Reviews
100 posts
One Curious Doctor – A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality
Hilton Koppe opens a window into the inner world of a family practitioner through a focus on the doctor/patient relationship and deep self-reflections on the complexities and mysteries of attending to the living and the dying.
Yellowface
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang breaks open the pitfalls of a publishing industry in today's cultural economy. It is an unsettling read by a masterful storyteller.
Poverty, By America
POVERTY is one subject Matthew Desmond knows intimately. That he has personally experienced what it is like to grow up poor in the richest country in the world, and received a Pulitzer Prize for writing about it, sets him apart from other sociologists who study only the poor, but not why they are poor. In his newest book, Poverty, By America, Desmond examines in depth the causes and consequences of the abject poverty affecting millions of Americans.
On the Level
Mark Wagstaff’s new novel, On the Level, crashes the Jason Bourne films into Catcher in the Rye. Non-stop intrigue drives a coming-of-age story in which protagonist Riz Montgomery is both an unforgettably troubled, smart, and passionate fifteen-year-old and a seasoned, mysterious older woman narrating from a distant place scented by tequila and motorcycle fuel.
Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek retells the classic bildungsroman Great Expectations, exchanging Victorian England for 1960s America, arguably one of the most turbulent decades in social history.
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
For those who enjoy the unconventional bildungsroman—or are thirsting for some adventure—read this memoir by Laurie Lee. Originally published in 1969, it recounts the poet's long walk across Spain in the 1930s.
Category Unknown
Category Unknown by Koushik Banerjea is a dense and ambitious book that continues the conversation relaunched by the racial reckoning of 2020, "and reminds us that the conversation isn't the least bit new."
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
"Shattering one-sided, romanticized stories of how this country came to be..." Carol Ann Wilson reviews The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Two Novels that Strike Close to Home: On Finding Oneself in a Book
Geoffrey Dutton looks at the "book-within-a-book" literary device, as used in the 2015 novel Disclaimer— and his upcoming novel Her Own Devices.