book reviews and features
Katharine Kilalea: OK, Mr Field review - architecture and alienation on the Cape Town coast
Sunday, 24 June 2018
Modern novels with an architectural theme have, to say the least, a mixed pedigree. At their finest, as in Thomas Bernhard’s Correction, the fluidity and ambiguity of prose fiction... Read more... |
Sarah Langford: In Your Defence review - messy lives
Sunday, 24 June 2018
When Sarah Langford goes to work, she puts on warpaint and wig and acts. But she is not an actor. She defends those who might or might not be guilty of the crimes with with they’ve been charged,... Read more... |
Enter theartsdesk / h Club Young Influencer of the Year award
Tuesday, 19 June 2018
Are you a young blogger, vlogger or writer in the field of the arts, books and culture? If so, we've a competition for you to enter. The Hospital Club’s annual h Club100... Read more... |
Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott: Swan Song review - Capote redux
Sunday, 17 June 2018
Here you will find Babe Paley, Slim Keith, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, Lee Radziwill, Marella Agnelli, the stylish leaders of society, gorgeous, gilded, well-married ladies: the men they were with... Read more... |
Robert Gordon: Memphis Rent Party review - a fast-moving Mississippi anthology
Sunday, 10 June 2018
“There’s a rhythm in the air around Memphis, there always has been,” Carl Perkins once said. "I don't know what it is, but it's magic." The city on the Mississippi lives up to its... Read more... |
Meg Wolitzer: The Female Persuasion review - the many faces of feminism
Sunday, 03 June 2018
Meg Wolitzer’s 10th novel has been hailed as a breakthrough, a feminist blockbuster, an embodiment of the zeitgeist. (Nicole Kidman has bought the film rights, which goes to show.) But... Read more... |
Frank Gardner: Ultimatum review - topical terrorism
Sunday, 03 June 2018
The journalist Frank Gardner has turned to fiction to illuminate with imagination the world that he knows inside out from years of reporting. His biographical trajectory, from scholar of the... Read more... |
Sophie Mackintosh: The Water Cure review - on the discipline of survival
Sunday, 27 May 2018
A body can be pushed to the brink, to the point where thoughts flatten to a line of light, and come back from death, but the heart is complex and the damage it wreaks barely controllable. For... Read more... |
The World Of Moominvalley, Brighton Festival review - a fascinating insight into the world of Tove Jansson
Monday, 21 May 2018
It was no matter that journalist Daniel Hahn dropped out ill at the 11th hour of this "audience with" event. Author Philip Ardagh's deep knowledge and unflappable demeanour comfortably carried the... Read more... |
William Trevor: Last Stories review - final intimations
Sunday, 20 May 2018
An Irishman who spent more than half a century in London and then Devon, and a prolific writer – nearly 20 novels... Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Album: Broken Bells - Into the Blue
Not content with having released one of the best hip-hop albums in recent memory (...
Inside Man, BBC One review - strong cast trapped on a sinkin...
Screenwriter and showrunner Steven Moffat is renowned for some of his work, especially...
Lucian Freud: New Perspectives, National Gallery review - a...
There stands Lucian Freud in Reflection with Two Children (Self-portrait), 1965 (main picture) towering over you,...
Blu-ray: Nitram
Nitram is an object lesson in how to make a responsible film about a mass shooting, right down to not using the fame-seeking...
Only an Octave Apart, Wilton's Music Hall review - inst...
You know you’re in good company the minute these two appear on stage: they are so splendidly what they are, comfortable in their own skins and...
Jaminaround, Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne review - c...
The most unlikely venue: an extraordinary, authentic-as-can-be replica of a large Iron Age roundhouse. There’s a turf and grass roof, and the...
Andrew Murray: Is Socialism Possible in Britain? review - wh...
The title of Andrew Murray’s new book poses a question that also vexed...
Album: The Cult - Under the Midnight Sun
It’s fair to say that The Cult have taken on a number of identities since their mid-80s’ transformation from Goth also-rans the Death Cult to the...
Iphigenia in Splott, Lyric Hammersmith review - raises as ma...
It’s hard to keep up with what terms are in vogue amongst those who insist on classifying and vilifying young people, but one that you...
Girl Picture review - Finnish coming-of-age drama offers not...
What is it with pushy Finnish mums and their acrobatic teenage daughters? Just weeks after the release of the Gothic fantasy Hatching...