Reviews Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

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Doing a D'Agata
The writer and editor, too, are headaches.
Lee GutkindMar 19, 2012
The End of Mourning: On Tony Kushner
many of us have spent the last decades living in a disappointed age, an age in which the entire notion of “revolution” became a joke
Jess RowMar 15, 2012
Cinematic: Roger Ebert's "Life Itself"
Since Ebert’s prime, everything has changed.
Swati PandeyMar 14, 2012
The Hand That Feeds: Olivier Zunz’s “Philanthropy in America”
Zunz’s may be a history of American philanthropy, but it is, by any reasonable contemporary standard, the wrong one.
Malcolm HarrisMar 13, 2012
From Cocks to Corpses: Michel Houellebecq’s “The Map and the Territory”
It can be entertaining, disordered, ruminative, wider in range than Houellebecq’s previous books
Domenick AmmiratiMar 12, 2012
- Literary Fiction
Portrait of the Artist in the Age of Wikipedia
One can only wonder what it would have been had Houellebecq actually believed in the novel as an art form.
Cécile AlduyMar 12, 2012
- Literary Fiction
Dissent: Liu Xiabo's "No Enemies, No Hatred"
In the forefront of calls for democracy in China, Liu has engaged in various forms of dissent.
Gordon FellmanMar 9, 2012
Church and State
In his latest book, God is Red, Liao continues his study of the bottom rung of society by focusing on underground Christian communities in China.
Albert WuMar 8, 2012
People Who Eat People
While the cannibal was a prize specimen for theories of the state and human nature, he also posed a grave problem.
Steven ShapinMar 7, 2012
Harrowing Idealism
First and foremost, however, These Dreams of You may well be the first true Obama novel.
Pawel FrelikMar 5, 2012
- Fiction
Lost and Saved
because of its ornateness, Ausubel’s prose seems to float around the idea of trauma
Feb 27, 2012
- Fiction
Mixed Memories
They make one rule: 'Each day, we had to do at least one thing that was forbidden.'
E.C. McCarthyFeb 27, 2012
- Fiction
- Memoir & Essay
Good Liar, Terrible Liar
there is a cost to the storyteller, as there can often be to messengers and visionaries.
Feb 27, 2012
Discoveries: Pamela Druckerman
Okay! I get it! The French are better than us in every way!
Susan Salter ReynoldsFeb 25, 2012
- Nonfiction
Discoveries: Friedrich Delius
She tries to make sense of the war and its reasons, and cannot.
Susan Salter ReynoldsFeb 25, 2012
- Fiction
Discoveries: Tupelo Hassman
Girlchild is told in many voices: Rory’s diary entries, social worker notes, letters, arrest records,
Susan Salter ReynoldsFeb 25, 2012
- Fiction