RaveArts Desk (UK)Max Porter continues his fascination with the struggles of youth in his newest release, Shy: his most beautifully-wrought writing to date, an ode to boyhood and a sensitive deconstruction of rage, its confused beginnings, its volatile results, and all the messy thoughts in between ... Short and bitter-sweet, the book is a psychological spewing of a troubled teen’s brain ... Porter’s writing is warped transgressively across the page, but also deliciously rich; we are subject to his signature style of text that expands and curls depending on what the story demands. Although, compared to the more fantastical basis of his previous bestsellers, Shy is grounded more staunchly in the immediacy of unflinching psychological realism ... The book balances these deeply social-psychological themes with charmingly – sometimes hilariously – candid moments ... A true triumph.
Mieko Kawakami, trans. by Sam Bett and David Boyd
RaveThe Arts Desk... one of those novels that hangs together so delicately that it’s difficult to discern its overall design; upon finishing it, all you are left with are questions. At heart, though, it is a love letter to finding self-worth and a turbid telling of what it means when our inner loner is finally brave enough to step into the light ... Kawakami’s loner is fragile and beautifully written ... Kawakami’s origins as a poet melt into the prose of the novel. Fuyoko’s reflections on her coffee dates with Mitsusuka are particularly moving ... Kawakami’s championing of the loner figure seems an attempt to give life to a loneliness felt by us all, whether we are \'loners\' or not. All the Lovers in the Night unfurls as a delightfully raw and relatable journey of self-discovery – until the loner is no longer lonely, just simply on their own.
Lucie Elven
PositiveArts Desk (UK)For the characters in Lucie Elven’s debut novel The Weak Spot, however, small moments of manipulation amount to something rather more sinister ... Insecurities, penchants and fears become means of exploitation in a novel that uncovers what it is to have our \'weak spot\' used against us. Delightfully equivocal and quietly unnerving, the book offers a striking allegory of the power of information in the modern world, and our all-too-human instinct to trust those in positions of authority ... Much like in her short stories, published in NOON, the London Review of Books and Granta, Elven’s prose is sharp yet reads like a heavy dream. The book switches between descriptions of modern medicine and impressions of European antiquity. We are plunged into the intricate lives of the townspeople, without any concrete sense of time or place. This foggy setting plays into the unsettling nature of the book to establish a contemporary story with fable-like charm. The Weak Spot certainly feels didactic, warning of the dangers of human nature like any great fable would ... Elven writes the apprentice’s inner monologue with considerable craft: the more we learn about the mysterious goings on in town, the more we lose touch with her character ... The Weak Spot’s greatest triumph is showing the gradual process of personal and social change. Elven shows that it is not something that happens overnight – it is a slow and creeping creature that only becomes visible once fully grown. Like any well-crafted mystery, the book begins with an ominous sense of foreboding and culminates in an eventual twist, which seems inevitable, if not obvious. As debuts go, The Weak Spot is so refreshingly elusive, it demands to be read a second time to fully unravel the intricate commentary Elven is making on the many moving parts of our modern world.
