Clea Simon

Book Review: “V2” — Robert Harris’s Gentler, Kinder World War II

November 19, 2020
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This is history from a distance. Harris’s characters feel more real when they’re working out the equations that will make a missile fly or fall than when they’re fleeing a double agent or a misfiring rocket.

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Book Review: “Utopia Avenue” — A Broken Record?

July 17, 2020
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These days, I worry that David Mitchell is losing touch with reality.

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Book Review: “The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien” — Ignoring the Poetry

June 1, 2020
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This is a beautifully produced book, replete with illustrations. Full-page photos of evocative landscapes are supplemented by both maps and smaller shots detailing architectural features.

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Music Documentary Review: “Up From the Streets” — New Orleans’ History of Oppression and Creativity

May 18, 2020
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Up From the Streets is no New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival — but it tries.

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Concert Review: Marcia Ball and Sonny Landreth at ONCE — Plenty Rousing

February 26, 2020
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At 70, Marcia Ball is a non-stop pro, particularly at pacing. Early barn burners gave way to the slow blues of “Just Kiss Me.”

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Rock CD Review: Sleater-Kinney’s “The Center Won’t Hold” — Mom + Pop

August 15, 2019
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This album lacks the desperation, the immediacy, the sheer power that made Sleater-Kinney essential in its original decade.

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Visual Arts Review: “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth” — Treasures of an Imaginary World

March 15, 2019
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This is the most extensive public display of original J.R.R. Tolkien material for several generations.

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Rock Concert Review: The The — Deconstructed

September 16, 2018
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In every meaningful way, The The’s return to the States, the band’s first tour in 16 years, was generous.

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“Write Your Own Damn Book” : Remembering Bill Corbett

August 15, 2018
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I think of Bill when I hear from struggling young writers, desperate to get it “right” – and to be accepted and published and make a living in a ridiculously difficult field.

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Book Review: “Spinning Silver” — Rumplestiltskin, Reimagined

August 13, 2018
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This is a winning book, conveying a strangely believable fantasy about three strong young women in a world not that far removed from our own.

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