In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau” – Chicago Review of Books

In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Maybe you’ve heard the adage inviting you to walk a mile in someone’s shoes before you judge them. Taken literally, the phrase suggests that walking is the physical key to gaining understanding of others—and ourselves. Ben Shattuck puts that to the test in his debut, Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau. … Read more

Talking to Ghosts in “Passersthrough” – Chicago Review of Books

Talking to Ghosts in “Passersthrough” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Peter Rock’s latest novel, Passersthrough, is tricky business. The premise hints at mystery—a young girl goes missing in the wilderness for a week; now, 25 years later, her father wants answers—but the novel itself resists practically every convention of the genre. It reads more like a ghost story—unsettling, ruminative, impressionistic, somewhat like Jeff VanderMeer’s … Read more

Breaking the Cycle of Violence in “A Tiny Upward Shove” – Chicago Review of Books

Breaking the Cycle of Violence in “A Tiny Upward Shove” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] True crime has a devoted following in a number of popular podcasts, films and television, and bestselling titles these days. There’s some debate about whether its predominantly female audience is empowered (learn about this to avoid finding oneself in a similar situation) or traumatized by learning details about gruesome murders, yet the mainstay of … Read more

Seeking Solace in “Thin Places” – Chicago Review of Books

Seeking Solace in “Thin Places” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Kerri ní Dochartaigh wanted to leave behind her hometown of Derry, Ireland from the start. She grew up in a fractured household with a Catholic mother and Protestant father – an abnormal pairing in the Irish community at the height of the Troubles. Her family home in the Protestant Waterside area shattered into pieces … Read more

Your Favorite Book with Madhushree Ghosh – Chicago Review of Books

Your Favorite Book with Madhushree Ghosh – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Welcome to another installment of a collaboration between the Chicago Review of Books and the Your Favorite Book podcast. Malavika Praseed, frequent CHIRB contributor and podcast host, seeks to talk to readers and writers about the books that light a fire inside them. What’s your favorite book and why? Our guest this week is … Read more

Pain and Isolation at the Edge of the World in “Nobody Gets Out Alive” – Chicago Review of Books

Pain and Isolation at the Edge of the World in “Nobody Gets Out Alive” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Alaska is a place of extremes: geography, isolation, weather—even daylight. These extremes sit at the center of Leigh Newman’s new story collection Nobody Gets Out Alive, as the collection probes the limitations and impact of the unique environment. Alaska serves as a common thread linking the narratives and defines the collection. Newman’s 2013 memoir … Read more

Compassion is Complicated in “Healing” – Chicago Review of Books

Compassion is Complicated in “Healing” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Cancer is the word nobody wants to speak. We’d rather discuss anything else—with anyone we can find (did you see the clouds this morning?)—than confront the illogical and arbitrary suffering that cancer brings. Any talk that does exist seems to occur behind closed doors, never crossing the threshold of public life. Yet there are … Read more

The Unlikeable Character Paradox in “Sedating Elaine” – Chicago Review of Books

The Unlikeable Character Paradox in “Sedating Elaine” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] There is a rather odd aversion to the “unlikeable” character in the novel, as if fiction is to cloak itself in the sunny vestments of children’s television and portray the world only through the lens of those protagonists that pass some illusory morality test. But if fiction is to be an authentic—and, to some … Read more

Corporate Greed and Irresponsibility in “Paradise Falls” – Chicago Review of Books

Corporate Greed and Irresponsibility in “Paradise Falls” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] In the 1970s, Love Canal, an otherwise peaceful neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, was afflicted by environmental oddities resembling Biblical plagues. Thick, viscous scum roiled on the surface of local streams. Rocks in the local playground would occasionally burst into flames. A noxious stench invaded basements and kitchens, seeped into clothes, and burned … Read more

“In Whose Ruins” Reveals the Ghosts of American Capitalism – Chicago Review of Books

“In Whose Ruins” Reveals the Ghosts of American Capitalism – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Ruins are scars. Some are in the process of healing, succumbing to gravity, dirt, and time, covered in roots and soon to be buried. Others still hurt, poking at the sky, or, more pointedly, at the transformation and defacing of a people’s dignity. No matter their state of decay, the remnants of buildings, monuments, … Read more