Cloud of Sparrows book by Takashi Matsuoka reviewed by Su Mon Han
Peter Ibbetson
Takashi Matsuoka’s first novel takes us to 1861, six years after the opening of Japan to the West. Genji, the young, charismatic Great Lord of Akaoka, welcomes a small group…
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“The Little Friend book by Donna Tartt reviewed by Sonja Ostrow”
Writers, like pop stars, are often one-hit wonders. Assignation to this category seemed to be the fate of Donna Tartt, whose intellectual thriller The Secret History was published in 1992.…
The Seven Sisters book by Margaret Drabble reviewed by Marisa Knox
What would literary heroines of old have done without an inheritance? Would Jane Eyre have met Rochester again on her own terms? Would Isabel Archer have been the prey of…
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation book by Translated by W.S. Merwin reviewed by James Coleman
As everyone knows, a proper Knight of the Round table cannot tolerate an affront to his honor. Due to some clause in the chivalric code, Arthur and his boys seem…
Three Junes book by Julia Glass reviewed by Daniel Barrett
Julia Glass admires Shakespeare, Pope, and George Eliot, but she says her desire to write like them is an “unrequited craving.” Right she is. Three Junes more closely resembles a…
The Cave book by Jose Saramago reviewed by Paige Austin
In one of his most famous allegories, Plato writes in his Republic: “Imagine human beings living in an underground, cavelike dwelling… They’ve been there since childhood, fixed in the same…
Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 book by Salman Rushdie reviewed by Michael Obernauer
It is no surprise then that Rushdie’s intellectual inquiries have so often centered around the notions of borders and boundaries; transgressions and journeys; the crossing of frontiers, and the struggle…
The Rage and the Pride book by Oriana Fallaci reviewed by James Kirchick
An exhibit at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg is called Dvoe, or “Twosome.” It pairs paintings and sculptures to suggest dualities in Russian art: East vs. West, peasant vs.…
American Studies book by Louis Menand reviewed by Thomas Cannell
With a collection of essays, you can always tackle one piece in a hurry—say before bed or waiting for a train—without leaving a vaguely remembered thought to be picked up…
Why Orwell Matters book by Christopher Hitchens reviewed by Alex Lee
George Orwell has suffered the saddest fate for a political writer: he has been rendered uncontroversial. Animal Farm and 1984 are assigned reading for junior high school students around the…