Book Reviews

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Arts

Secrets Mar The Gloss Of 'Youth' For These Heroines

6:10pm November 17, 2013

by Rosecrans Baldwin

Each of the young women in Laura van den Berg's The Isle of Youth is searching for significance in her life, troubled by the choices she's made. Their tales make up a collection of short stories written with cool aloofness. Critic Rosecrans Baldwin says that this book won't be for everyone — but for fans of detached prose, it's spectacular.

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A young woman holding an elderly woman's hands

Books
Arts

A 'Marriage', A Divorce, A Dying Dog And Essays Done Right

2:44pm November 13, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Essay collections are underrated and often ignored in favor of short stories or novels. But in the hands of a writer as practiced as Ann Patchett, critic Maureen Corrigan says the essay becomes an expansive storytelling vessel. Patchett's new book is This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage.

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Female Friendship Puts 'New' Angle On Italian Classism And Machismo

9:46am November 08, 2013

by John Powers

Bound by the confines of gender and finances, two young women take divergent paths in Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name, the second book in her "Neapolitan Novels" trilogy. Critic John Powers believes the bold, expansive series to be semi-autobiographical, a revelation from a secretive author who won't reveal her true name.

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Books
Arts

'Self-Help Messiah' Dale Carnegie Gets A Second Life In Print

3:50pm November 07, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

In the many decades since the publication of How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie's self-help classic has been both celebrated and mocked, but it's still selling plenty of copies. Steven Watts' new biography of the man may feel overstuffed, but, as Maureen Corrigan notes, Carnegie's relentless positivity always shines through.

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Books
Arts

Dickensian Ambition And Emotion Make 'Goldfinch' Worth The Wait

3:39pm October 31, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Donna Tartt is a writer who takes her time — she's published just one novel per decade since her debut in 1992. But critic Maureen Corrigan says she'd gladly wait another 10 years for a book as extraordinary as Tartt's latest work, The Goldfinch, an "exuberantly plotted triumph."

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Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire cover

Books
Arts

Lush, Urgent Poems On Protest And Pumpkins Set Language 'On Fire'

7:55pm October 25, 2013

by Tess Taylor

At first glance, poet Tess Taylor was skeptical of Brenda Hillman's 17-year, four-book series of poems on the elements. But Taylor fell for the strange and spiraling verses in Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. "I commend you to this lively, defiant, blazing book," she says.

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Arts

Bridget In Middle Age: We're Not So 'Mad About' This Girl

6:43pm October 23, 2013

by Meg Wolitzer

Bridget Jones, as you may have heard, is back: 51, widowed and juggling two small children and a much younger boy toy. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says that while she doesn't mind the subtraction of hunky Mark Darcy, she misses the messy but honest charm of the younger Bridget.

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Arts

If You're Looking To Read 'Lady Things,' Choose Jezebel Over Jones

5:19pm October 21, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Bridget Jones hasn't aged well. At 51, she's the "geriatric mum" of two small children, and finds herself yearning to plunge back into dating. Critic Maureen Corrigan says if you're looking for jolly feminist cultural commentary, you'd be better off reading a witty "encyclopedia of lady things" from the creators of the website Jezebel.

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Books

Anne Rice's New Werewolf Novel Paws Familiar Territory

5:35pm October 18, 2013

Alan Chese reviews The Wolves of Midwinter, the latest in Anne Rice's The Wolf Gift Chronicles.

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Arts

Meet Ben's Sister Jane, History's Forgotten Franklin

2:32pm October 10, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

For centuries, the memory of Jane Franklin has languished in brother Benjamin's shadow. While Ben is on currency and splashed across textbooks, Jane's life of curiosity and hardship has been forgotten. In Book of Ages, historian Jill Lepore draws a portrait of one of the American Revolution's "little women."

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