Zadie Smith’s ‘Intimations’ Essays Pandemic with Erudite Wit and Compassion
Zadie Smith's Intimations is an essay collection of gleaming, wry, and crisp prose that wears its erudition lightly but takes flight on both everyday and lofty matters.
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On Helen McClory’s Parasocial Love for Jeff Goldblum in ‘The Goldblum Variations’
Metatexually dazzling yet absurdly soothing, Helen McClory's The Goldblum Variations will put a dent in your bad vibes.
On Chuck Klosterman’s Latest in Junk-Food Intellectualism, ‘Raised In Captivity’
The best stories in Chuck Klosterman's Raised in Captivity are the ones that most closely resemble his thinly-veiled essays.
Newly Translated Mishima Work, ‘Star’, Offers Insight into His Pop Culture Persona
Posthumous work by celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima, Star, explores how celebrities struggle with their own lack of authenticity.
‘The Perfect Nanny’ Mirrors the Aftermath of Its Murderous Inspiration
As with the media surrounding the Krim children murders, Leila Slimani's book asks, what went wrong?
‘The Best of Everything’ and ‘The Group’ Don’t Feel Defeatist for Women – They Feel Survivalist
We tend to err on the side of delusion for the sake of sanity. Rona Jaffe's The Best of Everything and Mary McCarthy's The Group, however, do not.