Farrar, Straus and Giroux Review by Laura Mullen “Then the rain came and we thought it / might clean us. / It did not clean us.” In his Theses on…
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Body Double by Hanna Johansson, translated by Kira Josefsson
Catapult Review by Walter Cummins Although I read a translation of this novel, I assume the English sentence structure replicates that of the original Swedish, a series of flat statements…
Five Weeks in the Country by Francine Prose
Harper Walter Cummins Readers can fantasize the meeting of two literary titans as an opportunity for an exchange of legendary brilliance. But it doesn’t always work out that way. When…
A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia
Grove Review by Walter Cummins In her author’s note Stephanie Sy-Quia states that the idea for this novel came from an actual family situation—the fact that her grandfather was a…
Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli
William Morrow Review by Linda Lappin Crossing from the Oltrarno into the heart of Florence, I always paused to admire the view from the Santa Trinità bridge: a checkerboard of…
Transcription by Ben Lerner
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Review by Walter Cummins The title defines the issue. This novel is a transcription of several experiences, especially conversations and interviews meant to serve as a…
Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta
Scribner Walter Cummins Ghost towns are usually pictured as abandoned places of decaying windowless houses and barren streets. Creamwood, New Jersey, is certainly not own of those, but a busy…
Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital by David Browne
Hachette Review by Walter Cummins “Slow Fall” suggests that the book is an elegy, but what actually happened to Manhattan’s West Village musical scene is that it took over the…
Dickens in Brooklyn by Jay Neugeboren
Eastover Review by Walter Cummins I met Jay Neugeboren at the book launch for a mutual friend after knowing about his writing for years. We shook hands and had a…