‘Agnes’ Is a Bleak Tale About the Misuses of Storytelling
Peter Stamm's work is an example of how stories can hold their creators in their power.
Subashini Navaratnam
The Power of the Mythic Medusa in Deborah Levy’s ‘Hot Milk’
An intelligent exploration of myth, memory, and the monstrous in the feminine.
Sex, Lies, and Sleeping Aids: ‘Scary Old Sex’
On the whole, Heyman definitely has a sharp, witty take on heterosexual relations and is attuned to the comedy inherent in the act itself.
‘Jane Steele’, a Victorian Murderess With a Heart of Gold
This glossier and better-dressed creative reimagining of Jane Eyre falls short of the original, sacrificing depth for the usual pop culture tropes of liberal feminism.
There’s No Room for You in Hannah Tennant-Moore’s ‘Wreck and Order’
Our self-indulgent protagonist tries to find herself in the rural poverty of the third world but the people, the customs, the food, it all starts to grate on her first world sensibilities.
Yearning for Re-enchantment With the World in Jessa Crispin’s ‘The Dead Ladies Project’
Meditations on love, life, and art in a book that combines travel writing and memoir with cultural criticism.
Spinsterhood and Its Discontents in Daniel Sada’s ‘One Out of Two’
A bewitching story about sisterhood, spinsterhood, and identity by a celebrated Mexican writer.
‘The Other Woman’ Tells of Class, Status, and Ambition in Gender Relations
This is a small gem of a novel, translated from Swedish, that looks at class and heterosexual desire, as well as female friendship, from the perspective of a dissatisfied and lonely young woman.
Questioning Authenticity and Narrative Performance in Dodie Bellamy’s ‘When the Sick Rule the World’
A new collection of writings by one of the progenitors of the American New Narrative movement is stylistically impressive, but lacks engagement with its subject matter.
Romance and Rebellion in the Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley
Charlotte Gordon's dual biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley is an engaging read, but it's hampered by pedestrian writing and a too reverent perspective of its protagonists.
Why Are Critics Falling All Over Deepti Kapoor’s ‘A Bad Character’?
Too many reviews of this book universalise Idha’s experience and praise it for providing a window into the Indian woman’s experience. Which women would that be?
On “the Agony of Becoming”
Green Girl is Kate Zambreno's searing meditation on a young American girl's coming-to-being in London.