For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Yeji Y. Ham’s debut novel, The Invisible Hotel, is about the inescapable. The conflict between North and South Korea, simmering still beneath a fragile truce, looms as the perpetual backdrop for this contemporary tale about the fears that are dutifully passed from one generation to the next. Yewon is a young woman born and … Read more
[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
[ad_1] It’s a relief, sometimes, to read science fiction that is a straightforward political allegory. Tolkien’s famous “cordial dislike” for allegory is good guidance for creating believable, durable fantastic worlds, but there’s also a space and a need for works that have their sights set on current issues: less perennial, perhaps, but no less pertinent. … Read more
[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
[ad_1] I’m tempted to say the modern idea of genre is a joke, except that it’s not funny. A sincerely curious, skilled, and committed writer can basically write whatever she wants, genre be damned. Yet certain genres are still elevated and others dismissed; the New York Times “By the Book” feature still regularly asks writers … Read more
[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. As mainstream media outlets become (slightly) better at covering climate change, their … Read more