Home
archive
NPR stories about Book Reviews
American Voices On 'The Unwinding' Of America's Values()
George Packer's The Unwinding explores the social and economic upheavals that have transformed the U.S. over the past 30 years. In a nuanced work of literary journalism, colorful characters from across the class divide tell their own stories of a social contract in tatters.
Black In America: A Story Rendered In Gray Scale()
May 20, 2013 Chimamanda Adichie's Americanah is about a young Nigerian woman who moves to the U.S. It's a story of relocation, far-flung love and life as an outsider. But reviewer Rosecrans Baldwin says that despite the author's talent, much of the storytelling feels flat.
You Must Read This
Ghost Ships, Murders, Bird Attacks: Stories To Keep You Awake()
May 19, 2013 Author Ethan Rutherford started reading Daphne du Maurier's collection of stories, Don't Look Now, while it was still light out and didn't move from his chair until dark. Each one features characters who endure the strange and the extreme, and who are forever changed by the events that befall them.
Books
Author Elliott Holt Says: 'Go West, Young Woman'()
May 18, 2013 In this Q&A, author Elliott Holt discusses her six favorite novels about expatriates. She also talks about what it's like to be in your 20s, and the importance of travel and exploration.
The Rich And Furious Inner Life Of 'The Woman Upstairs'()
May 16, 2013 Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs is about a lonely third-grade teacher who falls in love with the family of one of her students. Reviewer Lionel Shriver says the book so bursts with rage and desire that it barely squeezes between hard covers.
How To Put This 'Delicate'-ly ... Not Le Carre's Best Work()
May 16, 2013 A dirty deed and official cover-up drive the plot in John le Carre's A Delicate Truth. The novel sets its sights on old-boy corruption and corporate criminality at the heart of the "Deep State," but critic Alan Cheuse finds this latest effort lacks the tension of le Carre's Cold War novels.
Coming To 'Americanah': Two Tales Of Immigrant Experience()
May 15, 2013 The new book from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a knockout of a novel about immigration that transcends genre. It's everything from a coming-of-age novel to a romance to a comic novel of social manners to an up-to-the-minute meditation on race.
Easy Rawlins Is Alive, Or Is He? ()
May 15, 2013 After six years, author Walter Mosley breathes life back into his detective hero Easy Rawlins — thought dead after crashing his car off a cliff. Easy embarks on another case, but as the lines blur between death and dying, he may discover answers to questions he hadn't thought to ask.
West Meets Midwest In Tom Drury's Quirky 'Pacific' ()
May 15, 2013 Some novels you read to find out what happens next, and some you read to linger in the moment. In Tom Drury's Pacific, plot takes a back seat to sharp observation and deadpan wit. The book juxtaposes scenes of teenaged Micah as he moves to Hollywood, with stories set in Micah's heartland hometown.
Literary Werewolf Tale 'Red Moon' Sheds A Dim Light()
May 14, 2013 Benjamin Percy's new literary werewolf novel, Red Moon, is packed with vivid, gory-lush description and heavy allegory about a world where "lycans" are a persecuted minority. But reviewer Nick Mancusi says the book gives short shrift to character development.
Camus' 'Chronicles': A History Of The Past, A Guide For The Future()
May 13, 2013 Albert Camus' Algerian Chronicles, finally available in translation, collects essays, columns and speeches from the writer's days as a young journalist. Camus was criticized for his moderate approach to the French-Algerian war, but reviewer Jason Farrago says Chronicles is a guide to "how to be just in a difficult world."
You Must Read This
Marked By Darkness: A War Novel That Sheds Light On Past Hurt()
May 12, 2013 Andrzej Szczypiorski's The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is a book set in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Author Courtney Angela Brkic says reading it helped her understand her father, whose family had lived through the second world war.
Book Review: 'A Nearly Perfect Copy'()
May 10, 2013 Book critic Alan Cheuse has a review of A Nearly Perfect Copy by Allison Amend.
Book Review: 'Our Man In Iraq'()
May 9, 2013 Critic Alan Cheuse reviews the novel Our Man in Iraq by Robert Perisic.
Farm Team Saga 'Class A' Hits It Out Of The Park()
May 9, 2013 Lucas Mann's Class A combines baseball and sociology in this chronicle of a farm team from a fading Iowa factory town. Reviewer Heller McAlpin says Mann "uses the full tool kit of literary nonfiction" in a book that "encompasses nostalgia, hope and failure."
