The Double-Edged Fantasy of “Blackouts” – Chicago Review of Books

The Double-Edged Fantasy of “Blackouts” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] A young man, wearing nothing but a flat cap and work boots, reclines on a table, seductively dangling his limbs off the edge while his torso supports a hefty, open book. An older, elegantly suited man leans over the table, though it’s hard to tell whether he’s examining the book or the body underneath, … Read more

Ambivalent Comfort in “The Loneliness Files” – Chicago Review of Books

Ambivalent Comfort in “The Loneliness Files” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Athena Dixon is lonely. A middle-aged single woman without children or pets, she lives alone and works remotely, more than 350 miles from her family. In The Loneliness Files, a thought-provoking memoir in essays, she explores the many facets of her solitude and what they lead her to understand about herself and the world … Read more

The People vs. Gentrification in “Brooklyn Crime Novel” – Chicago Review of Books

The People vs. Gentrification in “Brooklyn Crime Novel” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Jonathan Lethem’s newest book, Brooklyn Crime Novel, is proof positive he unequivocally loves Brooklyn. His command of place and time is ever-present in this work: he mixes fond remembrance with futuristic language told through a narrator who knows the ending but enjoys telling the tale—and teasing his audience—because it’s his to tell. Brooklyn is … Read more

A Conversation with Leslie Sainz – Chicago Review of Books

A Conversation with Leslie Sainz – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Have You Been Long Enough at Table, a debut poetry collection by Leslie Sainz, bubbles over with poetic range. There are sonnets and prose poems and ghazals and a narrator grappling with her Cuban American identity and family history of immigration and displacement. The poems bring the reader to the table covered in ancestral … Read more

Double Vision and Self-Deception in “A Man of Two Faces” – Chicago Review of Books

Double Vision and Self-Deception in “A Man of Two Faces” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Commenting on a social media post of a Time article titled “The Ukraine War Is Becoming Putin’s Vietnam,” author Viet Thanh Nguyen says, “It was only a matter of time . . . the return of Vietnam as a war, not a country. When the reality is that if any country deserves to be … Read more

To Indulge in Prose in “Land of Milk and Honey” – Chicago Review of Books

To Indulge in Prose in “Land of Milk and Honey” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] In 2019, C. Pam Zhang enchanted readers with her vision of the American Gold Rush in How Much Of These Hills is Gold, her words rendering that dusty, bleak landscape with the fresh perspective of children. This narrative of children transporting their father’s body recalls Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, but Zhang’s story is … Read more

Violent Crime’s Multi-Edged Truths in “Penance” – Chicago Review of Books

Violent Crime’s Multi-Edged Truths in “Penance” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Eliza Clark’s thoughtful follow-up to her debut novel Boy Parts gives readers the opportunity to examine true crime from unexpected angles. Once-celebrated (fictional) journalist Alec Z. Carelli takes a shot at redemption after penning two commercial flops and being implicated in a scandal that hurls him out of public favor. While scouring the internet … Read more

An Interview with Elle Nash – Chicago Review of Books

An Interview with Elle Nash – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] My first encounter with Elle Nash’s work was Animals Eat Each Other, and since then I’ve been hooked. Her short story collection, Nudes, broke my heart in the best way, and Gag Reflex (written in the style of a LiveJournal from 2005) delivers measured doses of eating disorder vulnerability amid tenuous teenage social structures. … Read more

How to Get By in “The Vaster Wilds” – Chicago Review of Books

How to Get By in “The Vaster Wilds” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Lauren Groff’s new novel, The Vaster Wilds, is supposed to make you feel cold, hungry, thirsty, nauseated, sore, febrile, scared, awed, appalled, relieved, confused, hopeful, and tired of it all. The sensations are better effected than the emotions, which is the other way round from Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, a novel cited by Lauren Groff … Read more

Capturing the Invisible in “Sister Golden Calf” – Chicago Review of Books

Capturing the Invisible in “Sister Golden Calf” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] It’s fittingly difficult to pin down Colleen Burner’s debut novel, or novella, Sister Golden Calf. At once fragmented and expansive, set in the recognizable territory of New Mexico’s highways but also infused with magical realism, the book resists categorization. The protagonists, sisters Kit and Gloria, know a thing or two about capturing the ineffable: … Read more