That Old Country Music: stories by Kevin Barry

Doubleday Review by Brian Tanguay “It informed me that there had been others before as deranged by matters of the heart and loins as I was now.” This line from…

In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif

Penguin Review by Gabriel Tanguay Ortega At nearly 800 pages, Ahdaf Soueif’s 1992 debut novel is a rewarding undertaking, a sort of modern Anna Karenina set in mid-20th century Egypt,…

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

Knopf Review by Jinny Webber In the lead article in the New York Times morning newsletter of September 25, 2024, Steve Lohr, who covers technology and the economy for the…

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak had been on my reading list for more than a year, but the book of hers that came…

The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers

Norton Review by Brian Tanguay It has been some time since I finished a novel and immediately felt compelled to turn back to the first page and start over. The…

Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State by Samuel Stein

Verso Review by Brian Tanguay Many years ago I wrote a letter to my county supervisor protesting the proposed development of an avocado orchard near where my in-laws lived. I…

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

Anchor Books Review by Gabriel Tanguay Ortega I can only begin this review by presenting my issues.  I’m not sure what this book is about. Colonialism, white saviorism, the rape…

The Big Green Tent: A Novel by Ludmila Ulitskaya, Translated by Polly Gannon

Picador Review by Brian Tanguay When I read the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago as a teenager I lacked the education to fully understand it. My youthful worldview was…

Roxy and Coco by Terese Svoboda

West Virginia Review by Walter Cummins My fine feathered friends. That phrase, dating back to the 1500s, occurred to me after I read Terese Svoboda’s novel Roxy and Coco. The…

An Ordinary Youth by Walter Kempowski, Translated by Michael Lipton

New York Review of Books Review by Brian Tanguay In November 1944 Walter Kempowski was called up for mandatory service by the German government, and detailed to go from house…