Hussey has been kind to the reader by slicing his novel into bed-time-reading sized chapters. But unless you like your nightmares to be as ‘jittery as a dog full of fleas’ then read Through a Glass Darkly on a bright summer’s day.
Category: Book Reviews
Book Reviews
A review of Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon and the journey of a generation by Sheila Weller
As a longtime admirer of all three of these artists, I was rivetted by Weller’s narrative and impressed by her analysis of their lives and legacies. But this is not just a book strictly for the fans of the music – anyone who is interested in womens’ role in society and the period that saw the rise of feminism and the ‘gender wars’ will find much to mull over here.
A review of The New Angel by Ali Alizadeh
Bahram’s is the voice of the newly-arrived immigrant, misunderstood and always alien, at home neither in the country he has come from nor the one he now inhabits. Such people are becoming increasingly common in our globalised society, and their outsider voices need to be heard and heeded if the notion of a ‘global village’ is to ever become a reality.
A review of The OK Team by Nick Place
The varying narrative, slightly otherworldly Gotham city setting, and the overall positive messages makes this a good choice for young boys – particularly those who are struggling to enjoy the world of books. That it also involves a fair amount of wish fulfillment also adds to this books charm for children.
A review of Composition by Linda Lavid
While you might need a few more reference books on your journey from a person who dreams of being an author to someone who has a book of his or her own to sign and sell, this is nevertheless a useful starting point and a reference you’ll find yourself going back to along the way.
Revelations: Notes on Music, Criticism, and Society; on Nelson George’s book Where Did Our Love Go? and Stanley Crouch’s book Considering Genius
George, someone whose work I used to read in Manhattan’s Village Voice, documents the beautiful and brutal reality that was Motown, a company and a creative period, the 1960s through the 1970s, that I think of as a highlight of African-American and American history, as important as (if not more important than) the Harlem Renaissance, giving us sounds and substance, giving us ideas, images, and individuals, of great value.
A review of Tumbuktu by Paul Auster
The overriding desire for meaning beyond this short life is one which infuses the book, but Auster never allows a human narrative voice to interfere with Mr Bones’ perspective. Clever, funny, lighthearted and serious all at the same time, this is a stylistic departure for Paul Auster which nonetheless makes full use of his gifts.
A review of Syncopations: Beats, New Yorkers, and Writers in the Dark by James Campbell
Campbell is very good on Capote and it is the slightly gossipy air of his writing that makes these studies especially interesting. He is even better on James Baldwin, subject of one of his books. He demonstrates how the FBI persecuted Baldwin, drove him into exile, and hampered his life so that after leaving the United States Baldwin’s best years as a writer were over. It would be pleasant to believe that such things are no longer possible, pleasant but, alas, unfortunately naive.
A review of Tremolo: Cry of the Loon by Aaron Paul Lazar
What makes this book work so well is how it moves beyond genre, to illuminate a critical period in his hero’s life, showing just how the warmth and honesty in his family life have given rise to an integrity which makes him more than simply a clever detective. His character creates a theme that works throughout all of the Gus LeGarde books, and, I suspect, a theme that may well be present in all of Lazar’s work.
A review of Woods and Chalices by Tomaz Salamun
The language is hard and unyielding, characteristics (since Salamun participated with his translator on this poem) that the poet elects. The language here and elsewhere consists of short images delivered in the fewest possible words.