Grove-Press

January Short Fuses — Materia Critica

January 3, 2023
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Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

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Book Review: Leonard Cohen’s “A Ballet of Lepers and Short Stories” — An Unwelcome Anachronism

November 8, 2022
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Sometimes works that major artists withheld — like songs that are not deemed worthy of release —are best kept in the vaults.

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Book Review: “Small Things Like These” — Resisting Cruelty

February 13, 2022
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Claire Keegan’s novella expertly shows how the culture of idle talk in certain Irish communities is like a secret code — an intricate language that both obscures and reveals.

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Book Review: “Animalia” — ‘Taint a Fit World for Man or Beast

September 24, 2019
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Jean-Baptiste Del Amo has written a marvelous novel in the naturalistic mode that explores how the lives of humans and animals are both interdependent and in conflict — it is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

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Book Review: “The Western Wind” — A Magisterial Murder Mystery

February 22, 2019
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The Western Wind turns out to be a beautifully written novel, a serious book of great depth, intention, and craft.

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Poetry Review: The Devolution of Eileen Myles

October 1, 2018
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One of the fears of poets and, I imagine, all writers, is that you’ll reach a certain age and you’ll run out of gas.

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Book Review: “Convenience Store Woman” — Selling on Empty

June 6, 2018
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Convenience Store Woman is an achievement — a satiric look at a mind that is intent on remaining empty.

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Book Review: An Uneven “Bottomland”

April 5, 2016
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Perhaps in the future Michelle Hoover will let her very real talent take her into the unknown, where narrative and myth merge.

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Book Review: “Liberty’s First Crisis” — Oddballs to the Rescue

March 31, 2016
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Liberty’s First Crisis presents reminders that elected officials have always been capable of uncivilized behavior toward their colleagues.

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Book Review: Living Well is not the Same as Being Good—Jim Harrison’s “The Ancient Minstrel”

March 18, 2016
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Jim Harrison’s prose is gorgeous, illuminating. The simple language slides into your head and resonates there.

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