Reviews Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

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Blood Suckers
On “A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising” by Raymond A. Villareal.
Désirée ZamoranoOct 31, 2018
- Noir
- SF
The Value of W, or, Interdisciplinary Engagements on Culture
Jessica Riskin appreciates “Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony” by Kevin Laland.
Jessica RiskinOct 31, 2018
- Science & Technology
A Trokosi Mirror of the US-Mexican Border: On Bernice L. McFadden’s “Praise Song for the Butterflies”
Bernice L. McFadden's "Praise Song for the Butterflies" is short and spare, but its portrait of a child abandoned will haunt readers.
Tina McElroy AnsaOct 30, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Almost Too Sober: On the Appeal of Stoicism
Robert Zaretsky contemplates “How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life,” a selection of Epictetus’s thought translated by A. A. Long.
Robert ZaretskyOct 30, 2018
- Cultural Studies
- Philosophy & Religion
His Own “Final Thing”: On Varlam Shalamov’s “Kolyma Stories”
Patrick Kurp on the artfully rendered accounts of suffering in “Kolyma Stories” by Varlam Shalamov, translated by Donald Rayfield.
Patrick KurpOct 29, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
The Supernatural as Natural, Healthy, and Banal
Jeffrey J. Kripal has a big problem with Clay Routledge's "Supernatural: Death, Meaning, and the Power of the Invisible World."
Jeffrey J. KripalOct 28, 2018
- Religion
Tade Thompson’s “Rosewater” — An Alien Invasion That “Grows On You”
Tade Thompson’s “Rosewater” is a hard-boiled alien invasion novel that investigates the perils and opportunities of inescapable networked connection.
Jessica FitzPatrickOct 27, 2018
- Around the World
- SF
Wageless Life
In "Hinterland," Phil A. Neel examines the deepening of wageless life, social despair, and the state’s decreasing capacity to manage increasing needs.
Sarah BrouilletteOct 27, 2018
- Economics and Finance
- Politics
Content in Plato’s Cave: Ersi Sotiropoulos’s “What’s Left of the Night”
In "What’s Left of the Night," Ersi Sotiropoulos excavates the origin of this irony in the early years of C. P. Cavafy’s poetic awakening.
Niko MaragosOct 26, 2018
Alexander Kluge in Context
The value of "Toward Fewer Images" is its ability to unravel and disclose the conceptual richness of Alexander Kluge’s oeuvre.
Celluloid Liberation FrontOct 26, 2018
- Around the World
- Film
Politics of Hate
Samuel Huneke reviews Dan Healey’s “Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi,” a look at the development of homophobia as a political strategy in Russia.
Samuel Clowes HunekeOct 26, 2018
The Balancing Act of Buddhism 2.0
Stephen Batchelor’s new book, "Secular Buddhism," continues his reimagination of Buddhism for new times and places.
Jason M. WirthOct 24, 2018
- Religion
Money Shots
In “Hollywood Math and Aftermath,” J. D. Connor is bold enough to take films at their word when they scream out loud that they’re made out of money.
Mark GobleOct 23, 2018
- Economics and Finance
- Film
Art and Enchantment in Haruki Murakami’s “Killing Commendatore”
For Randy Rosenthal, reading Haruki Murakami’s “Killing Commendatore” is like exploring underground caverns “enormous and deep and lovely.”
Randy RosenthalOct 23, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
Thinking Itself Is Dangerous
Samantha Hill reviews “Thinking Without a Banister,” the new collection of writings by Hannah Arendt.
Samantha Rose HillOct 22, 2018
The President-in-Waiting
A detailed, troubling look at the political life of Mike Pence.
Maria BrowningOct 21, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Politics