For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] The debut novel of David Connor, Oh God, The Sun Goes, takes audiences on a cerebral ride—both literally and figuratively—journeying within a story that could sit comfortably on the shelf of multiple genres. From mystery to science fiction, to biological place fiction (if such a thing exists), Connor flexes his creativity and cognitive neuroscience … Read more
[ad_1] Memoirs have sometimes been considered a form of fiction, not as false accounts but by being enriched with the layering of symbols, place, and affable narration. Noreen Masud’s A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma picks up these tools and employs them to full effect, as she takes the reader further … Read more
[ad_1] Melinda Moustakis’ fiction is an expert tutorial in braiding a story’s environment with its characters’ paths, as much as it is an unveiling of how that braid is not a braid at all but an inseparability, place inextricable from human life. In her debut collection, Bear Down, Bear North, which won the Flannery O’Connor … Read more
[ad_1] Demystifying the world is central to many coming-of-age stories. Often in these stories we find a wide-eyed, hopeful young person who journeys out into the world seeking to manifest their ideals, only to face impersonal cruelties and structural tragedies which force them to reassess who they are, who they want to be, and the … Read more
[ad_1] Allie and Rooster are heading down to Asheville for Rooster’s new gig, a cushy stint as artist-in-residence at UNC. Rooster is more of a con artist than maker of art, but Allie doesn’t mind, because he’s good-looking, charming, and values what she is: a girl with a keen eye for abandoned places and a … Read more
[ad_1] Works of art become powerful when they can convey—or at least hint at—some kind of truth. This notion alone presumes that the artist knows something the average person does not. Creators help connect people with something that has always been known, deep down, but could never accurately be expressed. But the balance between living … Read more
[ad_1] When World War II comes to an end in Siegfried Lenz’s The German Lesson, our young narrator, Siggi, is looking through a microscope at some fish eggs. His biology teacher has forced his class to learn about fish reproduction, even as anti-aircraft guns fire just off the North Sea coast. Siggi is disappointed in … Read more