AltWeeklies Wire
Financial Collapse Plus War Plus Suicide Plus Closeted Men Equals OK Novelnew

Finished in September 2008, the very week that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, Union Atlantic offers a lucid perspective on the manner in which the greed and venality of a privileged few can drive the economy toward and beyond the brink of collapse.
San Antonio Current |
Justin Isenhart |
02-24-2010 |
Fiction
David Wroblewski's Debut Novel Is Brilliantnew
Elegance and simplicity grace every page of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle as David Wroblewski finds authentic power through well-crafted scenes and strong character development. Here is fiction with the truth of memoir.
Boise Weekly |
Bill English |
05-27-2009 |
Fiction
Colm Toibin's New Novel Is Quiet and Thankfully Unsentimentalnew
Brooklyn is a quiet, charming novel written with a masterful hand about a girl struggling to understand her new emerging self in a new postwar world.
New Haven Advocate |
John Stoehr |
05-19-2009 |
Fiction
Bloody Good Jane Austennew
Despite his decidedly lowbrow preoccupations (zombies, martial arts, and crude jokes about balls), author Seth Grahame-Smith is a sly devil, a parodist with as strong a sense of Austen's prose stylings as of her sharp observations.
Boston Phoenix |
Clea Simon |
04-23-2009 |
Fiction
Well-to-Do Discriminationnew
The Help is a fictional expose of racial discrimination set in 1960s Jackson, Miss., told with pathos and humor.
Jackson Free Press |
Jackie Warren Tatum |
04-03-2009 |
Fiction
A South African Novelist Shows How Passivity Corruptsnew
Damon Galgut's story ambles along languidly though pleasantly enough, but ultimately never reaches a satisfying end.
Baltimore City Paper |
Joab Jackson |
03-31-2009 |
Fiction
'Land of Marvels' Foreshadows Iraq Debaclenew
John Somerville, Barry Unsworth's archaeologist hero, is a typical Edwardian abroad. He's a wealthy Englishman who means to do well by others, but in Land of Marvels he's at sea in an ocean of stones.
The Georgia Straight |
Alexander Varty |
03-23-2009 |
Fiction
Zoe Heller's 'Believers' Captivates Despite a Weak Plotnew
Heller’s treatment of fraught and contradictory emotions, together with her unabashed exploration of intellectual musings, endows the story’s eponymous believers with an all-too-rare profundity.
New York Press |
Rayyan Al-Shawaf |
03-05-2009 |
Fiction
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
Marc Acito's Strong Satirenew
The sequel to Acito's 2004 coming-of-gay comedy How I Paid for College finds its self-obsessed protagonist, Edward Zanni, kicked out of Juilliard, working as a "party motivator" at ritzy bar mitzvahs and moonlighting as a corporate spy for a jaw-droppingly sexy stockbroker of questionable ethics.
Willamette Week |
Ben Waterhouse |
04-23-2008 |
Fiction
State of the Art: Illustrated Novels on 9/11, Iran and Sarajevonew

Art Spiegelman, who witnessed the World Trade Center attack firsthand, explores that tragedy in his graphic novel, In the Shadow of No Towers. Also reviewed are Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel, Persepolis 2, and Joe Sacco’s The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo.
Boston Phoenix |
Jon Garelick |
09-02-2004 |
Fiction