AltWeeklies Wire
Novelist James Kelman Captures Boyhood Just Rightnew
This story thrives in the specificity of its place and time, yet it is a childhood tale that will seem universal to the modern reader.
Charleston City Paper |
Michael Lucero |
02-11-2009 |
Fiction
'Death with Interruptions' Looks at the Cost of Immortalitynew
Descriptions of Jose Saramago's literary voice might sound dull and heavy-handed, and his pages might look more like a chore than a pleasure. Yet when you sit to read Death with Interruptions, you feel you are cutting through all the unnecessary formalities, and getting to the real meat of the story.
Charleston City Paper |
Michael Lucero |
12-21-2008 |
Fiction
'The Wasted Vigil' Offers a Hopeful Tragedynew
Wasted Vigil is not a book about Afghanistan, but of love. Author Nadeem Aslam creates a romantic and hopeful tragedy, where the odds more often than not overcome his characters. And yet, no amount of tragedy and suffering can eradicate the hope that continues to persist.
Charleston City Paper |
Augustine Kim |
11-05-2008 |
Fiction
Nick Harkaway's Debut Novel Shows a World Real Gonenew
There are plenty of scary places in the world. But the human imagination will always conjure up something worse. Nick Harkaway's debut novel, Gone Away World, is that kind of scary place -- where the id's gone mad and nightmares eat you.
Charleston City Paper |
Augustine Kim |
10-09-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: Nick Harkaway, The Gone Away World
Julia Glass Spices Up the Sister Novelnew
Being a sister myself, I can always relate to stories about this special bond, but I had to roll my eyes a little when I read the synopsis. Good thing I also glanced at the list of Glass' literary achievements, which convinced me to at least read the first chapter. That's all it took to pull me into the vivid world of Louisa and Clem Jardine.
Charleston City Paper |
Erica Jackson |
09-17-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: I See You Everywhere, Julia Glass
Debut Novel Depicts Chuck Klosterman's Former Small Town Lifenew
Downtown Owl is Klosterman’s first novel. Though he manages to name-drop ZZ Top, the Rolling Stones, and The Price is Right, he mostly offers a fictional supplement to his debut book, Fargo Rock City: Owl is a small North Dakota town of 800 in the early 1980s, devoid of pop culture.
Charleston City Paper |
Susan Cohen |
09-04-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: Chuck Klosterman, Downtown Owl
ZZ Packer's New Short Fiction Challenges Old Notions of Identitynew
It’s a tangle Packer addresses when she marks the border between the “Southerners” and “southerners.”
“Southerners, in full possession of that capital ‘S,’ stroll through life with an unassailable sense of right and wrong,” she writes. “Right: chicken-fried steak, Jesus, zero taxation; wrong: vegetarianism, psychiatry, Birkenstocks. The ‘southerner,’ lowercase, does not stroll so much as simper.”
Charleston City Paper |
Jon Santiago |
09-04-2008 |
Fiction
Danit Brown's Debut Chronicles the Struggle to Find One's Placenew
Osnat Greenberg grew up in Israel, in a high-rise apartment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Her mother is Israeli, her father is American, she has eight cousins and countless second cousins, and her crazy grandmother will only eat yellow food.(The old woman dies of gas poisoning when she forgets to turn off the stove.)
Charleston City Paper |
Erica Jackson |
08-27-2008 |
Fiction
Food Plays a Starring Role in Russian Emigre's New Short Story Collectionnew
Food, like music, can bring you back to a moment in time. For the cast of Broccoli, the smell and taste of spinach or memories of puffed rice help them relive their Russian past and hold on to a piece of their heritage.
Charleston City Paper |
Alison Sher |
08-20-2008 |
Fiction
Americans Might Find it Hard to Enjoy a Novel About Men Who Hate Womennew
This is easily one of the worst books I've ever read. And bear in mind that I've read John Grisham. I've read the Sweet Valley Middle School, High School, and University books.
Charleston City Paper |
Susan Cohen |
08-13-2008 |
Fiction
Marc Acito's New Novel is a Fun, Easy Read for One Catty Couplenew
To give it a fair shot, Attack of the Theater People, a new novel about a gay musical lover, was assigned for review to a couple of hopelessly devoted theater people who, a decade ago, shared a script on the set of their college production of Oklahoma!, swapped silly jokes about chaps, and longed for each other amid the rolling thunder of papier-mâché tumbleweeds.
Charleston City Paper |
Greg Hambrick and Shane Sears |
08-13-2008 |
Fiction
Starch in the Collar, But Not in the Spine: 'Gentleman's Guide' Lacks Ballsnew
For all its mannerly reserve, its upper-crusty starch, A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living is a thing so wispily fabricated — more eiderdown fluff than sailcloth — that any critical gust aimed at it is likely to scatter the whole works all over the floor.
Charleston City Paper |
Jon Santiago |
08-06-2008 |
Fiction
'Ancient Highway' Sculpts Three Generations of Family with Concise and Poetic Prosenew
Author Bret Lott, a professor at the College of Charleston, deftly maneuvers across three generations, running a ribbon through the arms of despondent family members, using rhythmic, undulating prose to deliver an assiduous, heart-worn tale.
Charleston City Paper |
Kevin Murphy |
08-06-2008 |
Fiction
Fraser's 'The Reavers' Might be as Good as They Saynew
"This book is nonsense," the late George MacDonald Fraser writes in the introduction of his last book, The Reavers. "It's meant to be."
Charleston City Paper |
Jon Santiago |
07-30-2008 |
Fiction
'Mermaids in the Basement' is Fluff for Smart Girlsnew
Even fluffy books should have their standards. Which is why I was so thrilled to find Michael Lee West's Mermaids in the Basement.
Charleston City Paper |
Erica Jackson |
07-30-2008 |
Fiction
