The Strange Tale of Panorama Island – Suehiro Maruo
Maruo, known for his transgressive, disturbing comics, passes on the opportunity to match Rampo’s baroque flourishes with modern outrages and plays things surprisingly safe.
I didn’t believe in the “soul” before being here confronted by its absolute absence.
Love Among the Particles – Norman Lock
Calling attention to the artificiality of his creation gives Lock (and us) the chance to consider what actually determines the “real.”
Philipp Meyer’s ambitious second novel, The Son, is as broad in scope as Texas is big.
In Times of Facing Light – Eugen Ruge
Like an overcrowded social gathering where one is forced to meet many people on a superficial level, the book offers little insight into the motivations, incentives, and desires of its characters.
The Sinistra Zone – Ádám Bodor
Though the anti-communist critique begins pointedly, after working its way through the book’s vulgar and whimsical digestive tract, it plops out the back end of the novel watered down and amorphous.
The history of science, in Roach’s work, is the history of human curiosity and obsession, and Roach has these in spades.
Crapalachia – Scott McClanahan
Crap-e diem.
It’s unclear at what point you start to feel the depth behind Koster’s acrobatic balance of elegant narration, disgusting violence and acerbic satire. It’s this subtlety that takes the book beyond caricature and into complexity.
Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
What’s so powerful is the way Adichie thinks through how human faces, flesh, and blood should be honestly portrayed in discussions and representations of the grand and minute violence of everyday life.