Archive

Who Was His Little Brother, and Why Was He Killed?
A writer tries to unravel the mystery of who killed his friend — and the friend’s different identities.
Jeannette CoopermanMay 24, 2022
- Memoir & Essay
Sophomoric Sophomores: On Elif Batuman’s “Either/Or”
Batuman’s follow-up to her Pulitzer-nominated debut is another breathless exploration of college life.
Grace LindenMay 24, 2022
- Fiction
In the Tongue a Knife, in the Knife a Tongue: On Fernanda Melchor’s “Paradais”
Melchor’s new novel is overwhelming, violent, frightening, and leavened by a dark sense of humor.
Lowry PresslyMay 23, 2022
- Fiction
Remedial Humanities: On Roosevelt Montás’s “Rescuing Socrates”
A stirring if not fully persuasive defense of the university’s role in the formation of an informed citizenry.
Ignacio M. Sánchez PradoMay 23, 2022
- Education
Surviving Destruction: What Keeps Going in Eugenie Brinkema’s “Life-Destroying Diagrams”
Jorge Cotte reviews Eugenie Brinkema’s “Life-Destroying Diagrams,” a monograph in defense of radical formalism.
Jorge CotteMay 23, 2022
- Film
The Internet Is a Crime Against Humanity
Justin E. H. Smith’s new book, “The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is,” shows how the human dream of telecommunication has been twisted into a nightmare.
Joshua Judd PorterMay 22, 2022
- Science & Technology
You Must Change Your Writing Style: Ward Farnsworth’s Guidebooks to English Virtuosity and Ancient Philosophy
Our culture is preoccupied with content to the almost total exclusion of form, and that’s bad.
Colin MarshallMay 22, 2022
- Literary Criticism
The Hijacked Christianity: A Conversation with Obery M. Hendricks Jr.
Eric C. Miller interviews Obery M. Hendricks Jr. about his new book on the evangelical Right’s pernicious readings of the Bible.
Eric C. MillerMay 22, 2022
- Religion
Lines, Lineage, and Light in Jazmina Barrera’s “Linea Nigra”
Nichole LeFebvre feels the magnetic pull of “Linea Nigra,” an essay on pregnancy and earthquakes by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney.
Nichole LeFebvreMay 21, 2022
- Memoir & Essay
Violent Acts of Alien Intelligences: On Cixin Liu’s “The Three-Body Problem” and Mark Bould’s Climate Criticism
Sungshin Kim and Kurt Guldentops read Cixin Liu's Three-Body Problem trilogy against Mark Bould's criticism.
Kurt Guldentops, Sungshin KimMay 21, 2022
- SF
Hernan Diaz’s “Trust”
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher speak with Hernan Diaz about his latest novel "Trust."
LARB Radio HourMay 20, 2022
As Lost as the Rest of Us: On Jeff Deutsch’s “In Praise of Good Bookstores”
Lily Houston Smith examines Jeff Deutsch’s advocacy of bookstores and books in his “In Praise of Good Bookstores.”
Lily Houston SmithMay 20, 2022
- Memoir & Essay
Dante’s Purgatory, and Ours: On D. M. Black’s New Translation of the “Purgatorio”
Leeore Schnairsohn reflects on D. M. Black’s new translation of Dante’s “Purgatorio” and on the purgatories of our day.
Leeore SchnairsohnMay 20, 2022
- Poetry
So Much More Than Nigerian Harry Potter: On Nnedi Okorafor’s “Akata Woman”
Jonathan P. Lewis reviews the third book in Nnedi Okorafor’s Nsibidi Scripts series, “Akata Woman.”
Jonathan P. LewisMay 20, 2022
- SF
- Young Adult & Children’s Literature
“Writing Was an Act of Survival”: A Conversation with Reyna Grande
The author discusses her latest novel, “A Ballad of Love and Glory,” a sweeping historical drama set during the Mexican-American War.
Alex EspinozaMay 19, 2022
- Fiction
Black Love Adrift in a Sea of Whiteness: On Asali Solomon’s “The Days of Afrekete”
A new entry in the genre of the Philadelphia Novel, characterized by a tangle of law enforcement, interracial romance, and social alienation.
Miranda FeatherstoneMay 19, 2022
- Fiction