Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category
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- Frederick Barthelme’s “Painted Desert” • September 25, 1995
"Painted Desert," Frederick Barthelme's sixth novel and a pseudo-sequel to his acclaimed "The Brothers," offers a thoughtful road trip through the psyche of America. Barthelme has plugged in to the currents of frustration that run through us all these days and provided us with some much-needed grounding. - Philip Roth’s “Sabbath’s Theater” • September 25, 1995
After decade or two of metaphysical tricks and postmodern identity crises, with "Sabbath's Theater" Philip Roth has finally gotten back around to what he does best: offending people. - Edwidge Danticat’s “Krik? Krak!” • August 23, 1995
Writing in spare, elegant language, Danticat's "Krik? Krak!" is a moving testimonial of man's inhumanity to man — especially man's inhumanity to woman — that you cannot leave untouched. Moving beyond the frustratingly ephemeral considerations of presidential politics, Danticat's poetry of pain is an indelible portrait. - Richard Ford’s “Independence Day” • August 8, 1995
With its Proustian pace and its wide thematic territory, Richard Ford's "Independence Day" is, if anything, a better book than its predecessor, "The Sportswriter." You can't ask for much more in summer reading: a thick, absorbing narrative that quietly slides into profundity and social critique without your even noticing. - Martin Amis’ “The Information” • August 3, 1995
Martin Amis's "The Information" is a novel that's glibly self-conscious about the entire literary publication process, and bitter as horseradish about it, too. It's a novel that's sure to offend, horrify, and amuse anyone that's ever indulged in writing, book reviewing, editing, or publishing. - Stephen Dixon’s “Interstate” • August 3, 1995
Stephen Dixon's "Interstate" takes no shortcuts and uses no euphemisms in confronting the dark side of our jarring, claustrophobic, and increasingly violent society. It's a blunt and revelatory look at the anxieties that creep around in our subconscious night after night, and not soon to be forgotten. - Anne Tyler’s “Ladder of Years” • July 26, 1995
Anne Tyler's "Ladder of Years" poses an awful lot of tough questions about women's liberation, and Tyler's lack of straight answers is at once artful and irritating. - Michael Chabon’s “Wonder Boys” • July 10, 1995
This book review was originally published on Critics’ Choice on July 10, 1995. Three-time novelist Grady Tripp may have lost his writer’s acumen, but his imagination is certainly intact; because it takes a supreme effort of creativity to end up in the massive pickle that Grady, the protagonist of Michael Chabon’s new novel, Wonder Boys, has [...] - Madison Smartt Bell’s “All Souls’ Rising” • July 1, 1995
Once you've waded far enough in, "All Souls' Rising" pulls you away with the tide and gives you a thorough drubbing for the next 400 pages. Along the way Bell provides a fascinating historical panorama of colonial Haiti, and one that reaffirms the author as one of extraordinary scope and talent. - Douglas Coupland’s “Microserfs” • June 26, 1995
This book review was originally published in the Baltimore Evening Sun on June 26, 1995. Disregard that old phrase about how you can’t judge a book by its cover when you read Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs. The 33-year-old Canadian’s novels are so accurately conveyed by their packaging that sometimes I wonder whether Coupland’s just hacking out text [...]