The Rumpus Interview with Whitney Terrell
Whitney Terrell discusses war, gender, and fiction vs. reality in his new novel, The Good Lieutenant, about a female soldier in Iraq.
...more
Posts by: Ben Pfeiffer
The Rumpus Interview with Brendan Jones
Brendan Jones talks about his debut novel, The Alaskan Laundry, living in Alaska, his time as a Wallace Stegner Fellow, and living and loving what you write.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Dean Koontz
Dean Koontz talks about his newest novel, Ashley Bell, overcoming self-doubt, and “what this incredibly beautiful language of ours allows you to do.”
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Brian Shawver
Author Brian Shawver talks about his new book, Danger on the Page, his novel Aftermath, MFA programs, and why it’s a good thing that writing never stops being hard work.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Erik Larson
Bestselling author Erik Larson talks about his new book, Dead Wake, his transition from journalism to history, and what, in his opinion, makes a first-rate nonfiction novel.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Richard Ford discusses his new book, Let Me Be Frank With You, how metaphor shapes our world, and why he doesn’t like the idea he has a battery to recharge.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Will Chancellor
Debut novelist Will Chancellor talks about successful satire, destroying drafts of A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall to get to the finished version, and the advantages of fiction over competing media.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Richard Russo
Prize-winning writer and Authors Guild Vice President Richard Russo discusses publishing in the age of ebooks, the continued relevance of the Guild, and the Amazon-Hachette conflict.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Jacinda Townsend
Novelist Jacinda Townsend tells us about her new book Saint Monkey, her love of Morocco, and past life as a lawyer.
...more
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
Ben Pfeiffer reviews THE BLAZING WORLD by Siri Hustvedt today in The Rumpus Book Reviews.
...more
MFA vs NYC edited by Chad Harbach
Ben Pfeiffer reviews MFA VS NYC, edited by Chad Harbach, today in The Rumpus Book Reviews.
...more
“Wise Men,” by Stuart Nadler
In a certain kind of story, characters reflect and explore the financial world outside their narrative. A population left destitute by the American Civil War, for example, found hope in 1867 when Horatio Alger published Ragged Dick, a myth promising that honesty and hard work could take you from the poverty of a bootblack to […]
...more
“The Rainbow Troops,” by Andrea Hirata
Hirata’s romantic style, combined with attendant detail, form a controlled, cohesive vision. His passion for education and his criticism of the corporate state are tempered by humor and context, and structured around a framework of specifics: Ikal’s school, friends, and teachers. Whatever you call it—novel, memoir—The Rainbow Troops provides plenty of heartfelt prose for readers inclined to cultural tourism, and for those who find themselves missing the tiny, ramshackle village school, Hirata has written three sequels to Laskar Pelangi, books that might someday find their way to English-speaking readers.
...moreThe Watery Part of the World, by Michael Parker
Michael Parker’s The Watery Part of the World opens two-hundred years ago on the shores of Nag’s Head, North Carolina, a sandbank notorious for pirates who once lured ships onto the shoals for the usual rape-and-plunder reasons. Such an attack has just taken place as the book begins, and this time the lone survivor is […]
...more
Farther Away, by Jonathan Franzen
Bibliophysicists now speculate that no less than three parallel versions of Jonathan Franzen can coexist at any given moment, and the variant, some say, could be much higher. This assortment of Franzens—and how readers interpret them—can make an impartial reading of his work problematic. The fifty-three-year-old novelist exists, first, as one of America’s most celebrated […]
...moreNowhere Ho!
Shalom Auslander’s first novel, Hope: A Tragedy, reminds us that the world is a horrible, sad place, but luckily it’s damn funny, too.
...moreThe Winner Returns
A 1972 novel recently re-released, Rosalyn Drexler’s To Smithereens plays with fact and imagination, memoir and fiction, in ways seldom seen in her own era.
...moreMake Your Own
Tyler McMahon’s debut novel relives and re-examines a celebrated musical era: grunge rock from America’s Pacific Northwest.
...more