Alice Bolin’s ‘Dead Girls’ Fails to Closely Exam the Bodies
Throughout Dead Girls, Bolin is too eager to jam pack chapters with popular cultural references rather than fully deconstructing the subjects.
essays
Zevon Never Dies: ‘Accidentally Like a Martyr’ Epitomizes That Wonderful Feeling of Being a Zevon Fan
James Campion's touching, personal study of Warren Zevon's music serves as a reminder of the lasting intimacy of Zevon's songwriting.
The Many Benefits of Travel: Paul Theroux’s ‘Figures in a Landscape’
Travel of the kind Theroux has spent a lifetime doing would compel anyone to develop patience, a love of solitude and anonymity, a constant alertness, and a resourceful toughness.
‘Voices from the Rust Belt’: Dispatches from one of America’s Most Misunderstood Regions
The daughters and sons of the embattled, resilient US heartland map out its personal, cultural, and historical landscape.
He’s Martin Amis…and We’re Not
The recent release of The Rub of Time once again marks Martin Amis amongst our most proficient critics, seemingly without peer in terms of his range and scope.
Exquisite Self-Control and Abandonment in ‘The Complete Ballet’
This is an intricate, stunningly choreographed dance -- parts memoir and criticism -- through life, love, and loss within the context of classical ballet.
‘Chronicles of a Liquid Society’ and the Best Dinner Companion for End Times
The significance of Umberto Eco's work as collected here is found not in his astonishing foresight but in his reasoning.
It Takes a Village to Raise ‘Nasty Women’
Wars of attrition are a matter of stamina and who has the tools to keep fighting. A surprising common tool in the anthology Nasty Women Humor.
‘Melville: A Novel’ and Its ‘Foreign Companion’
Something of a paean to Herman Melville and Moby Dick, just reading Jean Giono's writing for its own sake is both different from what you might expect -- and delightful.
Nonrequired Reading Has a Finger on the Pulse of the Moment
Turning the pages of The Best American Nonrequired Reading to find Tweets or sheet music creates the kind of unexpected surprise that's often encountered in digital space, but seldom in print.
If the Aim of Literature Is to Spark Debate, Philip Roth Has Succeeded
This sprawling collection of Philip Roth's nonfiction is often insightful, sometimes fascinating, and occasionally overlong.