AltWeeklies Wire
'Was She Pretty?' is a Memorable Graphic Novellanew
At its best, Shapton's sharp writing sums up complex human emotions that in a novel could have taken a truckload of interior monologue.
NOW Magazine |
Lauren Kirshner |
11-16-2007 |
Fiction
JIm Shepard: Dangerous, Dark Dispatchesnew
Like You'd Understand, Anyway is made up almost entirely of fictional testimonies from situations that quickly disintegrate -- and it's not hard to keep reading out of simple rubbernecking.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
11-13-2007 |
Fiction
Comix King Adrian Tomine Discusses 'Shortcomings'new
Shortcomings, which took him five years to complete, has stirred controversy partly because of the protagonist's ambivalence about his Asian heritage and partly because it's serious, adult work.
The Georgia Straight |
Shawn Conner |
11-12-2007 |
Fiction
Curse of the Fukunew
Junot Diaz's first novel is a wondrous but brief account of a Dominican growing up in Jersey.
Montreal Mirror |
Juliet Waters |
11-12-2007 |
Fiction
'Famous Writers School' Offers Chucklesnew
Steven Carter's novel zooms in on the fictional correspondence between an inept Famous Writers teacher and his three ragtag pupils.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
11-08-2007 |
Fiction
Ha Jin's American Dreamsnew
In his mammoth new novel, A Free Life, he deploys the elements of his own powerful journey in an epic tale about a young couple at sea in America in the early '90s.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
11-06-2007 |
Fiction
Civil Soulsnew
Michael White's new novel brings interracial romance to a slave-catching saga.
New Haven Advocate |
Christopher Arnott |
11-06-2007 |
Fiction
'The Dangerous Book for Boys' Strolls Down Memory Lanenew
Authors/brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden have created what can only be described as a young boy's companion guide to, well, basically everything of interest to listless and/or adventurous young men. But it's also a treat for a nostalgic adult.
NOW Magazine |
Evan Davies |
11-05-2007 |
Fiction
'McSweeney's 24': Gorgeous, As Alwaysnew
One half of the new McSweeney's consists entirely of a tribute to the postmodern master of short fiction, the late, great Donald Barthelme, with recollections by friends, colleagues, and admirers such as George Saunders, Ann Beattie, Robert Coover, and Lawrence Weschler.
The Portland Mercury |
Chas Bowie |
11-01-2007 |
Fiction
Jeanne M. Leiby Debuts with her Childhood Detroitnew
One thing Downriver, the debut short story collection by Jeanne M. Leiby, will certainly not make you want to do is to move south of Detroit, the setting of most of her stories.
'The Sabotage Cafe': A Falling-Down Lifenew
This debut novel by New York's Joshua Furst, which is insider enough to name-check Cometbus, is probably the best book about the agony of being a gutter punk.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
11-01-2007 |
Fiction
'The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps' Packs the Big Gunsnew
No false advertising here -- The Big Book is big, roughly the size of the San Francisco yellow pages, and it offers up nothing but the purest in pulp mystery fiction.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
John Marr |
10-31-2007 |
Fiction
Anne Enright's 'Buried Memories' is Bleak and Sexualnew
The Irish wake has become such a familiar trope in films and popular culture it takes a fiercely unsentimental novel like Anne Enright's The Gathering, recent winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize, to club the blarney out of it.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
10-30-2007 |
Fiction
The Key to 'Vibrator' Isn't Scandalnew
The explicitness of the sex and the frankness with which Rei -- the narrator -- expresses her desires and confusions are striking. But it's the skill Mari Akasaka brings to her narration that allows the pain of Rei's existence to be soothed by the journey.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Justin Bauer |
10-30-2007 |
Fiction
'Long Story Short' is Willfully Bent & Instinctually Wittynew
Like science experiments, these six high-concept short stories drop their misfit characters into cruelly ironic fantasies or harsh hyper-realities.
The Georgia Straight |
Patty Jones |
10-29-2007 |
Fiction
