RaveBOMB... the sort of biography that makes you reconsider the body of work of an artist who you long knew was a genius. Charnas writes with an enthusiasm that shows a profound appreciation for his subject, but his deep dive into the history and place that made Dilla is what makes the book so engrossing. Charnas’s book is about Dilla as much as it is about Detroit, and the sounds and music icons his native city produced while, before, and after Dilla’s lifetime ... Charnas’s book gave me exactly what I needed now—a larger context, along with concrete lessons, and iIlustrations of musical notations that explain the science of Dilla’s art. Charnas paints the full picture of a brilliant kid from Detroit and a city that has given so much to American music.
Tiphanie Yanique
RaveFlavorwireHer prose combines a touch of Gabriel García Márquez, William Faulkner transported to the Caribbean, and Zadie Smith’s grasp on a place’s dialect and ability ... It’s told through the shifting points of view of multiple narrators (the voices of the two sisters, Anette and Eeonna, are the strongest), but the novel finds its strongest character in mysterious, chaotic St. Thomas itself. The unsettling feeling that hangs around the island seems just as palpable as the ocean breeze ... Ultimately, this vibrant novel is about the sins of the father haunting his children long after he’s gone. It’s a story of family and of place, but Yanique writes so clearly, and wastes little time setting the scene for the reader, that it’s impossible not to get wrapped up in either of those things ... If there’s a better book to read over the summer than this one, please let me know where you find it.
Will Chancellor
RaveFlavorwire...[a] gorgeous debut novel ... It’s an ambitious book, one filled with Greek myths and art-world jargon, the type of stylistic siren song that could lure a writer into dangerous waters, turning a great story into a pretentious bore. Chancellor never lets that happen; he shows great poise and command with this elegant and highly enjoyable first novel, which suggests that he has even more greatness to offer us.
Brian Raftery
PositiveNewsday... painstakingly researched, highly enjoyable ... What’s interesting about the films of 1999, and what Raftery teases out perfectly, isn’t so much the quality of the films or the new technology that was used. Rather, it’s how of the time many of the movies were — as well as how forward-thinking and prophetic.
Michael Pollan
PositiveThe New RepublicIt’s a rare take on psychedelics that does not come dressed up in a cheesy colorful montage and backed by the sounds of the Doors and Jefferson Airplane. Pollan takes his time to show what LSD and 5-MeO-DMT (also known as \'The toad,\' smoked venom of the Sonoran Desert toad) can actually do: He reaches for enlightenment, and drags us along for the ride. He documents the positive effects of these drugs, from curing addiction to bringing relief to cancer patients, and shares some of his own experiences. As America struggles to help people who deal with addiction and mental health issues, Pollan supplies ample evidence that substances like LSD and psilocybin could actually help—if we’d just move past what we thought we knew ... the most important thing Pollan does in this book is describe deeply his personal experiences of psychedelics in as relatable a way as possible ... How to Change Your Mind might not be a colorful, psychedelic mass love-in, in which we all become \'heads,\' but a psychedelic revolution could be closer than we think.
Lev Grossman
PositiveVol. 1 Brooklyn...there is a clear sea change between The Magicians and The Magician King; perhaps it is the passage of Quentin’s adolescence, with his ascension to royalty happening simultaneously with the onset of his strange, but ultimately recognizable, young adulthood....upon opening The Magician King, we are once again adrift in Grossman’s meticulously constructed fantasy, a bizarre plateau somewhere between Less Than Zero and The Chronicles of Narnia ... Talented, dim-witted swordsmen swear their fealty to the kings and queens of Fillory, and talking animals chatter alongside people with ease, but it is the growing pains of Grossman’s characters that show the real magic of the novel ... The Magician King’s interest in the morality of magic and the politics of Fillory is more Philip Pullman than J.K. Rowling, a wonderful shift that speaks to Grossman’s ability to write a nuanced series that matures realistically at the pace of its main characters.
Erin Carlson
PositiveThe Los Angeles TimesThere are no huge surprises. Carlson relies mostly on research and quotes from people who worked on the films. This isn’t a biography, but Carlson does mix that style of storytelling together with criticism and insight into the state of the movies in the years each of the three films came out ... I’ll Have What She’s Having,? in part, gives us a glimpse into the making of the films. 'A stickler for specifics,' Carlson writes, Ephron fired a prop guy while filming a movie in Toronto that was supposed to be set in New York City for using generic cream soda instead of the very New York City brand Dr. Brown’s). Carlson writes of Ephron’s famous love of food, and the actors who were considered for, but not cast in, some of the most iconic roles ... But ultimately, the book serves to show how the movies were made and the effect they had.
