AltWeeklies Wire
Salman Rushdie Creates an Engrossing East-Meets-West Novelnew
The bridge between these two worlds is the enchantress of the book's title, an Indian princess so beautiful and beguiling, Rushdie keeps her from the reader for more than half of the book--as if we, too, could not bear the full power of her charms.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
07-22-2008 |
Fiction
An Interview with Peter Careynew
The word "happy" does not fit easily into Peter Carey's mouth. Under normal circumstances, it dribbles off his lip on a trickle of sarcasm.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
04-15-2008 |
Fiction
Back in Vietnamnew
Even if you think you're done with Vietnam novels, Tree of Smoke could change your mind -- it belongs on the shelf next to Tim O'Brien, Larry Heinemann and Stephen Wright.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
12-11-2007 |
Fiction
Novel Ideas: Gifts for a Literary Holidaynew
For every personality, every reading level, there's a book out there waiting to provide that lucky Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanza celebrant with a few hours -- maybe a few weeks -- of pleasure.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
11-20-2007 |
Books
JIm Shepard: Dangerous, Dark Dispatchesnew
Like You'd Understand, Anyway is made up almost entirely of fictional testimonies from situations that quickly disintegrate -- and it's not hard to keep reading out of simple rubbernecking.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
11-13-2007 |
Fiction
Ha Jin's American Dreamsnew
In his mammoth new novel, A Free Life, he deploys the elements of his own powerful journey in an epic tale about a young couple at sea in America in the early '90s.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
11-06-2007 |
Fiction
Anne Enright's 'Buried Memories' is Bleak and Sexualnew
The Irish wake has become such a familiar trope in films and popular culture it takes a fiercely unsentimental novel like Anne Enright's The Gathering, recent winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize, to club the blarney out of it.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
10-30-2007 |
Fiction
George Saunders's Magazine-Inspired Missionnew
Five years and a few National Magazine Awards later, we have this sparkling new essay collection, The Braindead Megaphone, which sends up a powerful warning flag about what the shouters and screamers of our contemporary mediascape are doing to American culture.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
10-30-2007 |
Nonfiction
Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' Hits 50new
As the novel's 50th anniversary approaches, some books with helpful hints about what that might have been are landing in bookstores.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
09-11-2007 |
Books
Spit Shine: 'Confessions of a Wallstreet Shoeshine Boy'new
A vivid portrait of a world run by those who mostly don't notice the little people, even when they are walking all over them.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
07-31-2007 |
Fiction
Who's Your Baghdaddy?new
The Washington Post reporter's examination of the Green Zone tells us a lot about how Iraq fell apart.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
03-20-2007 |
Nonfiction
Dumb and Dumbernew
The Occupation is one of the most concise, well-written portraits of Iraq on shelves today.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
03-20-2007 |
Nonfiction
Making the Listnew
Granta once again examines the best and brightest of a new generation.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
03-13-2007 |
Books
Sex and Religion, Faith and Skepticismnew
Elif Shafak is part of a new generation of Turks who are taking the novel -- a form which came to them from the West -- and using it to reimagine their society from within.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
02-27-2007 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Brotherhoodnew
This swift, weird little novel by Martin Amis is his best fiction in years.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
02-06-2007 |
Fiction
Tags: House of Meetings, Martin Amis
