Fiction Archive
Disconnect and Dissuasion in Ella Baxter’s New Animal
Ella Baxter’s debut novel is a raw, unflinching look at the aftermath of grief.
Unraveling Reality in Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
Each story feels like a potential episode of Black Mirror, exploring futuristic technology and the dangerous hold it has on all of us. Fu present us with the following question: while technology has added many conveniences to our lives, should we accept it? Should we push back for the
The Forming of a Self in Claudia Durastanti’s Strangers I Know
Claudia Durastanti’s English debut is a flame held up to the inexpressible self.
Displacements and Digressions in Saša Stanišić’s Where You Come From
In Saša Stanišić’s impressive and touching novel, digressions are the journey, as we too move through make-your-own-adventure lives, in which where you are from, and even where you are going, are of transient import.
Blank Canvases and Self Portraits in White on White
In her second novel, Ayşegül Savaş goes deep into the human experience, beautiful and fraught, delivering a renewed perception of what it means to be a person among other people.
Withholding and Revealing in Lily King’s Five Tuesdays in Winter
Lily King’s new story collection drops readers into imperfect lives, evoking awe and anger and admiration and futility, reminding us how it feels to be human.
Defining Care in Win Me Something
In Kyle Lucia Wu’s debut novel, care looks like many things . . . it’s in this subtle lesson that Wu’s quiet, understated prose builds to a deeply moving coming-of-age novel.
Death, Rebirth, and Selfhood in Dreaming of You
In Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s debut novel, a Latina poet brings Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla back to life through a séance . . . the book brilliantly challenges the limits of one’s selfhood and reveals what’s lost when it’s contorted to fit the beholder’s gaze.
Unending American Horror in The Trees
Percival Everett’s new novel explores our nationwide web of racist violence, and makes us realize there will never be enough deliberation on these horrors.
Soothing Existential Dread in Beautiful World, Where Are You
Sally Rooney’s talent lies in her ability to capture millennial existentialism and dread while almost simultaneously soothing it—the experience of finding one’s own anxieties articulated so precisely on the page feels like a balm.