The Embrace of the Literary Speculative Space in “Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go” – Chicago Review of Books

The Embrace of the Literary Speculative Space in “Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] In her debut collection examining the myriad identities of modern Asian and Asian-American women, Cleo Qian does not shy away from both the real and surreal aspects of longing. Indeed, longing is the most palpable feeling of Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go, and Qian embodies this feeling in all its dimensions. Whether the … Read more

The Space Between Certainties in “The Sense of Wonder” – Chicago Review of Books

The Space Between Certainties in “The Sense of Wonder” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] No book has influenced how I approach book reviews more than Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. The book challenges the lens many readers use, one shaped by white, Western values, and is a call not only to make space for diverse storytelling, but to evaluate it on its own terms. And, … Read more

The Open Space of Uncertainty in “Rabbit Island” – Chicago Review of Books

The Open Space of Uncertainty in “Rabbit Island” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] “For me, ghosts are never the spirits of strangers. They are the people I love most dearly,” confesses the narrator of one of the stories in Elvira Navarro’s collection Rabbit Island. Translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney, these stories often cross the line between delusion and reality, constructs that in Navarro’s hands prove … Read more

Accessible Space in “What Kind of Woman” – Chicago Review of Books

Accessible Space in “What Kind of Woman” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] “You can be a mother and a poet.” So writes Kate Baer in “Moon Song,” part of her first poetry collection, What Kind of Woman. She effortlessly spans parenting, friendship, love, and how women perceive and are perceived, with stunning imagery. Poems like “Female Candidate” hit home, upending the current moment to examine it. … Read more

The Intergalactic Intersections of “The Space Between Worlds” – Chicago Review of Books

The Intergalactic Intersections of “The Space Between Worlds” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Sometimes the separation between the lived experiences of neighbors can be just as profound as if they grew up on different planets. Privilege, opportunity, and access can be shifted by the smallest geographic space, a city street, or a country’s border. Few understand this truth better than the protagonist of Micaiah Johnson’s debut novel, … Read more