‘The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace’ Will Make You Think
This real-world account of an ill-fated Yale student's life will be haunting me for many months.
Dan Barrett
I am a freelance writer who has worked for PopMatters, SparkNotes, BookPage, and Kirkus, among other publications. You can often find me teaching and tutoring in upper Manhattan. I have a degree in English from Yale and a graduate degree in education from Fordham, and I am currently at work on a Y.A. novel about being young, gay, and Catholic in Buffalo, NY.
‘Joe’ Rewards Close Reading with Good Jokes and a Hard-Won Honesty
This novel became a Nicolas Cage movie about a year ago. Rent the movie; read the book. Both are worth your time.
Sarah Waters’ New Novel May Not Inspire a Thousand Worldwide Celebrations, but It Should
The Paying Guests is a skillful work of genuinely entertaining literary fiction.
‘The Mad and the Bad’ Is One Helluva Ride
You'll want to investigate some of Jean-Patrick Manchette's zany work before the Colin Firth and Sean Penn "Manchette adaptations" hit the big screen.
‘Fourth of July Creek’ Doesn’t Live up to Its Janet Maslin Review
This story carries a huge load of ambition, and carries it with intermittent grace and conviction, but its doesn't carry the children well.
Amy Bloom’s ‘Lucky Us’ Tells the Tale of (Several) American Hustles
Nothing is quite what it seems to be in Lucky Us, a story of survival in '40s-era America.
Stephen King, ‘Mr. Mercedes’, and Our Love of Literary Junk Food
Why can't a reader enjoy both Stephen King and Alice McDermott? Fancy Michelin critics have been known to go wild for Shake Shack, after all.
In ‘The Possibilities’, a Young Visitor Upends Several Lives
Kaui Hart Hemmings is like a wise alien, gleefully pointing out the bizarre ways in which people in America behave.
Always Having Options Is Very Important in Joshua Ferris’ ‘To Rise Again at a Decent Hour’
This novel has naysayers, but the literary world could use a few more brainy risk-takers like Joshua Ferris.
Every Character in ‘Off Course’ Has a Thorny, Winding Story
If you haven't yet read a Michelle Huneven novel, what are you waiting for?