In the small ever-diminishing circle some call literary fiction, the role of narrator-monologist tends to be occupied by an articulate sort. It’s a technique that some may find quaint. Nevertheless, when it’s tried, the result can include unique … [Read more]
The Citizen – Soldier Gap
Andrew Bacebich reviewed James Wright's Those Who Have Borne the Battle (PublicAffairs 2012), and addressed a growing divide between U.S. citizens and the military establishment they subsidize. It's more than ". . .the places like Iraq and … [Read more]
Small Pond, Big World of Letters and Letterwriting
When was the last time you spent an entire day writing a letter? Suzanne Marrs has edited a collection of letters by two writers for whom this must have been a regular occurrence. In an unrelated essay on photography, A.O. Scott wrote that ". . … [Read more]
The Unceasing Wail (And Barb Would Like Her CD Back)
In the echo chamber of pain and tears Robin Romm @RobinRomm inhabits in The Mercy Papers (Scribner, 2009), there are other characters: father Richard, boyfriend Don and a mother, Jackie, “who was the first to notice when the crocuses bloomed each … [Read more]
New York Times Sunday Book Review Snips
Some time ago, a devilish hobbyist/collector/imitator instinct took hold. What got my attention were occasional flights of fine prose writing in the New York Times Sunday Book Review section. As the quality of these snips continued at a fairly high … [Read more]
Cinematic Canvas, Limp Brush
There is much to like in a book that appropriates a cinematic swath of the not-too-distant past and brings it into sharp focus. Why, then, does Janet Y. K. Lee's first novel The Piano Teacher (Viking, 2009) leave an unsettled and incomplete … [Read more]
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