You will have to be up for this short story collection ; you will learn a lot about a corner of the world that’s rarely captured, and is done so here exceptionally well.
Drew Hart
Book Review: “Mecca” — A Wonder of an American Canvas
This is an immensely complex, deeply atmospheric story of the working class, of immigrants with global origins, many who are descendants of early settlers.
Book Review: “Foreverland” — Bound Until Death
Here’s to Heather and Bill, and this lively saga…
Book Review: “What Just Happened” — Memorable Thoughts on “A Long Year”
From the pandemic’s beginning, Charles Finch uses the crisis as a nearly daily backdrop for musings on all sorts. The results are at once cathartic, frightening, exasperating, and often hilarious.
Book Review: “The Recent East” — Exploring Seldom Seen Territory
Thomas Grattan, a New Yorker with German roots, displays an observant eye and a way with dialogue in his first novel.
Book Review: “Desert Oracle” — Dwelling on the Fringe
Desert Oracle is an omnibus, a kind of hand drawn map, as well as a bit of a crackup — something you will peruse and possibly find the route leading to a deeper dive.
Book Review: Nicole Krauss’ “To Be a Man” — A Virtuoso Performance
Nicole Krauss’ new book of short stories generates a curious, understated, but genuinely transporting spirit, pretty much throughout.
Book Review: “The Silence” — Brusque Prophecy
Many Don DeLillo fans will overlook this novella’s somewhat stilted dialogue and perfunctory erotic scenes for the sake of another taste of his dark and knowing world.
Book Review: “Cuyahoga” — An Old-Fashioned Medicine Show of a Read
Filled with galoots of all kinds, the novel might not have any true reason for existing, nor may it have any reason to end. But heck, it’s a good, old-fashioned, medicine show of a read.
Book Review: “Pew” — Someone Truly Out of This World
In no way a ‘tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing’, Pew is instead a kind of reverie, a wide-eyed spin on the Southern novel.