Reviews Archives

8 min

Hip Set

Michael Fertik’s novel Hip Set is not only a thrilling detective story but also a literary inquiry into the sacred and the profane—the secular sandwiched between both. When it comes to human behavior, there is nothing pure about it, just as there is nothing pure about what lies on an arc between good and bad or between heaven and hell.

7 min

Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite

In 2011, the Korean American writer and teacher Suki Kim taught English to the sons of North Korea’s elite. This book explores her experiences there and, as she writes, “My goal was to write a book that humanizes North Koreans.”

2 min

Parts per Trillion

Claudine Nash’s poetry collection Parts per Trillion contains themes easily accessible to everyone who has endured a time of loss. Her language is simple, yet her writing is pervaded with…

6 min

Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir

Native Country of the Heart was the right book at the right time. It read like a personal letter from Cherríe Moraga to me, and I will be forever grateful…

2 min

To The Lighthouse

Ever wondered how a novel would read were it written, without restraint, with the freedom and ferocity of a poem? Read Virginia Woolf's masterpiece.

2 min

Salt Houses

If you’ve ever built a sand castle in the intertidal zone at the ocean’s edge, you know what happens when the tide comes in: It washes away your castle, leaving not a trace of it except in your memory or a photograph.

Last Night In Granada

“The magic power of a poem consists in it always being filled with duende.” The narrative in Chris Pellizzarri’s novella, Last Night in Granada, moves along memory corridors that intersect…

7 min

Unreasonable Doubts

The cast of characters in Unreasonable Doubts by Reyna Marder Gentin could have stepped out of a Shakespearean play. Consider the lovers Liana Cohen and Jakob Weiss, the counselor Rabbi…

7 min

White Dancing Elephants

White Dancing Elephants was a finalist for the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards. Women take center stage in Chaya Bhuvaneswar’s debut short story collection, White Dancing Elephants. As characters, these…

Darktown: A Novel

Darktown by Thomas Mullen does not pull punches. It is a tour de force with no apologies. Thomas Mullen does not bend historical accuracy to create heroes or villains who…

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