Features & Reviews
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Irritant by Darby Larson
What makes a novel like Irritant so exciting—not that there are many novels like Irritant—is it widens the range of narrative possibility to include both information and exformation.
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The Rumpus Interview with Frank Bill
Perhaps because he’s so entrenched in it, Frank Bill is a master of conveying life in rural, blue-collar Middle America without pandering to or stereotyping his subjects.
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The Deep Whatsis by Peter Mattei
Peter Mattei’s The Deep Whatsis has a rich, self-centered misogynist snob as its main character, delivers a narrative filtered through the male gaze, and promises a transformation that its conclusion fails to deliver. Despite those unlikable ingredients, reading the book…
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The Rumpus Interview with Justin St. Germain
When Justin was twenty, his mother was murdered by her fifth husband in their trailer, off the grid from Tombstone, Arizona. He spent the next decade trying not to be defined by his mother’s death, before deciding to face his…
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Little Raw Souls by Steven Schwartz
In the hands of a writer as talented and sensitive as Schwartz, flashy language and exotic vistas turn out not to be necessary.
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The Most Natural Thing by David Keplinger
Stephanie Papa reviews David Keplinger’s The Most Natural Thing today in Rumpus Poetry.
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The Rumpus Interview with Joseph Olshan
Joseph Olshan, whose novel Clara’s Heart was reissued last month for its 20th anniversary, discusses impossible relationships, the power of the erotic in fiction, and making your way down the dark and foggy highway of novel writing.
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Joie de Vivre: Selected Poems 1992–2012 by Lisa Jarnot
Patrick James Dunagan reviews Lisa Jarnot’s Joie de Vivre: Selected Poems 1992-2012 today in Rumpus Poetry.
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Rock Out With Your Book Out #3: Nick Flynn
Full of youthful energy, hilarious anecdotes, refreshingly honest insights about life and how the fuck we are supposed to move through it all, he’s got this presence that could convince anyone that our experiences do not, in fact, have the…
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The Longings of Wayward Girls by Karen Brown
The Longings of Wayward Girls embodies several known genres: it is alternately a literary thriller, a coming-of-age novel, and a complex domestic drama.
