An Air Bubble Between Continents: On Yelena Moskovich's "A Door Behind A Door"
Olga Bokuchava left behind a traumatic childhood in the Soviet Union (along with the suspicious, rhythmic stabbing of a neighbor “once, twice, thrice”) and immigrated to Milwaukee with her family, from whom she then became mysteriously estranged.
Rubbing Love from Silences: On Silvina López Medin's "Poem That Never Ends"
Learning to sew, I discovered the choice of fabric determines what can be created from it; the textures and thread pattern of the materials determine the stitch.
The American Right to Riot: On Elizabeth Hinton's "America on Fire"
“Rioting is not protesting,” then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden stated in August 2020.
The Gore of Emotion: On Whitney Collins' "Big Bad"
In her debut short story collection Big Bad, Whitney Collins showcases the emotion involved in making the most brutal of human decisions.
Mules Became Steam Became Code: On William Attaway's "Blood on the Forge"
“Day-O,” recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1956, is one of those songs that sounds cheerful, as long as you don’t listen too carefully.
Barely a Victory: On Curtis Sittenfeld's "Rodham"
Fiction seems to be the only way to move forward with an investigation of Hillary Clinton.
Where We've Been: On Louis Menand's "The Free World"
Louis Menand has written a sprawling, fact-filled history of American art, culture, and ideas between the end of World War II in 1945 and 1965, the year the war in Vietnam escalated and American culture began to unravel at the seams.
