Fiction Archive
Disaster Capitalism in Birnam Wood
No generation is immune from the Birnam Wood's ire. Idealistic millennials are frauds, Gen X-ers are technocratic looters, Boomers are oblivious resource hoarders. Yet it’s not just the premise that everyone is fatally flawed that generates such intense and oppressive pessimism; rather, it’s that everyone in the novel is
Endless Grief in Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s Monstrilio
Sámano Córdova asks readers to imagine cheating death even for a little bit, even if we know it will all go wrong, even if we know the second grief can only be worse.
Constant Contradictions in Nazlı Koca’s The Applicant
With its clipped, direct sentences and its abundance of resonant questions, long and short, Koca’s prose mirrors this narrative doubleness—giving readers an experience that is both irresistibly consumable yet compellingly durable.
Throwing Bodies in Mariana Enríquez’s Our Share of Night
Mariana Enríquez moves past a superficial top layer of social commentary as quickly as possible to embroil the reader in the true horror at the core of her epic: the responsibility foisted upon those who inherit the history to watch the horrible truth slowly come to light.
The Perils of Freedom in How to Turn into a Bird
How to Turn into a Bird María José Ferrada Tin House | December 6, 2022 Ramón, the protagonist in How to Turn into a Bird, is not like the others. He left his job working long hours at the factory. He no longer lives within the thin walls of
Inhabiting Past Ancestors in Animal Life
Animal Life is a subtle and stunning work for anyone who has felt the impact of an ancestor, who has lost themselves to a past that feels like their own.
A Fierce Feminist Take on the Troubles in Factory Girls
Michelle Gallen’s novel enriches the Troubles narrative with a fierce cast of young women determined to reject the violence of their youth.
The Reflections in Li Zi Shu’s The Age of Goodbyes
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
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
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.