Humor in the Mundane in “Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge” – Chicago Review of Books

Humor in the Mundane in “Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Helen Ellis has built a literary career around charming humor, if charming is a euphemism for polite TMI. She presents as a sweet southern lady, but, bless your heart, she also talks about sex, kink, and all the things genteel housewives might find taboo. Her latest collection, Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge, doesn’t … Read more

Portraying the Mundane in “Flight” – Chicago Review of Books

Portraying the Mundane in “Flight” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Want author Lynn Steger Strong stretches her scope from the nuclear to the extended family in Flight, a story of adult siblings and their partners and children gathering for Christmas for the first time since their mother’s death. Helen, the recently deceased and seemingly universally beloved matriarch, has passed away just eight months prior, … Read more

From the Omniscient to the Mundane in “The Books of Jacob” – Chicago Review of Books

From the Omniscient to the Mundane in “The Books of Jacob” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] The first striking feature of The Books of Jacob—the latest book from Olga Tokarczuk and translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft—is its length. The review copy I was mailed flopped around awkwardly in my hands in a manner reminiscent of a fish’s corpse; for the months that I carried it around, I felt … Read more