RaveNewsdayHarvey’s memoir in which she relives and dissects the sleepless year in question, is so exquisitely written it’s a challenge to review, as there is an impulse to quote nearly every precise, stylized line. Her chronicle of morality, mortality and memory is adept at capturing the ineffable reservations with — and appreciation for — being alive ... Harvey’s trenchant wit informs her indefatigable search for understanding. She uses humor as a cudgel to smash the obstacles that seek to obfuscate the causes of her distress. This is more than a meditation on anxiety and depression; Harvey whittles her own restive, revelatory mind.
Christopher Bollen
RaveNewsday\"His characters are as meticulously crafted as Highsmith’s, his plots as thrillingly constructed, and his meditations on loneliness and alienation as compassionately rendered ... What makes A Beautiful Crime work so well is how much empathy Bollen affords his characters. They do unspeakable things, but they suffer. They manipulate, steal and lie, but they are also fearful and hope for understanding. Bollen doesn’t let them off the hook. He is critical of them and makes them pay for their undeniably selfish deeds. No matter, we continue to care about them ... Most disarming is how smoothly Bollen tells his story. His language is simultaneously inviting and forbidding — accessible, playful, and then suddenly, shockingly brilliant. His characters, despite their cruelty and barbarism, are developed enough to feel real, honest and even (gasp) likable.\
Michel Houellebecq, Trans. by Shaun Whiteside
RaveNewsday... inflammatory ... old-fashioned in a sense that is now regarded as \'problematic\' ... Houellebecq, through Labrouste, is gleefully nihilistic and dismissive of political correctness, seemingly courting a challenge, comfortable with his work’s inevitable controversy, refreshingly assured of ineluctable scandal. The 63-year-old author is inclined to push buttons ... In this too-precious culture where writers are hamstrung in their efforts to write honestly without fear of political reprisal, Houellebecq dares to delve into the subjectivity of a brutal, toxic masculinity with arresting authority ... Houellebecq captures the spirit of a misguided, rash revolutionary, crusading on behalf of free trade and local farming.
Laura van den Berg
RaveNewsday... short, spare ... People in [Aciman\'s] universe are refreshingly sexually fluid, rejecting arbitrary binaries, finding attraction to the soul, never merely the body ... Aciman compassionately captures the achingly delicate, barely discernible feelings and observations exchanged between people, be it strangers on a train or couples who’ve been together—or apart—for decades. He is a master of approximating the unsaid sentiments, of stating the ineffable sensations in plain language, in terms of universal understanding. The storytelling may be swift and breezy, but the ideas and psychological truthfulness are deep. It is a tender and quiet story. Aciman exercises considerable restraint with his prose and dialogue in this respect ... With descriptive elegance, attention to cultural detail and emphasis on decorum, Aciman’s style and sensibilities invite favorable comparison to Edmund White. Find Me is a story told through conversations. Characters are revealed through unexpected, even awkward confrontations. They are further developed through reflections on those alarmingly open and frank exchanges ... Aciman finds thoughtful parallels and metaphors between aging and antiquity, common ground between missed opportunities and mysterious artifacts under investigation. It is the book’s central theme.
