Sam Lipsyte’s latest novel does a bang-up job of capturing the edgy and zany milieu of the early ’90s.
Drew Hart
Arts Feature: Recommended Books, 2022
An eclectic round-up of the favorite books of the year from our critics.
December Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Book Review: “The Red Arrow” — All Aboard!
When did we last see a novel of such stimulating complexity that’s so downright hopeful too?
Book Review: “You Have a Friend in 10A” — A Laboratory of a Short Story Collection
You come away from this volume of short stories thinking that sure, Maggie Shipstead does write what she knows — it’s just that she may know everything.
Book Review: “Nobody Gets Out Alive” — A Big, Brash Book of Alaskan Stories
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.
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.