Reviews

Chloe Aridjis’s Night-Sea Journey

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'Dialogue with a Somnambulist' reveals a new anxiety: that enchantment, however necessary, will not be sufficient.
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Reviews

The Ambitious Anachronism of ‘The Fraud’

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We are to understand that a story with such disclosures could not be published in its time, but we might also feel it could not have been written then.
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Reviews

Scenes from a Literary Marriage

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'Wifedom' is less a biography of Eileen—or even a portrait of two halves of a marriage—than an indictment of a writer that Funder has ceased to venerate.
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Reviews

‘The Librarianist’ Could Stand To Be Stranger

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Bookworm protagonists: O, low-hung literary fruit!
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Reviews

The Real Lambs Know: On ‘Why Mariah Carey Matters’

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I love her precisely because she has improvised ways to thrive in the face of derision.
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Reviews

Academic Angst Goes Abroad in ‘The English Experience’

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For all of its fun, Julie Schumacher's 'The English Experience' is a bracingly accurate tour of the pedagogical experience.
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Reviews

Christine Kenneally Reimagines the Pursuit of Justice

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The path to justice requires vision, indefatigable commitment, and the refusal of easy compromises. 'Ghosts of the Orphanage' charts that path.
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Reviews

Elder Care: On Alexandra Chang’s ‘Tomb Sweeping’

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The most affecting thematic thread in 'Tomb Sweeping' is that of intergenerational bonds.
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Reviews

The Meta Pleasures of ‘Tom Lake’

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Patchett writes literary fiction, but in 'Tom Lake,' she borrows techniques from mysteries and thrillers.
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Reviews

Claire Fuller’s Visions of Multispecies Justice

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In 'The Memory of Animals,' justice for animals does not have to come at the expense of justice for humans, and vice versa.
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Reviews

Arte Migrante

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Two debut authors write an untold Italy.
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Reviews

In Cause of a Messy Garden: On ‘Soil’

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In Camille T. Dungy’s view, we should value gardening not just for its utility but how it enriches our lives aesthetically.
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Reviews

Manic Highs and Savage Lows: On ‘All-Night Pharmacy’

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Sisters disappear, mysterious strangers spark epiphanies, and sex and selfhood teeter on a knife’s edge.
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Reviews

For Kate Zambreno, Playthings Are Profound

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Often, Zambreno’s fascination with her daughters’ toys verges on aesthetic admiration.
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Reviews

Splits, Doubles, Masks, and Decoys: On ‘Life Is Everywhere’

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There is an ongoing game about what is real vs. what is really real, which is funny because in a novel, nothing is really real.
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Reviews

Lust, Loss, and Liberation in Jenny Erpenbeck’s ‘Kairos’

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Maybe this novel is a Bildungsroman about freedom, with young Katharina its hero and the West her inevitable liberation?
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Reviews

Getting Ahead: On Emma Cline’s ‘The Guest’

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An interloper amid the wealthy, Alex both witnesses and tampers with the tableau of idle luxury.
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Essays Reviews

Love Ruins Everything: On Claire Dederer’s ‘Monsters’

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To defend or disavow? The choice is yours, and it feels good to have a choice.
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