes” paints a gritty, emotional, and forceful vision of a family traumatized by disconnection.

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