AltWeeklies Wire
In 'Scorch Atlas,' Blake Butler Rains Gravel and Glassnew
Blake Butler aims his telescope at the future, and if what he finds there and shows us in Scorch Atlas even approaches the truth, we can all only hope we won't be around to see it.
Boston Phoenix |
Nina Maclaughlin |
09-10-2009 |
Fiction
'How to Make Friends With Demons' Ranks as One of the Year's Best Novelsnew
Leaping forward and backward through time, Graham Joyce expertly weaves a cohesive novel that essentially chronicles a mid-life crisis.
San Antonio Current |
Rick Klaw |
09-10-2009 |
Fiction
'The Hunter' Flawlessly Brings a Crime Novel to Comicsnew
The Hunter quickly becomes a cascade of sex, murder, and international intrigue, and you just have to root for our antihero—he's just so good at what he does.
The Portland Mercury |
Paul Constant |
09-03-2009 |
Fiction
'Big Machine' is a Big, Mean Story by Victor LaVallenew
Far from a standard dry examination of doubt and faith, Lavalle's allegorical approach is sweeping and swashbuckling. Big Machine takes us from Ricky's idyllic childhood -- sweet as saccharine, with a black tar of burn -- to his romantic nadir, dying in a puddle of piss and shit in the basement of a house owned by a man named Murder.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
09-02-2009 |
Fiction
Lisbeth Salander Makes a Blazing Return in 'The Girl Who Played With Fire'new
The late Stieg Larsson's follow-up to the sprawling, expertly plotted crime novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is in most ways as gripping as the previous one.
The Georgia Straight |
Brian Lynch |
08-31-2009 |
Fiction
In 'Inherent Vice,' a Dope-Buzzed PI Watches the '70s California Dream Unravelnew
In his zany new novel, Thomas Pynchon goes back to the Golden State to paint a nostalgic portrait of a fictional beach town near LA in the '70s -- when the counterculture finally lost the battle to the forces of control, governmental power and sobriety.
Las Vegas Weekly |
John Freeman |
08-27-2009 |
Fiction
Thomas Pynchon's 'Inherent Vice' is an Endlessly Entertaining Variation on the Detective Yarnnew
Unlike any previous Pynchon work, Vice fully embraces genre. And in doing so it's difficult to tell if the genre is merely pliable enough to accommodate all of Pynchon's literary whims or if the now 72-year-old author has basically been riffing on this form his entire career.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
08-25-2009 |
Fiction
'That Old Cape Magic' is Incrementally Less Magical Than Richard Russo's Previous Worknew
Cape Magic lacks the expansive, roomy quality of Russo's best work, but his trademark warmth makes it a worthwhile read all the same -- after all, it's only 261 pages.
The Portland Mercury |
Allison Hallett |
08-20-2009 |
Fiction
'Amphibian' is a Sweet and Smart Book for Optimists of Any Agenew
Nine-year-old Phineas Walsh, the narrator of Carla Gunn's Amphibian, makes you feel like you've been cornered on the playground by a sensitive and intelligent young boy who's going to tell you his observations about the world. Hilarious and affecting, he's something special.
NOW Magazine |
Zoe Whittall |
08-17-2009 |
Fiction
Richard Russo's New Novel is a Beach Read With a Grit of Sandnew
Despite its flaws, That Old Cape Magic succeeds as a funny, forgiving profile of a man crawling his way towards self-knowledge just in time to make things right.
New Haven Advocate |
Jolisa Gracewood |
08-11-2009 |
Fiction
'Farewell to Dejla' Follows Iraq's Jews Across Borders and Oceansnew
In Farewell to Dejla, Tova Murad Sadka uses the short story to explore the travails of Iraqi Jews, both in their homeland and in dispersion. Though marred by crude ethnic and religious stereotypes, her book offers a sensitive treatment of a community's existential fears and an exquisite probing of the painful and comic aspects of culture clash.
Chicago Reader |
Rayyan Al-Shawaf |
07-07-2009 |
Fiction
Giving Good Gimmick: Granta at 30new
To sustain a good literary magazine over decades it pays to have a gimmick. Thirty-year-old Granta's secret to success: themes, like this issue's "New Fiction Special."
Boston Phoenix |
William Corbett |
06-30-2009 |
Fiction
'Woods Burner' Explores in Fiction Thoreau's Pivotal Firenew
On April 30, 1844, Henry David Thoreau began the fire that eventually burned 300 acres of forest outside his home in Concord, Mass. Woods Burner is poet and novelist John Pipkin's fictional exploration of that event, which he paints as a turning point for Thoreau.
Jackson Free Press |
Ronni Mott |
06-26-2009 |
Fiction
Ali Sethi's Debut Novel is a Hitnew
For anyone wishing to write about Pakistan, a well-developed perspective is essential. Auspiciously, the perspective in The Wish Maker is its great victory.
Willamette Week |
John Minervini |
06-17-2009 |
Fiction
Saskatchewan Writer Delivers a New Russell Quant Mysterynew
Aloha, Candy Hearts, the sixth in the cheeky Russell Quant series, finds our favorite gay private investigator enjoying a whirlwind weekend in Waikiki with his sexy long-distance lover, having surprised himself by saying yes to a proposal of marriage.
NOW Magazine |
Lesley McAllister |
05-29-2009 |
Fiction
