Book Reviews Archive
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
Its comfort in the grotesque, the casual nature of it, is the most disturbing yet captivating aspect of the novel. Melchor’s debut drowns the reader in ominous truth, accentuating real life through fiction.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel continues her project of examining the immeasurable possibilities available in a single life.
Whiteout Conditions by Tariq Shah
In Tariq Shah’s debut novel, the protagonists finds a sliver of life in a world of death and, with that, a tiny bit of grace.
New Waves by Kevin Nguyen
In a world that seems increasingly chaotic and divided, Nguyen’s debut novel offers a refuge with his humble, distinct take on race relations in America, and smart analysis of the
ways technology shapes our personal and public lives.
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
Natalie Diaz’s new collection is a withering critique of conditions faced by Native peoples past and present.
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Brandon Taylor’s new novel explores the anxiety of being alive, the exhaustion of being black in America, and the cruelty that is embedded in human interaction.
Weather by Jenny Offill
Jenny Offill’s new novel is collection of portraits, of individual truths and national anguish, curated by a quietly unravelling woman.
Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham
In Tola Rotimi Abraham’s debut novel, two young girls see the linkage of sex, money, and religion on the path to power.
Blue Flowers by Carola Saavedra
Obsessive love is a theme as old as the Iliad, but Saavedra’s novel gives it her own enigmatic twist, joining the ranks of Latin American authors who are transforming our literary landscape in vivid, thrilling ways.
The Criminal Child by Jean Genet
Genet operated in social structures in order to subvert them, to explore and craft beauty from the darkest corners of modern civilization. While most artists can only imagine a prison sentence, prostitution, ecstasy, or evil, Genet lived through these experiences and, in some cases, sought them out.