“You can’t know what’s in another person’s heart.” This is Perrotta’s first venture back into the world of short stories since his debut, the superlative Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies. It’s amazing how easily he slips back into the form after a long absence, not to mention how well he utilizes every page–whether it’s … More Book Review: Nine Inches, by Tom Perrotta
“They themselves mocked Africa, trading stories of absurdity, of stupidity, and they felt safe to mock, because it was a mockery born of longing, and of the heartbroken desire to see a place made whole again.” An assertion is made in Americanah that it is impossible to write an honest novel about race in this … More Book Review: Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“For every man there exists bait he cannot resist swallowing.” I started this book on the subway en route to work one morning. I almost missed my stop. That is something that hasn’t happened to me in far too long. It’s an exhilarating sensation, to get so caught up in a book that everything around … More Book Review: Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
“You can build a whole world around the tiniest of touches.” I’m just going to say it straight out: this book kinda creeped me out. And not in a good way. The year is 1987. June Elbus is one of those quirky, misunderstood teens in the Royal Tenenbaums, Harold and Maude mold. None of her … More Book Review: Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt
“I suspect that the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.” Hype can be a cruel demon. For an author, it sets an expectation that can be extremely difficult to live up to. For a reader, more often than not it only leads … More Book Review: And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini
“In reality I was playing a part, doing what I imagined I was supposed to do.” Finbar Dolan is having a breakdown. He’s had a mildly successful career at an advertising agency in New York (read: he’s successfully been rewarded for doing the minimal amount of work). His engagement went bust, leaving him with two … More Book Review: Truth in Advertising, by John Kenney
Back in 2009 Colum McCann set the literary world on fire with the National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin, a collection of stories centered around the day a man walked a tightrope between the towers of the World Trade Center. Using that true event, McCann elevated the ordinary lives of his characters to … More Book Review: Transatlantic, by Colum McCann
“Nobody ever knows anyone.” Jim and Bob Burgess couldn’t be more different. Bob is sensitive, not very confident, casually self destructive, and dangerously toying with alcoholism. Jim is a brash high-powered attorney with a fancy townhouse in a trendy part of Brooklyn. He’s also a huge jerk, but people are very forgiving of this quality … More Book Review: The Burgess Boys, by Elizabeth Strout
“It’s funny how it’s the memories of shame that hang on longest.” After finishing Claire Messud’s The Woman Upstairs, I’m now two for two with books propelled by rage. Unfortunately for The Antagonist, it pales in comparison to the sublime, burning anger of Woman (review here). To be fair to Lynn Coady, that’s where the … More Book Review: The Antagonist, by Lynn Coady
“I want to make my nothingness count.” First, I should tell you that Claire Messud and I have a complicated history. To be blunt: I hated her last book, The Emperor’s Children. It made me so angry. Looking back at my review (you can read it here), I see that perhaps a lot of this … More Book Review: The Woman Upstairs, by Claire Messud
Supposedly Fun 