Review by David Starkey In order to truly appreciate Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel, a reader should be familiar with her two previous efforts: the groundbreaking pre-Covid pandemic novel,…
Category: Fiction
Anthem by Noah Hawley
Review by David Starkey Noah Hawley’s new novel Anthem is set in a near, scarcely alternative future. The United States is riven by partisan divide, with the Alt Right on…
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
Review by David Starkey Let’s be honest: after writing two of the best novels of the twenty-first century—The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys—it was going to be hard for…
Our Little World by Karen Winn
Review by Walter Cummins Our Little World is in several ways a deceptive novel, cleverly constructed. The opening chapters told from the perspective of pre-teen Bee—the nickname she prefers over…
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
Review by Brian Tanguay The Dalai Lama is the most recognizable figure of the Tibetan diaspora, but the focus of Tsering Yangzom Lama’s debut novel, We Measure the Earth with…
Free Love by Tessa Hadley
Review by Walter Cummins While pages of Tessa Hadley’s latest novel, Free Love, are filled with sexual activity and, more significantly, sexual gratification, satisfactions of the libido are transitory steps…
A Little Hope by Ethan Joella
Review by Walter Cummins The pages of Ethan Joella’s A Little Hope abound in death and loss. The novel, which opens with the question of whether a central character will…
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Review by David Starkey Richard Powers’ new novel, Bewilderment, is—despite its portrayal of a mother and son who are capable of ecstatic connection with the natural world—one of the most…