book reviews and features
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai: The Mountains Sing review - a lyrical account of Việt Nam’s brutal past
Sunday, 30 August 2020
“The challenges of the Vietnamese people throughout history are as tall as the tallest mountains. If you stand too close, you won’t be able to see their peaks. Once you step away from the currents... Read more... |
CD: Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith - Peradam
Saturday, 29 August 2020
"The gateway to the invisible must be visible." So intones Patti Smith on the third and final journey in sound with Stephan Crasneanscki and Simone Merli, AKA Soundwalk Collective, musical... Read more... |
Elena Ferrante: The Lying Life of Adults review - a universal Neapolitan adolescence
Sunday, 23 August 2020
The protagonist is a Neapolitan teenage girl; the settings move between the upper and lower parts, from the Vomero... Read more... |
Helen Macdonald: Vesper Flights review - nature lovingly described, nearly lost
Sunday, 23 August 2020
Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald’s first book following her incredibly successful memoir H is for Hawk in 2014, is an excellent collection of short pieces focused on the... Read more... |
Zalika Reid-Benta: Frying Plantain review - tales of growing up young, black and female in Toronto
Sunday, 16 August 2020
It is as unsurprising as it is vital that a spotlight has been thrown on writing by people of colour this year. It is unsurprising, too – looking at bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic... Read more... |
Nick Hayes: The Book of Trespass review – a leap over England's walls
Sunday, 16 August 2020
Since snobbery and deference have a big part to play in Nick Hayes’s exhilarating book, let’s start with the obligatory name-drop. I have lunched – twice, in different country piles, and most... Read more... |
Matt Haig: The Midnight Library review - an uplifting modern parable
Tuesday, 11 August 2020
TW: This article discusses suicide, suicidal ideation, antidepressants and self-harm We first meet Nora Seed, “nineteen years before she decides to die”, as she plays chess in the... Read more... |
Sharon Dolin: Hitchcock Blonde: A Cinematic Memoir review - a poet’s life filtered through Hitchcock’s lens
Sunday, 09 August 2020
Poet Sharon Dolin’s memoir Hitchcock Blonde ends (no spoilers) in the same way as... Read more... |
Alex Halberstadt: Young Heroes of the Soviet Union review - a familial history of the twentieth century
Saturday, 08 August 2020
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been a collective examination of its past, with Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana Alexievich at the helm. Young Heroes of the Soviet Union... Read more... |
Hiromi Kawakami: People From My Neighbourhood review - deft and feather-light
Wednesday, 05 August 2020
Deft and funny prose, in a feather-light translation by Ted Goossen, is the signature of Hiromi Kawakami's latest collection People From My... Read more... |
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