Fiction Archive

The Reflections in Li Zi Shu’s The Age of Goodbyes

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As Li Zi Shu’s new novel rotates through three storylines in every chapter, it is soon clear that the objective is to glimpse how the truth of each is reflected, refracted, and twisted in the other two.

Motherhood and the Myth of Closure in Vigdis Hjorth’s Is Mother Dead

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Hjorth has masterfully written a family drama where no reunion takes place and a thriller where no blood is shed. Her prose keeps us on edge, puncturing breathless sentences that stretch to half a page with four-word questions that undercut everything she previously said.

Disappearing Bodies in Elizabeth McCracken’s The Hero of This Book

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To be visible or invisible in the public eye, the novel implies, is not a choice one makes. Readers who delight in forthright and fearless stories of complicated women, told through the eyes of other complicated women, are sure to find joy in McCracken’s new novel.

Literature and its Manipulations in The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

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Yiyun Li’s new book is a taut landscape built of all literature’s attachments, manipulations, displacements, anxieties, and escapes. It is the labored breadth of an economy that is resplendently libidinal and compelling.

Myths and Mundanity in Jill Bialosky’s The Deceptions

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Perhaps the greatest achievement of Jill Bialosky's novel is its captivating depiction of mundane reality.

The Suburban Microcosms of The Hundred Waters

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Lauren Acampora’s novel is a fast read that moves ever faster the deeper Louisa and Sylvie head down their suburban rabbit hole.

Young Love and Frenzied Obsession in Andrea Abreu’s Dogs of Summer

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In her debut novel, translated by Julia Sanches, Andrea Abreu writes a rapturous story about obsessive friendship, in the process providing an authentically complex portrayal of the desire of girls.

Sex and Satire in Wang Xiaobo’s Golden Age

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By using the language of the state to highlight the absurdity of their laws, Xiaobo made a satire that is both amusing and effective.

Temporality and Memory in The Man Who Could Move Clouds

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Rojas Contreras’s memoir intertwines family relationships and legacies, political conflicts and oppressions, and the expansive realm of healing, identity, and magic into a magnificent, mesmerizing memoir.

A Place to Call Home in Dele Weds Destiny

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Dele and Destiny are secondary characters in their own wedding story, and this is the beauty of the novel. The actual wedding is never about the couple. It’s about families coming together, about how love breaks us down, exposes the truth, and leads us to find ourselves.