Book Reviews

Writing Myself Home” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 12, 2022 by Malavika Praseed

Jami Attenberg and I both hail from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. Early in her new collection of essays, she even mentions my hometown by … Read More

Lucy Lurie Tells her Story in “Lacuna” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 12, 2022 by Kat Solomon

Please note, this review contains mentions of sexual assault. Several years ago during a dinner party at my home, a friend from South Africa noticed … Read More

An Inverse Mirroring of the Frame in “Mouth to Mouth” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 11, 2022 by John Gu

Like Gone Girl, Antoine Wilson’s Mouth to Mouth is a thriller titled after its inciting incident. It’s the early nineties, and Jeff Cook, an aimless … Read More

The Oracular in “Shit Cassandra Saw” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 11, 2022 by Garin Cycholl

The oracular in Gwen E. Kirby’s Shit Cassandra Saw is tense business—fraught with the dynamics of shared experience, speaking and listening. This collection of short … Read More

Rebellion, Civil Rights, and the Paradoxical State of Black Citizenship” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 10, 2022 by Patrick Brennan

For Hawa Allan, history is a recurring nightmare. “Does this sound dramatic?” she asks in the beginning of her book Insurrection: Rebellion, Civil Rights, and … Read More

More Than a Trillion Rounds in “The Next Civil War” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 6, 2022 by Ed Simon

“One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean … Read More

Satire and Superfluity in “The Swells” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 5, 2022 by D. W. White

Among the most ancient and revered forms, which the amorphous siren known as prose may assume, is that of satire, used for millennia to critique, … Read More

Leading Dante from Shadow into City in “Dante” – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 4, 2022 by Ryan Asmussen

There is an inarguable ephemerality about Dante Alighieri, the author of the Divine Comedy (in Italian, Commedia—the “Divine” was a publisher’s later addition). C.S. Lewis … Read More

12 Must-Read Books of January – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsJanuary 3, 2022 by Editorial Staff

Well everyone, we’ve made it to the start of another year, though not without some bumps and scrapes along the way. As we round day … Read More

34 Notable Debuts by Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Non-conforming Authors – Chicago Review of Books

Book ReviewsDecember 23, 2021 by Jen St. Jude

Last year, we featured 18 notable debuts by trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming authors. This year, the list stands at 34, and still, this is … Read More

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