Category Archives: Book Reviews

Maxwell: Early Novels And Stories; Later Novels And Stories (Library of America, two volumes, $35 each) When William Maxwell died in 2000 at the age of 91, America lost one of its greatest writers. While widely loved within the literary … Continue reading →

THE STORIES IN Michael Chabon’s second collection, Werewolves in their Youth, showcase his prodigious talents and touch on his major concerns–hope, loneliness, and the powers of the imagination. His work here is stronger and more sure-footed than ever, and fans of … Continue reading →

PHILIP CAPUTO’S new novel The Voyage (Knopf, $26.00) is an old-fashioned book. Set for the most part around the turn of the century, it chronicles the adventures of the three Braithwaite brothers as they pilot their father’s schooner Double Eagle down … Continue reading →

JOHN GRISHAM’S ninth novel, The Street Lawyer, follows the basic formula of his other bestsellers, taking a jaded lawyer disillusioned with the American system of justice and–through a series of dire and not always believable events–leading him back to his … Continue reading →

FRED G. LEEBRON’S provocative second novel takes on the frustrations of the young American middle class, born to privilege and fearful they may fail in their expected pursuit of success.  By painstakingly dissecting the thwarted aspirations of its main character, … Continue reading →