Multiversal Revelations in “The Tatami Galaxy” – Chicago Review of Books

Multiversal Revelations in “The Tatami Galaxy” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] The highest highs and the lowest lows of life often lead us down the path of memory. The destination? The single decision that set us on the road to our current reality. Sometimes, we are baffled by our own good fortune at forming incredible friendships, dwelling in a town or city where we thrive, … Read more

Life Among the Born and the Made in “The Employees” – Chicago Review of Books

Life Among the Born and the Made in “The Employees” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken, is a meditation on living, conveyed fragmentally, through a series of numbered statements given by workers—some of whom are human while others are humanoid artificial intelligence—on a space vessel called the Six Thousand Ship. While … Read more

Self-Examination in “Novelist as a Vocation” – Chicago Review of Books

Self-Examination in “Novelist as a Vocation” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] If an aspiring storyteller were to pick up Haruki Murakami’s Novelist as a Vocation, translated by Philip Gabriel & Ted Goossen, expecting a step-by-step guide to putting a novel together, they may well be disappointed. However, what Murakami’s memoir does offer is certainly of equal value. It is one novelist looking back over his … Read more

Time as Fetter and Bridge in “Habilis” – Chicago Review of Books

Time as Fetter and Bridge in “Habilis” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] In her insightful and ambitious debut novel, Habilis, Alyssa Quinn takes us on a destabilizing journey through the experiences of several beings by means of a single, muddled existence, illustrating the connectedness of all life and challenging the notion of a discoverable, and inherently meaningful, point of human origin. Through techniques and analyses both … Read more

Extraneous Villainy in “Reluctant Immortals” – Chicago Review of Books

Extraneous Villainy in “Reluctant Immortals” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] It is a truth universally acknowledged that the undead do not blush. Or at the very least, it should be. In her novel Reluctant Immortals, Gwendolyn Kiste gifts her undead characters the ability to flush in both pleasure and embarrassment, among other markers of liveliness, despite regular reminders that within their bodies are hearts … Read more

The Eastern & Western Self, as Portrayed in “Total” and “Self-Portrait With Ghost” – Chicago Review of Books

The Eastern & Western Self, as Portrayed in “Total” and “Self-Portrait With Ghost” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] In Lulu Wang’s film The Farewell—the story of Billi, a young Chinese-American woman who returns to China after several years to spend time with her dying grandmother, who remains ignorant of her own condition—there is a scene between Billi and her uncle in which he explains the difference in their perspectives. Billi believes the … Read more