Yukiko Motoya’s Surreal World of Alienated Characters
The unsettling stories in The Lonesome Bodybuilder are deeply preoccupied with the yawning disconnect between people.
Book Review
The Uncommon, Requisite Resolve of Michelle Obama
The former first lady’s new memoir is notable for the revealing glimpses it offers into private moments of fear and frustration.
A Road-Trip Novel That Punctures Political Myopia
Carol Bensimon’s We All Loved Cowboys features a difficult protagonist whose myopia belies the wide, complex world outside her car window.
A Brilliant Travelogue That Presents Africa Through a New Lens
A recent book by Emmanuel Iduma expands what writing about the continent can be by paying extraordinary attention to the ebbs and flows of human connection.
Everything Under Is a Dark and Mesmerizing Story About Fate
The 27-year-old author, Daisy Johnson, pulls off several marvels at once in her debut novel, which made the Man Booker Prize shortlist.
The Confounding Truth About Frederick Douglass
His champions now span the ideological spectrum, but left and right miss the tensions in his views.
Capturing Europe’s Refugee Crisis Through Comics
In her graphic memoir, Drawn to Berlin, Ali Fitzgerald uses art to illuminate the human dimensions of a situation often sketched in statistics.
Jack Reacher Still Won’t Quit, 23 Books Later
The literary hero’s coffee-chugging, cigarette-devouring creator, Lee Child, just released his latest novel. He shows no signs of slowing down.
Lucia Berlin’s Harrowing, Radiant Fiction
Having lived a hard life, the late author refused to erase her female characters—or the brutality that deranges them.
The Quandary of Illustrating Anne Frank
A graphic adaptation of the teenage Holocaust victim’s diary calls into question which avenues are best for retelling painful, complicated histories.