Reviews Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

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The Knight of the Railways
Eric Vanderwall takes a ride with French author Mattia Filice’s debut novel “Driver,” newly translated by Jacques Houis.
Eric VanderwallOct 20
- Fiction
A Network of Global Incinerators
Rob Arcand reviews Hito Steyerl’s new essay collection, “Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat.”
Rob ArcandOct 19
- Science & Technology
- Art & Architecture
I Feel Like a Human Bomb Tick Tick Tick
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore reviews the new edition of David Wojnarowicz’s collection “Memories That Smell Like Gasoline.”
Mattilda Bernstein SycamoreOct 18
- Memoir & Essay
- Gender & Sexuality
We Are the Alien
Forest Lewis ponders Graham St John’s “Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna.”
Forest LewisOct 18
- Biography & Autobiography
Our Man in Marseille
Morten Høi Jensen reviews Uwe Wittstock’s “Marseille 1940: The Flight of Literature,” translated by Daniel Bowles.
Morten Høi JensenOct 17
- History
From Domination to Derision
W. Patrick McCray surveys Matthew Wisnioski’s description of the United States’ evolution—and devolution—into a nation obsessed with innovation.
W. Patrick McCrayOct 16
- Science & Technology
- History
What Isn’t Intelligence?
Patrick House is inspired by Blaise Agüera y Arcas’s “What Is Intelligence?” to think about what might constitute the difference between artificial and natural intelligence.
Patrick HouseOct 14
- Science & Technology
The Heart of the Matter
John Lysaker connects with Jeffrey L. Kosky’s “From the Heart: A Memoir and a Meditation on a Vital Organ.”
John LysakerOct 13
- Philosophy & Religion
- Memoir & Essay
Memory Dismembered
Kurt Guldentops and Sungshin Kim review Bora Chung’s “Red Sword,” newly translated by Anton Hur.
Kurt Guldentops, Sungshin KimOct 12
- SF
Common Roots
Martin Dolan explores labor, trade, and shared humanity in Craig Thompson’s “Ginseng Roots.”
Martin DolanOct 12
Dogito, Ergo Sum
Isabel Jacobs considers Aaron Schuster’s “How to Research Like a Dog: Kafka’s New Science.”
Isabel JacobsOct 11
- Philosophy & Religion
- Literary Criticism
Mausoleum of Dreams
Oliver Evans reviews Will Sloan’s new biography “Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA.”
Oliver EvansOct 9
- Film
- Biography & Autobiography
A Spectacle and Nothing Strange
Jacquelyn Ardam considers Francesca Wade’s “Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife.”
Jacquelyn ArdamOct 8
- Biography & Autobiography
- Literary Criticism
Good Night and Good Luck
Justin St. Clair reviews Thomas Pynchon’s new novel “Shadow Ticket.”
Justin St. ClairOct 7
- Fiction
- Noir
The Deep Engine of Witness
Ryan McIlvain finds the truth worth telling in Rickey Laurentiis’s “Death of the First Idea” and Geoff Bouvier’s “Us from Nothing: A Poetic History.”
Ryan McIlvainOct 4
- Poetry
Control Freaks
Arjun S. Byju employs Emily C. Bloom’s “I Cannot Control Everything Forever: A Memoir of Motherhood, Science, and Art” to investigate how tools of empowerment set us up for disappointment.
Arjun S. ByjuOct 3
- Science & Technology
- Memoir & Essay