Penguin Review by Walter Cummins The term “sleeping beauties” was new to me as a designation for artists, technologies, and scientific theories rediscovered after they had become obscure or were…
Tag: Review by Walter Cummins
The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar
Summit Review by Walter Cummins The Radiance is one of the most challenging novels I’ve encountered for quite a while. It delves into the complex inner mind of a character…
Ambivalence: An Education by Brian Dillon
New York Review Books Review by Walter Cummins If Ambivalence were a novel, readers would have been left pending in the midst of an uncertainty, the protagonist trapped in a…
Switzy by Emma Kline
Random House Review by Walter Cummins I’m very late for the long list of people eager to review Emma Kline’s Switzy, so much so that initially I decided to drop…
Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson
Doubleday Review by Walter Cummins Like the characters and happenings in Kate Atkinson’s latest novel, its title—Our Noble Selves, a phrase of stoicism used by British soldiers—is ironic. It serves…
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Random House Review by Walter Cummins The title captures the central concern of Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, which addresses with depth and complexity what a community of individuals is willing…
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore
Liveright Review by Walter Cummins In her latest book, Jill Lepore presents her analysis of how we have reached the creation of the Artificial State where machines set the guidelines…
Endless Endings: The Many Forms of Death and What They Teach Us About Life by Ricard Solé, trans. by Eduardo Aparicio
Princeton Review by Walter Cummins Endless Endings brings to mind lines from Hotspur’s dying speech in Henry IV, Part 1: “And time, that takes a survey of all the world, …
The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories by Stephanie Dupal
Swan Abbey Review by Walter Cummins This is a collection of original and unusual stories, the characters richly developed as they face essential dilemmas. Some of these people exemplify the…
Sunrise by Téa Obreht
Random House Review by Walter Cummins Téa Obreht’s latest work, Sunrise, while offering seemingly self-contained narratives about events from several different time periods, can also be regarded as a novel…