Tag: fiction

A review of Native Sons by James Baldwin and Sol Stein

Stein talks about Baldwin being late in delivering his work and the editorial process they shared; and it’s hard not to hear in these words Stein’s self-aggrandizement. Especially as Native Sons is an unnecessary book: Baldwin is one of the rare writers who told us what we need to know about himself, his philosophy, and his work. While this book Native Sons is not despicable, one wonders why it was published.

A review of Theft by Peter Carey

Although the truth theme continues to be compelling, it never takes precedence to the original and natural integrity of the story, which is overwhelmingly entertaining, first and foremost. On pure plot and characterisation alone, Carey is a master. That Theft like all…

A review of The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

Alan Hollinghurst has talent, and talent for which he has won awards, but his expression of that talent seems limited by the assumptions he has inherited and accepted about the subjects he handles—and also by his consciousness of the effects…

A review of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

But however present the moral question is in this story, it is never directly raised, and Ishiguro resists the urge to make it obvious. If these people are artistic and capable of love, is their tragedy any greater? If they…

A review of Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson

What is extraordinary about these stories is the intense fragility of the voice, which has an almost otherworldly texture sometimes. Or rather, no: not otherworldly. Instead, it is a voice that seems able to encompass both the next world and…

A review of King of Cats by Blake Fraina

The book’s merit is in the presentation of a recognizable character, a popular cultural type—a seductive, reclusive, possibly bisexual musician—and the explanation for his character and contradictions and how these things relate to—are made possible by, and influence—the surrounding world.…

A review of North of Sunset by Henry Baum

This is an immensely enjoyable (at least, for those of us who have long ago heeded Bart Simpson’s wise advice: “If you don’t watch the violence, you’ll never get desensitized to it!”) novel that is successful both as a suspenseful,…

A review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

He is recounting a history which is both still vital and yet already finished. In that sense he is directly aligned with the reader and as this extraordinary novel progresses, the reader has the sense that perhaps, in some way,…