“You Learn to Care for Your Characters Differently”: An Interview with Rachel Lyon on “Fruit of the Dead”

“You Learn to Care for Your Characters Differently”: An Interview with Rachel Lyon on “Fruit of the Dead”

[ad_1] Rachel Lyon’s Fruit of the Dead follows a young woman, Cory, on the cusp of adulthood when she signs the paperwork for a job as a nanny for the children of Rolo, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive. She is soon whisked away to his remote island where she regularly samples his company’s latest mind-altering painkiller … Read more

A Conversation with Amina Akhtar on “Almost Surely Dead” – Chicago Review of Books

A Conversation with Amina Akhtar on “Almost Surely Dead” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] On the way home from work, Dunia Ahmed is attacked and nearly flung to her death onto New York City subway tracks. When strangers manage to rescue her, the man who would have been her murderer ends his own life instead. The mystery of why someone Dunia had never met wanted her dead takes … Read more

Covering Poe in “What Moves the Dead” – Chicago Review of Books

Covering Poe in “What Moves the Dead” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] There are two elements to playing a good cover song. The first is that the band must remember what made the song great in the first place: don’t rewrite the whole song, don’t forget your roots, don’t venture too far from the original. The second (somewhat contradictory) element is that the musicians need to … Read more

Overthinking or Underestimating in “Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead” – Chicago Review of Books

Overthinking or Underestimating in “Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] While events in the past year have left some hoping for a “return to normal” in the coming months, others must continue to cope with a very different day-to-day life, including those affected by the consequential uptick of mental health crises. So how do we collectively and individually begin to confront the reality of … Read more

Crimes Against Originality in “Dead Souls” – Chicago Review of Books

Crimes Against Originality in “Dead Souls” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] From the earliest pages of English poet Sam Riviere’s debut novel, Dead Souls, the reader is catapulted into an extended internal monologue satirizing the follies of the literary world, particularly its poets. And there’s no winding up to the action: from its beginning, the novel’s pace is manic and relentless, evincing the unnamed narrator’s … Read more

Repressed-Trauma-Dredging and Dead Cats in “Justine” – Chicago Review of Books

Repressed-Trauma-Dredging and Dead Cats in “Justine” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Being a teenage girl is hard. Especially on Long Island during the summer of 1999. No one knows this better than Forsyth Harmon. Author of the illustrated novel Justine, Harmon digs deep into the lives of two high school friends, Ali and Justine, using their multi-layered relationship to explore all the complexities and confusion … Read more