Reviews
2615 posts
Life’s Only as Bad as You Make It Out to Be
Chris Feliciano Arnold reviews Nami Mun’s debut novel, Miles from Nowhere.
The Secret History
J. Robert Lennon’s latest novel explores the darkness of the land and the soul.
The Poetry of Plunder: Wells Towers’ Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
Wells Tower’s first collection of short stories meditates on danger and beauty—and it’s funny as hell.
The Rumpus Original Combo: Paul Yoon’s Once the Shore
“One time I was reading Haruki Murakami and I thought: if I had the chance, would I ever ask him why his characters always vanish? I’m not sure I’d want…
They’re Called Cells for a Reason
A review of Micrographia People don’t read enough, and when they do, they don’t ask the questions of themselves that Micrographia demands.
Notes from Underground
The world will end in a matter of hours… unless Lowboy can lose his virginity.
Life in the Woods
Peter Rock’s darkly evocative fifth novel follows a father and daughter’s underground existence in a city park.
Flannery on the Couch
In a new biography, Brad Gooch makes romantic assumptions about the relationship between O’Connor’s life and art.
Tinkers, by Paul Harding
Tinkers is a novel steeped in, and obsessed with, minutiae. Whether describing the inner workings of a clock, the network of ducts and wires that runs through a home, or…
No One Is Innocent
Yiyun Li’s arresting debut novel, The Vagrants, should be required reading for anyone interested in political fanaticism and state-sponsored tyranny.
Nobody Can Enjoy Art Anymore
Vigilante justice: the new counterculture. Until it gets, like, totally commercial. That’s the premise of DeLeon DeMicoli’s novel, Lick Me, a spunky murder mystery saddled down with dull culture critique.