Reviews
MUSIC FOR WARTIME (Viking, 2015) by Rebecca Makkai
Faith in Fiction: Rebecca Makkai’s Music for Wartime “You’re not necessarily supposed to believe it,” Daniel Wallace writes as he strikes at the nature of storytelling in his 1998 novel Big Fish. “You’re just supposed to believe in it.” With … Continue reading
MUSIC FOR WARTIME (Viking, 2015) by Rebecca Makkai
Music for Wartime, Rebecca Makkai’s impressive first collection of short stories follows two novels, The Borrower (2011) and The Hundred-Year House (2014). Makkai resides in her hometown of Chicago for most of the year, as well as in Vermont – … Continue reading
VOID AND COMPENSATION by Michael Morse (Canarium, 2015)
In Void and Compensation Michael Morse is fully engaged in turning his analytical intensity on the world, revealing the meticulous design and workings behind the simplest moments. The writing here, though thoughtful and layered, feels largely effortless. By peeling away … Continue reading
ENTWINED: THREE LYRIC SEQUENCES (Tupelo Press) by Carol Frost
Frost, Carol. Entwined: Three Lyric Sequences. North Adams, Massachusetts: Tupelo Press, 2014. Reviewed by Philip Belcher Two readily discernible emotions accompany the experience of reading for the first time a well-published poet of significant talent. First is embarrassment at not … Continue reading
THE AIR’S ACCOMPLICES (LSU, 2015) by Brendan Galvin
In Biophilia, his grand work on the stewardship of environment, Edward O. Wilson has famously said, “Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of … Continue reading
THE OPPOSITE HOUSE (LSU, 2015) by Claudia Emerson
Everything is Lost: Review of The Opposite House: Poems by Claudia Emerson, Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2015. Claudia Emerson’s new collection The Opposite House, published posthumously by LSU Press, confirms and expands her identity as a poet of loss. Ever … Continue reading