Now and At the Hour of Our Death – Susana Moreira Marques
Moreira Marques captures something essential about death in her book’s first half by touching only lightly on the specifics of the people she encounters, and rarely mentioning herself.
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl – Carrie Brownstein
Brownstein doesn’t need to vomit to show us what’s inside her. She has the supernatural capability to unstitch her skin and show us her insides without bile or blood.
Memory Theater – Simon Critchley
For all his clarity in explaining philosophical concepts, Critchley is also adept at the use of ambiguity to create an aura of mystery that invites speculation long after the book is done.
This year, we read books like maps. Collected here are ten of our favorite reviews published in 2015.
See You in the Morning – Mairead Case
This is not the mode of the stereotypical teenage diary . . . this is the mode of someone hoping that by taking in everything, everything will be revealed.
We bind discussions of newness in literature to the categories we’re supposedly abandoning.
Never Goodnight – Coco Moodysson
Moodysson so accurately nails the conflicting tones of preteen anxiety and exuberance that even the sweetly childish games the girls play may be read as personal and somewhat embarrassing.
The Man Who Spoke Snakish – Andrus Kivirähk
Deeply anti-religious, the novel questions society’s ability to believe one set of mystical explanations while rejecting behaviors as primitive that have directly enabled their survival for generations.
I love to imagine a future in which a young trans writer can embrace this book as talismanic and important because it reflects something beautiful and singular.
The Xenotext: Book 1 – Christian Bök
The Xenotext feels like nothing so much as high-tech genetic graffiti: “Christian wuz here” in microbial verse.