Review No. 199: Volstead Proper 2205 Dave Ward Drive (630) 358-6501 The SituationShe Said: I’d been seeing comments and casual reviews of Volstead Proper for a week or two, and I was interested in trying the new restaurant in Fat Burger’s former crib. I was craving what I call a “European lunch,” which means a big,… Continue reading Volstead Proper
Author: Jay Ruud
John Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany”
John Irving is sometimes dismissed by literary snobs as merely a “popular” writer—like a Stephen King, say, or a Dan Brown. Unsurprisingly, King himself reviewed A Prayer for Owen Meany, supplying a blurb for the front cover: “Readers will come to the end feeling sorry to leave [this] highly textured and carefully wrought world.” Irving does rank… Continue reading John Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany”
James Fowler’s “Life of Riley”
Geoffrey Hill’s “September ‘Song”
William Blake’s “The Clod and the Pebble”
Peter Kahn’s “Something About…”
Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”
Aldous Huxley came from a privileged background: he was the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, famous Victorian biologist and agnostic spokesman (known as “Darwin’s bulldog”), and on his mother’s side was the great nephew of the famous Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold, and with that pedigree graduated from Balliol College, Oxford. By 1932 he… Continue reading Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”
Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”
Ernest Hemingway was the most influential American novelist of the twentieth century. I’m sure some people might beg to differ, but I don’t think their objections would be completely serious. Sure he’s fallen somewhat out of fashion due to his machismo chest-beating and well-publicized misogyny. For which defects in his character a lot of people,… Continue reading Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”
