Fiction

"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." — Mark Twain

• Found in Translation: The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector

  Lispector deftly navigates the paradoxical interior landscape common to all women sorting through questions of societal expectation and identity.

  Stephanie LaCavaAug 3, 2015

  • Fiction

• Ms. Difficult

  Jennifer Glaser reviews Lidia Yuknavitch's new book, "The Small Backs of Children."

  Jennifer GlaserJul 31, 2015

  • Fiction

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  No Civil War Reenactments Were Injured in the Writing of This Novel

  Inherited institutional racism allows you to say you are merely upholding tradition. We become like this ant colony, where no one person stole the picnic.

  Ben BushJul 27, 2015

  • Fiction

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  The End of Us: E.L. Doctorow’s Last Warning

  Let's talk about how the whole scope of E.L. Doctorow's work has earned him the right to a hearing for his apocalyptic, Cassandra-like warning.

  Ron RosenbaumJul 26, 2015

  • Fiction

• Death and Other Holes: The Novels of Viola Di Grado

  There is a certain circularity to Viola Di Grado's novels, in which all paths inevitably begin from and lead to other holes, from cradle to grave.

  Thea LenarduzziJul 22, 2015

  • Fiction

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  The Falling Apartness of Things

  NoViolet Bulawayo interview with David Palumbo-Liu.

  David Palumbo-LiuJul 20, 2015

  • Fiction

• What Rubbish They Publish

  The Prank proves Anton Chekhov could write hilarious stories from an early age.

  Bob BlaisdellJul 20, 2015

  • Fiction

  • Literary Fiction

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  Murder Mysteries After the Death of the Author

  That Sophie Hannah has managed to write a traditional Poirot novel is both the success and failure of this book.

  Kaya GençJul 19, 2015

  • Fiction

• Language Lessons

  The Way Things Were is about one of author Aatish Taseer’s obsessions: the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit.

  Karan MahajanJul 18, 2015

  • Fiction

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  Fiction as Memoir as Fiction: Tomás González’s “In the Beginning Was the Sea”

  Michael Thomsen examines the work of Tomás González — specifically his first novel published in English, In the Beginning Was the Sea.

  Michael ThomsenJul 17, 2015

  • Fiction

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  A Nice Hobby, Like Knitting: On Barbara Pym

  Now recognized as a master for her wry, comic novels of spinsters and clergymen, Barbara Pym was unpublished until the very end of her life.

  Victoria PattersonJul 16, 2015

  • Fiction

• Untrue Crime

  A masterfully constructed hall of mirrors, Edgar Award–winning true crime writer Harry N. MacLean's "The Joy of Killing" reinvents the conventional thriller.

  Tom AndesJul 14, 2015

  • Fiction