I have a special place in my heart for characters who are lonely enough to […]
Never Anyone But You, by Rupert Thomson
Rupert Thomson’s Never Anyone But You made me ask a question I have never had to […]
Eight Stories, by Erich Maria Remarque
With some writers, it’s hard to separate the biography from the work. In Eight Stories: Tales […]
The Seventh Cross, by Anna Seghers
It’s a miracle that The Seventh Cross, by Anna Seghers, exists. It was written by […]
Cult X, by Fuminori Nakamura
Trigger warning for rape. I found Fuminori Nakamura’s Cult X (translated by Kalau Almony) infuriating. I […]
Familiar Things, by Hwang Sok-yong
Bugeye doesn’t have much going for him at the beginning of Hwang Sok-yong’s Familiar Things (translated […]
Book v. Movie: The Death of Stalin
Last week, I caught the last showing of The Death of Stalin—a satire I’ve been wanting […]
Moon Brow, by Shahriar Mandanipour
The Qur’an has mentions two angels that record a person’s life, the kiraman katibin. One angel, […]
The Aviator, by Eugene Vodolazkin
Innokenty Petrovich Platonov wakes up in a hospital at the beginning of The Aviator, by Eugene […]