Reviews Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

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Fascism in the Offing
Adrian Van Young reviews “Transcription” by Kate Atkinson.
Adrian Van YoungNov 28, 2018
- Noir
The Ugly Poverty of Violence: Michael Datcher’s “Americus”
"Americus," saturated by emotional taboos and an overarching miasma of racism, reads as a mortician’s journal of an extended embalming.
Peter J. HarrisNov 28, 2018
- Fiction
“The Great Chain of Being”: Alice Major’s “Welcome to the Anthropocene”
In “Welcome to the Anthropocene,” Alice Major sets up the natural world as dominant over our knowledge of it.
Hannah RogersNov 27, 2018
- Poetry
Anna Maria Ortese’s Unforgiving Vision in “Neapolitan Chronicles”
Eloisa Morra unmasks the challenging nature of Anna Maria Ortese’s classic fiction-reportage hybrid “Neapolitan Chronicles.”
Eloisa MorraNov 27, 2018
The Children of Catastrophes: On Vladimir Sharov’s “The Rehearsals”
Caryl Emerson considers the legacy of the late Vladimir Sharov, whose novel “The Rehearsals” is now available in Oliver Ready’s translation.
Caryl EmersonNov 27, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Life in the Present Tense: “Like” by A. E. Stallings
Rowland Bagnall considers “Like” by A. E. Stallings.
Rowland BagnallNov 25, 2018
- Poetry
A Return to God After God
Kevin Hart reviews two new books about Richard Kearney's work, "Richard Kearney’s Anatheistic Wager" and "The Art of Anatheism."
Kevin HartNov 25, 2018
- Philosophy & Religion
- Religion
Facing the “Horror of Time”
"We need to realize that philosophy in the Islamic world has never been just one thing, any more than Islamic culture has been just one thing."
Peter AdamsonNov 24, 2018
- Philosophy & Religion
- Religion
The Violence of Autobiography: Julián Herbert’s “Tomb Song”
Tomb Song provides a powerful introduction to Herbert, and is, in itself, one of the most significant Latin American literary works of the decade.
Ignacio M. Sánchez PradoNov 23, 2018
- Around the World
- Memoir & Essay
Crudo, She Tweeted: Olivia Laing’s “Crudo”
With "Crudo," Olivia Laing appropriates Twitter’s trademark intonation, writing in a flippant voice, concise to the point of discarding most punctuation.
Lauren SarazenNov 22, 2018
- Fiction
A Mutual Bewitchment
A literary friendship, scrupulously enshrined.
Greg GerkeNov 21, 2018
- Literary Criticism
- Poetry
A Sidelined People: On the Crisis in Palestine
Two new books examine the consequences of the failed bid for Palestinian statehood.
Sam RisakNov 21, 2018
Indirect Victims of Savagery
Chip Rossetti reviews “Baghdad Noir,” edited by Samuel Shimon and featuring writing by Ahmed Saadawi, Ali Bader, and Roy Scranton.
Chip RossettiNov 21, 2018
- Around the World
- Noir
Economic and Literary Speculations
"How can the novel, and in particular the realist novel, deal with an event like the flash crash of 2010 or something like high-frequency trading?"
Mikkel Krause FrantzenNov 20, 2018
Students Want to Write Well; We Don’t Let Them
Ryan Boyd reviews John Warner’s new manifesto for the writing classroom.
Ryan BoydNov 20, 2018
- Education
Cynical Satire and Civic Optimism Across the American Heartland
Danielle Charette read-trips through Gary Shteyngart’s “Lake Success” and James and Deborah Fallows’s “Our Towns.”
Danielle CharetteNov 19, 2018
- Fiction
- Memoir & Essay