Soylent Capitalism in “Kraft” – Chicago Review of Books

Soylent Capitalism in “Kraft” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Soylent, the nutrient-packed, colorless meal replacement drink, was introduced to the American public in 2014 after a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign proved people just don’t want to waste precious time and energy eating anymore. When Rob Rhinehart, Soylent’s inventor, was working on a technology startup in San Francisco, he started to see buying, cooking … Read more

Dancing Thoughts in “Aphasia” – Chicago Review of Books

Dancing Thoughts in “Aphasia” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Whenever I go for a run and cue up a playlist (lately a compendium of tracks I’ve called “What the Fuck Is Happening” that includes pandemic-appropriate songs  like “You Make Me Sick” by Satan’s Rats and “So Sick” by Ne-Yo), I experience something that I like to call “dancing in my head.” I’m running, … Read more

Contending With Legacies in “Too Much Lip” – Chicago Review of Books

Contending With Legacies in “Too Much Lip” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Melissa Lucashenko’s novel Too Much Lip tells the story of stolen land and stolen children. Though these crimes are assigned to the past, their violent legacies – poverty, addiction, abuse, discrimination – still plague the Bundjalung Nation, an Aboriginal community whose ancestral homelands lie along the northern coast of New South Wales, Australia.  But … 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

Saving Our Water, Our World in “Future Sea” – Chicago Review of Books

Our review of "Future Sea," by Deborah Rowan Wright.

[ad_1] Future Sea: How to Rescue and Protect the World’s Oceans delivers not only the promised “how” but also the reasons why we should safeguard the ocean from human activities. Advocate and researcher Deborah Rowan Wright outlines the critical link between the ocean’s health and our ability to mitigate global warming, the tremendous potential of … 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

Well-Paced Suspense in “Greyfriars Reformatory” – Chicago Review of Books

Well-Paced Suspense in “Greyfriars Reformatory” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] In Frazer Lee’s Greyfriars Reformatory, Emily Drake has no memory of what she did to get sent to the imposing brick institution she first sees looming before her through the window of a prisoner transport bus. It will be her prison until and unless she submits to experimental psychological treatment designed to cure her … 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

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

A Crucial Collapse in “The Ministry for the Future” – Chicago Review of Books

A Crucial Collapse in “The Ministry for the Future” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Burning Worlds is Amy Brady’s monthly column dedicated to examining how contemporary literature interrogates issues of climate change, in partnership with Yale Climate Connections. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter to get “Burning Worlds” and other writing about art and climate change delivered straight to your inbox. Called the “greatest political novelist” of our time by the New Yorker, … Read more