… a profound and very funny book about growth and promise, and how not to kill them off; about women reading and writing and how they survive. Read more
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Tag: Literary Fiction
Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen E. Kirby
Kirby’s book succeeds not just because she’s a preternaturally gifted prose stylist, but because of her willingness to take risks. She experiments with points of view and occasionally dips into metafiction (“Midwestern Girl Is Tired of Appearing in Your Short Stories” is a master class in storytelling, as well as a hilarious commentary on a fiction scene that’s seen men overrepresented for decades.) And yet she also knows when to tap the brakes, when to step back and let her carefully drawn characters speak for themselves. It’s a stunning collection from a writer whose talent and creativity seem boundless. Read more
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The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
The book doesn’t feel speculative so much as inevitable, which is all the more horrifying. In fact, although the book isn’t billed as a horror novel, I felt consistently spooked while reading, disturbed but propelled on by Chan’s excellent pacing . Read more
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Devil House by John Darnielle
This masterwork of suspense is as careful with its sharp takes as it is with the bread crumbs it slowly drops on the way to its stunning end. It operates perfectly on many levels, resulting in a must-read for true crime addicts and experimental fiction fans alike. Read more
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‘True Grit’ is a modern classic, but it’s not the only great work by Charles Portis
Portis, who died in 2020, is best known for “True Grit,” the modern classic about 14-year-old Mattie Ross, who enlists a grizzled, one-eyed U.S. Marshal named Rooster Cogburn to help her hunt down her father’s murderer. Read more
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Omar El Akkad wins $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize for novel What Strange Paradise
What Strange Paradise is a novel that tells the story of a global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. Nine-year-old Amir is the only survivor from a ship full of refugees coming to a small island nation. He ends up with a teenage girl named Vanna, who lives on the island. Even though they don’t share a common language or culture, Vanna becomes determined to keep Amir safe. What Strange Paradise tells both their stories and how they each reached this moment, while asking the questions, “How did we get here?” and “What are we going to do about it?” Read more
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South African author Damon Galgut wins Booker Prize
South African author and playwright Damon Galgut won the Booker Prize on Wednesday for his novel “The Promise”, about a white family’s failed commitment to give their Black maid her own home. Read more
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The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
“…a scintillating story about a motley group of Native American booksellers haunted by the spirit of a customer … More than a gripping ghost story, this offers profound insights into the effects of the global pandemic and the collateral damage of systemic racism. It adds up to one of Erdrich’s most sprawling and illuminating works to date. Read more
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I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins
In the spirit of Edward Abbey, Hunter Thompson, and Joy Williams, Watkins has forged a desert tale of howling pain and a chaotic quest for healing mythic in its summoning of female power in a realm of double-wides, loaded dice, broken glass, and hot springs. Read more
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If this isn’t the Great American Novel, it’s a mighty attempt at achieving one
A sprawling, ambitious debut novel that is as impassioned in promoting Black women’s autonomy as it is insistent on acknowledging our common humanity. Read more
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