Book Reviews

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Arts

'Caraval' Is A Dark Circus Where The Clowns Don't Like You

7:00am January 29, 2017

by Caitlyn Paxson

Stephanie Garber's quasi-historical young adult novel is one part amusement park, one part Venice and one part game show — but the ending is marred by a muddled message that leaves the story hollow.

Books
Arts

Looping, Twisting 'Number 11' May Be The Perfect Book For Our Time

7:00am January 28, 2017

by Jason Sheehan

Jonathan Coe's new novel is a black-hearted satire about the crumbling of modern Britain, and the point at which childhood gives way to a cold assessment of the world as it is, not as we dream it.

Books
Arts

'The Spider And The Fly' Gets Stuck In A Web Of Self-Regard

10:00am January 26, 2017

by Annalisa Quinn

Reporter Claudia Rowe documents her fascination with serial killer Kendall Francois in The Spider and the Fly — but the book focuses on Rowe's thoughts and needs at the expense of the victims.

Books
Arts

The Black Panther, At Odds With Himself And His Country In 'A Nation Under Our Feet'

7:00am January 26, 2017

by Etelka Lehoczky

Ta-Nehisi Coates continues his tangled, philosophical (and big-selling) superhero tale with Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet. Coates' storytelling resonates, but his character can often ramble.

Books
Arts

In 'Lara,' The True Story Of Pasternak's Muse And Mistress

7:00am January 25, 2017

by Heller McAlpin

What price love? In Lara, Anna Pasternak chronicles her famous great-uncle Boris's relationship with his mistress, Olga Ivinskaya — whose connection with the author landed her in the gulags.

Cover art from A Really Good Day, by Ayelet Waldman

Books
Arts

'A Really Good Day' Recaps A Month-Long Adventure Of Microdosing LSD

1:44pm January 24, 2017

by Maureen Corrigan

Ayelet Waldman's new memoir describes her experiences with a variant of bipolar disorder, and her attempts to self-medicate with LSD. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it a "gutsy ... really good story."

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Books
Arts

Simon Tolkien Draws On His Famous Grandfather's Experiences In 'No Man's Land'

7:00am January 24, 2017

by Brian Castner

Simon Tolkien's new novel was inspired by his grandfather J.R.R.'s time on the Somme — but in theme, tone and style, it owes more to Charles Dickens than to The Lord of the Rings.

Books
Arts

'The Bear And The Nightingale' Is A Rich Winter's Tale

10:00am January 22, 2017

by Amal El-Mohtar

Katherine Arden's new novel deftly weaves Russian fairy tales with tactile details to create a gorgeously wintry tale of magic, marred slightly by a clunky ending that's clearly setting up sequels.

Books
Arts

A Couple Faces Collapse In Dark 'Futures'

7:00am January 22, 2017

by Jean Zimmerman

Anna Pitoniak's novel follows Evan and Julia, newly-minted Yale graduates trying — and finding it difficult — to make new lives for themselves in New York City on the eve of the crash of 2008.

Books
Arts

'Human Acts' Tries To Reconcile Bloody Human Impulses

12:00pm January 21, 2017

by Annalisa Quinn

In Han Kang's sharp, almost painfully sensitive new novel, set during and after South Korea's 1980 Gwangju student uprising, people spill blood — but they also brave death to donate it.