Book Reviews

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Arts

You Can't Solve This 'Rubik,' But It'll Still Make You Feel Smart

7:00am May 12, 2018

by Ilana Masad

Elizabeth Tan's novel jumps between different characters and timelines, beginning with the death of the main character and only getting weirder — but there's a true heart underneath the cleverness.

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Arts

Brilliant But Devastating, 'The Mars Room' Chronicles Life Behind Bars

10:00am May 10, 2018

by Michael Schaub

Rachel Kushner's heartbreaking, nearly flawless third novel centers on Romy Hall, a young woman who's just been sentenced to two life sentences for beating her stalker to death.

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'Free Woman' Is An Uncompromising Look At An Unconventional Writer

7:00am May 10, 2018

by Lily Meyer

Lara Feigel's new book is a combination memoir and celebration of the writer Doris Lessing — whose famous distaste for convention led her to exclaim "Oh, Christ," upon winning the Nobel Prize.

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'Undead Girl Gang': Mister, They ARE The Weirdos

10:14am May 09, 2018

by Caitlyn Paxson

In Lily Anderson's debut novel, a string of suspicious deaths prompts teen witch Mila to try to solve the mystery by raising the dead girls to ask who killed them — but of course, it's not that easy.

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'Barracoon' Offers A Vivid, First-Hand Account Of Slavery In America

2:59pm May 08, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

In 1927, author Zora Neale Huston interviewed Cudjo Lewis, the last known living person who could recount the experience of being taken captive in Africa and transported on a slave ship to America.

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'Barracoon' Brings A Lost Slave Story To Light

10:00am May 08, 2018

by Jean Zimmerman

Both terrifying and wonderful, Barracoon is Zora Neale Hurston's long-unpublished account of her conversations with Cudjo Lewis, who was brought to America on the last trans-Atlantic slave ship.

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Arts

'Warlight' Illumines Family Secrets In Ondaatje's Latest

7:00am May 08, 2018

by Heller McAlpin

Set during and after World War II, Warlight follows a young man trying to find out what really happened when his parents disappeared and left him and a young sister in the care of two mystery men.

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Arts

Sharply Written 'Mars Room' Ventures Behind The Bars Of Women's Prison

2:22pm May 07, 2018

by John Powers

Rachel Kushner's new novel centers on a young mother serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering a man who'd been stalking her. Critic John Powers calls The Mars Room "searingly intelligent."

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"The Queen's Embroiderer" by Joan DeJean

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'The Queen's Embroiderer' Stitches Up A Twisted Family Saga

7:00am May 06, 2018

by Genevieve Valentine

Joan DeJean's latest dive into French history starts with something simple — the appointment of a royal embroiderer. But then things get weird: inheritance fraud, elopements, double lives and more.

"Love that Bunch" by Aline Kominsky Crumb

Books
Arts

'Love That Bunch' Immortalizes Lifelong Troublemaker Aline Kominsky-Crumb

4:00am May 05, 2018

by Etelka Lehoczky

This heavy, important-feeling retrospective covers several decades of Kominsky-Crumb's flawed but fascinating work. Our critic says it's certainly comprehensive — but lacking somewhat in fun.