Category: Review

Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, his 2021 follow-up to his 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See, is a spectacularly wide-ranging novel that alternates between contemporary thriller, historical novel, and speculative science fiction, that takes readers from fifteenth-century Constantinople to twentieth- and then twenty-first century America and then to a twenty-second century generational… Continue reading Anthony Doerr’s “Cloud Cuckoo Land”

Barbara Kingsolver (2022) When, at the age of 15, I first read David Copperfield, Charles Dickens’ classic novel of the protagonist’s struggle to rise above child poverty in a society seemingly structured to keep him poor, it was the first book that made me tear up at the end, that glorious end with the angelic Agnes ever… Continue reading Demon Copperhead

The Women of Troy Pat Barker (2021) If you can’t quite place the name Briseis, you can probably be excused. It’s not Hecuba or Hellen. It’s not Cassandra or Penelope. Briseis is simply a very minor character in The Iliad—albeit a significant one, since she is, according to Homer, the cause of the rift between Achilles… Continue reading The Women of Troy

Sharpe’s Assassin Bernard Cornwell (2021) Bernard Cornwell has at least three great virtues as a novelist, and a writer of historical fiction particularly.  The first is his meticulous attention to historical detail, in manners, clothing, and other aspects of material culture, but most of all in his descriptions of military encounters. Weaponry, fighting tactics, even,… Continue reading Sharpe’s Assassin

Nous Nous John Vanderslie (2022) It’s been a long time since I read a book that I literally could not put down. But that is the case with John Vanderslice’s new novel Nous Nous.  Much of the reason for this urgency is the book’s affinities with the standard cinematic suspense thriller. It has the feel for much… Continue reading Nous Nous

Top Ten Films of 2021 Just in time for the Oscars, here’s a He Said/She Said review of what we have decided are the top ten films of the year. Fight us if you dare! HE SAID: 10. The Power of the Dog The favorite for virtually every major Oscar category, this year’s most honored film… Continue reading Top Ten Films of 2021

How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue (2021) The success of her first novel, Behold the Dreamers, which won the PENN/Faulkner Award for 2016, made her follow-up book, How Beautiful We Were, one of the most anticipated books of 2021. Mbue was born in Cameroon and came to the United States to earn a B.A. from Rutgers,… Continue reading How Beautiful We Were

No Time to Die Cary Joji Fukunaga (2021) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Steaming on Prime (It’ll cost you $19;99)—or in theaters. Length: 2 hours and 43 minutes Names You  Might Know: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Christoph Walz, Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes Language: English Rating: PG-13 (for violence, some disturbing images, brief strong language)  If you’re still not venturing… Continue reading No Time to Die

The Plague Albert Camus (1947) A lot of people read Camus’ The Plague back when they were teenagers or perhaps when they were in college, as one of those classics of world literature that generally demanded attention as the magnum opus of the youngest Nobel Prize winning writer in history. But it should probably come as no… Continue reading The Plague

Revolutionary Road Richard Yates (1961) Two of the nominees for the National Book Award for fiction in 1962 were Richard Yates’ novel Revolutionary Road and a little thing by Joseph Heller called Catch-22. In the end, neither novel won the award (it went to Walker Percy for The Moviegoer), but the Yates and Heller novels had much in common.… Continue reading Revolutionary Road