Flux Patricia Q. Bidar 1. On a Sleepless Night, Your Slumbering Spouse Beside You Ever think about how another student from the film department introduced us, and how I started calling you late at the adult theater you managed and…
Fiction • Kaitlin Murphy-Knudsen
Everyday Conversation Kaitlin Murphy-Knudsen MONDAY iPhone SE, IMEI 395728603861856: We are agreed on long-term partnership then? Because my guy’s ready. If we want to shift screen time to a longer-term parenting anxiety circuit for upwards of 20 years—parenting blogs…
Interviews • Andrea Lee
Red Island House: An Interview with Andrea Lee Gary Percesepe Andrea Lee is the author of five books, including the National Book Award–nominated memoir Russian Journal; the novels Red Island House, Lost Hearts in Italy, and Sarah Phillips; and…
Small fires, dulled senses in the short fiction of Andrew Duncan Worthington
The main assertion of collection “A Very Small Forest Fire” by Andrew Duncan Worthington (Bottlecap Press, 2018) seems to be that the ultimate way to undermine capitalism is to be too bored to participate.
“Assertion” may be too strong a word. These 12 short-short stories employ what I suspect is purposefully dull and vague language, creating characters numbed by the constant stimulation of modern American society. Narrators (often unnamed) drift through recreation activities but don’t have any fun—they don’t feel much of anything. The sparse language evokes Kerouac, but with a more limited vocabulary.
“Census” by Jesse Ball: An Odyssey from A to Z
Jesse Ball is a respected voice in contemporary fiction, with novels such as “The Way Through Doors” and “How to Set a Fire and Why.” In spite of the dark, depressing and even graphic content in his writing, his work ultimately reveals the enduring power of hope, love and creativity.
Ball is not afraid to write about disturbing topics, which makes his newest novel “Census” (HarperCollins, 2018) a modern masterpiece that presents characters who persevere in the face of adversity.
Michalski’s “The Summer She Was Under Water,” a Refreshing Read
Reading “The Summer She Was Under Water” (reissued by Black Lawrence Press, 2017) by Jen Michalski has been truly refreshing. It is a fictional story with deep and complicated characters, while still managing to be easy to read. Like water, the language is clear and the flow of the story smooth.
Louise Erdrich Pens a Dystopia
We’ve come to know Louise Erdrich as an established writer thanks to novels like “Love Medicine,” so it may come as a surprise that her most recent work tackles broad and philosophical questions in a dystopian setting. Her latest novel, “Future Home of the Living God” (Harper, 2017), combines poetic prose with fantastical ideas to create a spellbinding reading experience.
The protagonist, 26-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, is our guide into an America where a totalitarian state rules and babies are being born with animal traits.
“Lords of St. Thomas”: A Thrilling Novel of Family and Sacrifice
Jackson Ellis describes a tender, thought-provoking family legacy in “Lords of St. Thomas” (Green Writers Press, coming to paperback April 2018). The reader gets an account of the fictional Henry Lord and his family in St. Thomas, Nevada. Here the Lords struggle with family bonds, tragedy and fear of the inevitable. The book is also an important record of history, depicting the consequences of the building of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s.
Yanagihara’s A Little Life and impulse control
I stared at the words in front of me, elegant while they concluded a chapter with devastating news. “No!” I said aloud, though I was in public. The coffee shop buzzed with life but I sat alone, with only a cooling latte to comfort me.
The sad news from the novel hit me all over again. My eyes stung and I let the tears fall. So what if I was surrounded by people—no one was really looking at me, right?
And then I felt a hand on my back. Two women—strangers—approached me and said they recognized the cover of the book and couldn’t help but peek at the chapter I was on. When they saw where I was in the story, they stayed close, knowing I was about to get my heart broken.
I could hardly speak. I tried to laugh but I was still crying: Why am I reading this book at all? What a silly way to spend a vacation!
The strangers comforted me: We read it because it was good. We kept going because it took over our minds and we didn’t want to do anything else. They both recounted stories of crying in restaurants or in plane seats because of this book. They told me I should take a walk, that getting air would help.
I’d never read a novel that created an extemporaneous support group before (though Push by Sapphire comes close). What the heck was happening to me?
Why We Must Prioritize Journalism Over Fiction, No Matter How Much It Hurts
The rally call went up in the first months of 2016.
Writers of all ranks came together and decided that they must work harder than ever to ridicule, satirize and attack the new political world. They had not voted for things like Brexit and Trump, and these ideas were not only the annoying chirps of uninformed, they were the enemy of liberal, innovative art.
Literature and the Darkest Desires of Girls
As far as I’m concerned, the two most addictive reads to come out of Summer 2016 are: the novel The Girls by Emma Cline (Random House, June 2016) and the memoir Land of Enchantment by Leigh Stein (Plume, August 2016).
Envy, Ingratitude and Hope: Why Elena Ferrante is a Bad Role Model
I have just finished reading Elena Ferrante’s first Neapolitan novel, “My Brilliant Friend.” I must admit, it’s wonderful. Yes, she’s captured an entire life. Yes, it made me cry and, yes, of course, I immediately wanted to go to Naples and try a Ferrante pizza (which is 100% real).
The Book I Read Before I Was Ready: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
When I was fifteen years old, my mother’s book club read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. Whether she knew it or not, I was reading along with her.
Literary Treasure Hunting in Cape Town
Between 2006 and 2012, I lived in and studied in Cape Town, South Africa. During my time there, I discovered works I never would have found in the States (where I’m from). I could have wept with joy when I occasionally, unexpectedly, stumbled upon great books in junk shops with low-low prices. It was like unearthing a treasure. I spent uncountable hours reading in the African sun—on a quiet corner of campus, on a beach off the Atlantic Ocean, under any tree I could find.
Remembering “Before I Forget” by Andre Brink
The first time I went to Cape Town, South Africa, I was about to turn twenty. A junior in college, I had little experience with life, love or literature and I was hungry for more. In the Cape Town library, I discovered Before I Forget, Andre Brink’s shameless fictional recollection of lovers possessed by the book’s narrator—who happens to be an aging South African author.
I was captivated.
When I decided to reread it nine years later, all I could remember was that it was indulgent. In the opening pages, eighty-year-old Chris Minaar sets up the premise: He’ll recount every woman with whom he’s slept over the course of his long, debauched life as a white South African novelist.
NaNo FAIL; Or, How Cello Lessons Had No Impact on My Ability to Write a Novel
Last November, I posted about how taking cello lessons inspired me to participate for the first time in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Since then, a lot of people have asked me how the experiment panned out. I’ve been waiting—partly from shame, and partly for the enhanced perspective that is the reward of time—to admit that I failed to produce a complete novel in a single month.
The last few days of November were excruciating. I woke up on November 30th with my inner voice screaming, “You failed! You are a failure! A fail-y, fail-y FAILURE!” Like I’ve said before, my inner voice is a jerk.