Fiction

A family watches the solar eclipse in Germany, 1999.

Richard Powers’s Radical Parenting Lessons Richard Powers’s Radical Parenting Lessons

His new novel Bewilderment examines the challenges of raising a child in a slowly dying world.

Oct 25, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Adams

Jonathan Franzen’s God

Jonathan Franzen’s God Jonathan Franzen’s God

A multigenerational saga about a Midwestern family, Crossroads is like most of Franzen novels—with one exception: Every plotline leads to the big guy himself.

Oct 18, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rumaan Alam

Anthony Veasna So’s Portraits of Diaspora

Anthony Veasna So’s Portraits of Diaspora Anthony Veasna So’s Portraits of Diaspora

His posthumous collection Afterparties is part of a new wave of writing on the cultural memory and historical traumas of Southeast Asian immigrants. 

Oct 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Larissa Pham

Sally Rooney’s Fiction for End Times

Sally Rooney’s Fiction for End Times Sally Rooney’s Fiction for End Times

In her third novel, Rooney does more than just respond to critics; she surveys the wreckage of modern life.

Oct 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Tony Tulathimutte

Dana Spiotta’s Political Fiction

Dana Spiotta’s Political Fiction Dana Spiotta’s Political Fiction

In her new novel, Wayward, Spiotta offers an intricate portrait of how one woman experienced the uncertain days and months after Trump’s election.

Sep 22, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Katie Fitzpatrick

The Climate Apocalypse According to Joy Williams

The Climate Apocalypse According to Joy Williams The Climate Apocalypse According to Joy Williams

With her first novel in 20 years, Harrow, the radical environmentalist envisions an uncompromising politics necessary for defending the natural world.

Sep 16, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Piccarella

Adalbert Stifter’s View of Oberplan

Adalbert Stifter’s Disappearing World Adalbert Stifter’s Disappearing World

His uncanny writing bears witness to the early stages of capitalism offering a glimpse of the natural world before modernity.

Sep 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Ratik Asokan

Scam the Rich: A Conversation With Novelist Marlowe Granados

Scam the Rich: A Conversation With Novelist Marlowe Granados Scam the Rich: A Conversation With Novelist Marlowe Granados

On her new novel Happy Hour, con artists, and fiction that embraces joy.

Sep 9, 2021 / Q&A / Sophie Kemp

Companies Struggle To Fill Low-Wage Positions In Tight Job Market

The Fiction of Meaningful Work The Fiction of Meaningful Work

Kikuko Tsumura’s new novel examines what unites jobs good or bad: the stories we tell ourselves to cope with how much toil sucks in the first place.

Aug 3, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Marie Solis

London Underground

Jeremy Cooper’s Art of Ambiguities Jeremy Cooper’s Art of Ambiguities

His epistolary novel Bolt From the Blue is a sort of Künstlerroman about artistic inspiration, parenthood, and the frustrations of interpretation.

Jul 20, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Sophie Haigney

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