Category Archives: Book Reviews

SINCE THE mid-’60s, David Cornwell, writing under the name John Le Carré, has given us literate spy thrillers tied in some way to the political zeitgeist of Cold War Britain and by extension Western Europe. Whether he is working with Palestinians … Continue reading →

WRITING ABOUT MUSIC is like dancing about architecture, Lori Anderson said, at once over- and understating the case.  The deep and physical reaction we have to music can’t be stimulated or duplicated by any other medium.  The ecstatic sympathy brought … Continue reading →

THERE IS SOMETHING of J.G. Ballard’s studied love of desolation in Red Land Blue Land, an appreciation for zones created by human thought yet inhospitable to human existence, a place where the twin illusions of technological progress and liberal sentimentality … Continue reading →

LIKE ITS hermaphroditic narrator, Jeffrey Eugenides’ long-awaited second novel is a hybrid–at once a Greek-American family saga and a picaresque coming-of-age narrative.

THE DISASTER BOOK, like the disaster movie, enjoyed a brief rebirth during the last years of the millenium.  The apocalyptic atmosphere was ripe for megablockbusters like The Perfect Storm and Titanic, Into Thin Air and Deep Impact, and their mega-success … Continue reading →