Love and Lies in “White Ivy”

Love and Lies in “White Ivy”

[ad_1] Susie Yang’s debut White Ivy is focused around issues of identity, belonging, and the inherent anxieties that accompany those who simultaneously seek to conform and hide. Where does an “average and nondescript” Chinese American girl belong in white America? In what form does racial prejudice make itself visible in a fractured modern world? Yang … Read more

Poems to Settle into in “House of Sound” – Chicago Review of Books

Poems to Settle into in “House of Sound” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] We’ve become wanderers in our own backyards these days. Without my daily commute on the bus and the random interactions with strangers that often come with it, I’ve found myself becoming more curious on my afternoon walks. I like to spot pets peeking their heads through open apartment windows, give a mask-veiled smile out … Read more

The Mysteries and Melodies of Memory in “Invisible Ink.” – Chicago Review of Books

The Mysteries and Melodies of Memory in “Invisible Ink.” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] When the great Patrick Modiano says he is writing a detective story, rest assured it won’t be a Sherlock-esque exhibition of armchair deductions or Poirot-like psychoanalysis of a criminal. Most likely, there won’t even be a crime.  Jean Eyben, the narrator of Modiano’s Invisible Ink, is barely a detective. He really only spent a … Read more

The Best Books of 2020

The Best Books of 2020

[ad_1] 2020 has been many things—the year of a pandemic, of terrible wildfires, of political stress and strife—but let no one say in the annals of history that it was a year of bad books. It was so difficult to choose only 20 favorites from all the many we’ve loved this year, but we did … Read more

Poetry, Prose, and Politics in “Make Me Rain” – Chicago Review of Books

Poetry, Prose, and Politics in “Make Me Rain” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Nikki Giovanni—one of the great poets of any generation—still has much to impart in Make Me Rain, her hybrid autobiography of poems and prose.  Given the tumultuous aspects of 2020, the disruptions and dislocations of quotidian and public life, there’s a refreshing discordance in reading Giovanni’s newest and especially personal collection. Throughout the book, … Read more

The Little Witch | Tor.com

The Little Witch | Tor.com

[ad_1] Every Halloween, an elderly woman hands out candy to a young trick-or-treater who’s dressed as a witch each time, looking exactly the same age. With each passing year, the woman grows more attached to the little witch and her odd nature. But she is no ordinary child, and an uncanny relationship develops between the … Read more

Sela, Thief | Tor.com

Sela, Thief | Tor.com

[ad_1] In honor of Black Speculative Fiction Month, eight SFF authors share stories that honor forebearers and memories of the past, fight the legacies that underpin the brutalities of the present, and demand a future that’s freer than today. The stories publish on Tor.com all throughout the morning of October 19. They are collected here. … Read more

Madness, Civilization, and the Poetry of Violence in Artaud the Mômo – Chicago Review of Books

Madness, Civilization, and the Poetry of Violence in Artaud the Mômo – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Antonin Artaud was one of the foundational voices in establishing the modern avant garde. His famous writings on The Theater and Its Double, and Theatre of Cruelty, place him alongside Breton and Brecht in creating the contemporary understanding of avant-garde practice. This new collection, Artaud the Mômo, draws from his last period of writing, … Read more