Book Reviews

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Monday, 01 May 2006 05:56

Who knew Bigfoot was so eloquent? Or angry? Or hilarious? The big guy has had his share of ups and downs.

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Written by Shandy Casteel Tuesday, 25 April 2006 07:50

As Johnson writes, his approach is more “systemic than symbolic,” eschewing the usual tact of “zeitgeist” criticism and academic cultural studies, something that is closer “to physics than to poetry.”

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Written by Shandy Casteel Tuesday, 25 April 2006 07:45

What is the name that will give me the dignity and respect that is my right? The key that will unlock the world.

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Wednesday, 29 March 2006 12:52

One piece that stands out is the conversation between Ben Marcus and George Saunders. The two touch on such nuts-and-bolts aesthetics as realism, to which Saunders says: “I think it’s interesting, though, that some writers of our approximate generation have a sort of queasiness around the issue of realism. I know I do. There’s something about the normal approach (‘Bob, age forty-three, pale blond hair—a senior-level accountant—felt good about his marriage. He got into his tan Lexus, thinking of Meribeth.’) that makes me scared and sick. I am always trying to avoid it.”

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Wednesday, 29 March 2006 12:46

Meghan Daum’s “If I Had a Stammer” is equally magnificent, calling to task the Stammering Class, a group of down-talkers whose standard-bearer William F. Buckley gave way to such personalities as Ira Glass and Terry Gross.

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Wednesday, 29 March 2006 12:37

Moskowitz peppers the book with little hints called “Punk Points,” and the occasional commentary, whether it’s on pizza dough, veganism on the Internet, or bake sales, which she blames for the results of the 2004 election: “I thought back to what the lefties did ‘wrong’ and the only thing that I could really put my finger on was this one ‘Baking against Bush” bake sale I went to. There were actually store-bought items, wrapped in plastic. Good people, that is not a bake sale.”

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Wednesday, 29 March 2006 12:31

As record label interest in Trynin begins to grow, she smartly hires a high profile, New York–based entertainment lawyer, Neil, who begins to shop around her self-released disc, Cockamamie. Attorney in place, Trynin is poised for the bidding war soon to erupt. With her conversational tone and realistic delivery, Trynin perfectly sets the scene and lets the events unfold.

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Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:38

April is poetry month...be prepared.

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Monday, 27 February 2006 14:01

When a couple of libertine adults invites the kids over for joints, sangria, and mischief in the basement, a chain of events leads to our boy covertly taping a three-way with a man, a woman, and a horny Great Dane. We’re not just looking at porn now—we’re making it.

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Monday, 27 February 2006 13:11

Outside of woes about his body, Ames concentrates a lot on sexual matters, some involving his fascination—and rumored past dalliances—with transvestites. He touts himself as a mildly perverted young man, and most of the pieces in the book are humorous, yet infused with a disarming sweetness often tinged with sadness.

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Monday, 27 February 2006 13:00

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is a fully loaded canon of fabulist diplomacy that spins its well-waxed political subtleties out onto a surrealistic checkerboard stocked with an oddball assortment of characters and places.

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Tuesday, 31 January 2006 10:16

Perhaps most fascinating is the tale of the high school yearbook photo, staged with a pre–growth spurt Carkeet and the tall and popular girl. The realization that this explains the book’s cover photo (and also invokes an earlier essay of Carkeet’s I’d read while in his class) is memorable.

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