by Joshua Loveday When I first saw the title of Devi S. Laskar’s debut novel THE ATLAS OF REDS AND BLUES, I thought it was a Trump-era novel, the reds and blues being Republican and Democratic majority areas on a map. Now, I’m not so sure, though the novel does explore the bias individuals—and society… Continue reading Book Review: THE ATLAS OF REDS AND BLUES by Devi S. Laskar

by Joshua Loveday We know from the first chapter of R.O. Kwon’s intriguing debut novel THE INCENDIARIES that something horrible has happened. “Buildings fell. People died. You once told me I hadn’t even tried to understand. So, here I am, trying.” The title of the book foreshadows an act of religious terrorism. The literal definition… Continue reading Book Review: THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon

by Joshua Loveday I was unaware of the comparisons of THE GARDEN PARTY by Grace Dane Mazur to Virginia Woolf when I first began reading it, but Mazur’s use of omniscient third-person POV and the story’s time frame—the entire novel takes place in one evening—brought Woolf’s MRS. DALLOWAY immediately to mind. So much so that… Continue reading Book Review: THE GARDEN PARTY by Grace Dane Mazur

by Joshua Loveday At first glance, the two main characters of Gary Shteyngart’s fourth novel Lake Success seem superficial and one-dimensional, but the story reveals so many nuanced layers that their entwined arcs become both tragic and heartwarming. Set against the backdrop of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Lake Success tells the story of wealthy… Continue reading Book Review: LAKE SUCCESS by Gary Shteyngart

by Joshua Loveday The title of Nicole Krauss’s latest novel, FOREST DARK, as the author notes at the end of the book, comes from Dante: Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost. The story has two parallel plots that explore interconnected… Continue reading Book Review: FOREST DARK by Nicole Krauss

by Joshua Loveday Louise Erdrich’s latest novel lay forgotten for years in the memory of an old Macintosh. Recovered and finished, polished and published, the novel is a departure from her previous works. Usually a literary wordsmith who combines contemporary and historical fiction, FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD is more speculative fiction about an… Continue reading Book Review: FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD by Louise Erdrich

by Joshua Loveday SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni Morrison centers around a young black man name Macon Dead III, nicknamed Milkman because his mother nursed him past infancy. His father’s past as the son of a freed slave is obscure, and his father likes to maintain the ignorance and willful forgetfulness of that past. It… Continue reading Book Review: SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni Morrison

by Joshua Loveday In Don DeLillo’s amazing debut novel AMERICANA, we are introduced to the egotistical David Bell, a successful television executive who doesn’t seem to do any actual work. His obsession with the popular culture of television and cinema define his perception of the world and become his reality. He sees himself as a… Continue reading Book Review: AMERICANA by Don DeLillo

by Joshua Loveday This touching book by talented author Jonathan Safron Foer takes the definitive moment of this century—September 11, 2001—and weaves a tender tale of a nine-year-old autistic boy named Oskar coping with the death of his father in that tragedy. Foer adeptly allows the boy’s condition to envelop the narrator’s voice, letting the… Continue reading Book Review: EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE by Jonathan Safron Foer