RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewDeft and uproarious ... Newman weaves the analytical and the absurd with a raucous grace ... Generous and witty, as bewitched by aesthetics as it is certain of the virtues of good old-fashioned compassion ... Profound — and profoundly sidesplitting.
Sang Young Park tr. Anton Hur
RaveThe New York Times Book Review... intoxicating ... Watching Young drift in and out of such love, always finding something valuable, even life-altering, to hold onto, is one of the book’s most notable pleasures ... In Park’s hands, Young is loud and obnoxious, insufferable and magnetic, messy and wise. The prose, translated by Anton Hur, reads like an iPhone screen, vibrant and addictive. What a joy it is to see such a profound exploration of contemporary queer life — its traumas and its ecstasies throbbing in harmony. It’s a shimmering addition to the recent genre of novels chronicling queer millennial malaise ... dazzling.
Michael Nye
PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewMichael Nye’s second collection...is a sturdily Midwestern affair, a heartbreaking look at lives fueled by sadness and rage, set in a part of the country people so often leave but never seem to arrive ... Across nine stories, Nye introduces us to individuals who are defined and often repulsed by their jobs in a way that feels uniquely American ... Even Nye’s eerie and disquieting forays into genre, \'The Sins of Man\' and \'The Good Shepherd,\' are circumscribed by the protagonists’ mundane finances ... These are mostly narratives of straight men, and though women are ever-present, only \'The Photograph\' centers entirely on one. It’s perhaps the collection’s only hollow moment, acting more as an authorial indictment of New York City than an exploration of its protagonist’s personal trauma. But it’s a brief stumble in an otherwise haunting and delicate collection ... though plenty can call a Midwestern city their hometown, Until We Have Faces is the tender, aching work of one who calls it home.
Benjamin Nugent
RaveThe New York Times Book Review... disarmingly lovely ... Nugent plunges us directly into the alternately repellent and lonely ecosystem of Delta Zeta Chi with \'God,\' a riveting and often hilarious crash course on coed life ... Fraternities may be collegiate America’s biggest shame, but Fraternity is a revelation.
Anne Tyler
RaveVanity FairTyler is once again focused more on robust character portraits than fussy things like plot twists. Life, as my favorite novels of hers prove, is extraordinary enough without them ... Her piercing omniscience is on full, enthralling display here, and you savor the revelations she doles out during, say, lunch ... Tyler is a brilliant chronicler of human behavior because she understands that every part is something to someone. Even those somethings that may otherwise be referred to as, simply and pejoratively, \'domestic.\' Yes, Michah Mortimer’s life is a small one, but as this period of extended quarantine and self-isolation is proving, whose isn’t? Though we have stripped our daily rituals down to their bare essentials, we remain as big and as loving and as scared and as frustratingly human as we were before the world outside screeched to a halt. Redhead By the Side of the Road is a delicate and moving reminder of this, and proves Tyler’s voice remains as vital as ever.
