literary fiction
-
Review of My Struggle: Book Two by Karl Ove Knausgård
I only decided to continue with the series after reading the author’s other series. The first book in the series got on my nerves. Perhaps I am now more accustomed to his rambling approach. I enjoy the more essayistic sections. Probably, I will enjoy each volume more than the last.…
-
Review of The Aristocracy of Weak Nerves by Justin Isis
In Justin Isis’s most daring publication so far, the reader is asked to tour a philosophical zoo and peer into an abyss—not a void, but a liminal space populated by undisclosed presences and imbued with esoteric forces. The two long tales exemplify a depth of subtext and an often baffling…
-
Review of The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgård
Rather well-balanced weirdness. Put me in mind right away of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Subsequent volumes failed to sustained my pique. But they carry on an intricate tale, interlarded with intrigue. Prevalent are the themes of life and death. How do we find meaning and meaningless in each? Heavy helpings of…
-
Review of Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart
I would normally drool over a book about a rabid watch-collection, because I have been a rabid watch enthusiast (at least in theory) but found my eyes rolling of their own volition while enduring this second novel I’ve read by the author. While it’s fun to say to yourself, I…
-
Review of Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates
My experience with JCO books is that sometimes she gets into this mode of extreme, frenetic pessimism. Near-continual verbal abuse. Characters spouting off like they have a compulsive speech disorder. Extreme levels of repetition. She continues circling the topics she often reverts to, without moving the plot forward. That is…
-
Review of The Academy Outside of Ingolstadt by Damian Murphy
A very readable short novel by one of my favorite living authors. I feel like when you say ‘living author’ you’re talking about someone about to keel over. But Damian Murphy may put out dozens of more books in his time. At the rate he is going we can look…
-
Review of War by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
A nasty brutish and short book. But rewarding. The perils of war. We follow Ferdinand, a wounded soldier, as he is taken in and variously abused by nurses and doctors. As he inhabits the tenuous zone of the infirmary, striking out periodically to escape an uncertain fate, he is haunted…
-
Review of Brooklyn Crime Novel by Jonathan Lethem
Harping on race and gentrification on about every page, employing a sledgehammer when a lighter touch would’ve been appreciated. The old-fashioned style is quaintly meta, with a grossly omniscient narrator who seems fond of gangsta slang. As in some of his other novels, the male protagonist is blasé about indiscreet…
-
Review of The Heel by Brendan Connell
The perspective character Mitch is a typical sleaze, borderline alcoholic, borderline jobless former gigolo still on the prowl. Brendan Connell provides a rollicking, realistic tale of this washed-up ladies’ man. With more plot than I typically expect from his experimental work, he showcases his exquisite prose rhythms while not compromising…
-
Review of Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole
Teju Cole gives an account of a stay in Nigeria, told by a Nigerian-American. It purports to be a work of fiction, but could easily be construed as autofiction or nonfic. The journalistic approach is offset by the deeply humorous writing. You can feel the conflict within the narrator toward…
-
Review of Cocteau’s Invitation by Erik Martiny
This was unexpected and slightly uncalled for You know those Yorgos Lanthimos movies. This is a little like that. You ask yourself, wait, what? But you keep reading. This is a meta narrative that starts out as a typical literary pseudo-romance, featuring the creepy narrator going after a too-young student,…
-
Review of Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu
A depiction of the remarkable wealth of one man’s inner life amid the bodily poverty and blindingly dull inheritance of the paltry years allotted to him on a damaged and ravaged earth in a squalid and unforgiving metropolis. Drenched in cosmic surrealism and accoutered with interlocking symbols. The author pursues central…
-
Review of Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
Japanese Slice of Life Versus American Literary Fiction. Slice of Life: mundane day to day events occur regularly. Characters go to work, commute, go shopping, etc. They interact with others in quirky and amusing ways. Characters make decisions, but the consequences are not usually earth-shattering. Readers have the chance to…
-
Review of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Not much left to be said about this brilliant book. It was brilliant and disturbing and a perfect reading experience. Another first person narrative by this famous author plumbing the depths of human loneliness, wish fulfillment and modern society. A magnificent satire and unputdownable headlong plunge into the heart of…
-
Review of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
My ranking of Ottessa Moshfegh’s books. 1. My Year of Rest and Relaxation2. Homesick for Another World3. Lapvona4. Eileen5. McGlue6. Death in Her Hands Lapvona was midrange Moshfegh, in my opinion. It lacked the intimate first person perspective of her other works and possessed a cold, alien tone, making use…
-
Review of Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Why do people read literary fiction? I ask myself this whenever I try to define the difficult term “literary fiction.” I think of Philip Roth and John Updike most readily. I see that Moshfegh manages to impress literary readers while also capturing a large audience, ie, being a bestseller. But…
-
Review of Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
This surreal collection of short stories put me in mind of Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls, Smart Ovens for Lonely People, and Life Ceremony. It uses the same recipe of injecting everyday tone with bizarro aesthetics. This is upmarket bizarro. Genre fiction pretending to be literary fiction. A popular…
-
Review of Stoner by John Williams
Good storytelling. A memorable picture of American life. Steinbeckian. Stoner the famer becomes Stoner the stubborn professor. We witness his heartbreaking home life and his harrowing professional life–two spheres most middle class Americans dwell in like split personalities. It has been called a perfect novel. I would like to point…
-
Review of Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo
I have read 16 Delillo novels so far. His literary cobbling definitely intrigues me. The sense of place, the weird characters saying off-the-wall things. The long, unnecessary, wandering, plotless sections of simply intriguing writing. My ranking of Delillo so far: 1. Underworld2. Americana3. Cosmopolis4. The Angel Esmeralda5. The Body Artist6.…
-
Review of A Cool Million by Nathanael West
Greasy satire of the most malicious kind. A rags to rags story about one man’s valiant pursuit of the American nightmare. A surprisingly smooth and cinematic journey through the underbelly of America, which is not an underbelly so much as a carcass here, teeming with greedy maggots. The swindles are…
-
Review of The Anthologist (The Paul Chowder Chronicles #1) by Nicholson Baker
Baker’s deep dive into poetry analysis and history succeeds on every level except for his audiobook narration, which is uneven, ranging from blasting your ear drums out to indecipherable murmurs. The whole book is a poetic interlude about an anthologist failing to write a poetry book introduction. The minutia of…
-
Review of Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin
A short, atmospheric novella relating the enigmatic beauty of an unremarkable life. A quiet, heartfelt rendering of human beings intertwined in the awkward embrace of modern life in an out of the way place. I really enjoyed the setting. A well-structured short work, but less striking than a more-developed novel…
-
Review of Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
I am cautiously optimistic regarding Mieko Kawakami’s literary future. She is a rising star of popular Japanese fiction, but I see her writing style suffering from common traits plaguing the English translations we are getting within the past several years. It is a kind of commercial dumbing down of the…
-
Review of Dancing With Disorder by Andrew Lawes
When I picked up this book, I knew it would map out the plight of the mentally ill in some form or another, but I did not expect the intimate perspective, which delves deep into psychology and the emotions incumbent in major life changes, without losing the focus on character…
-
Review of Mimi by Lucy Ellmann
Mimi is not Lucy Ellmann’s best work, but this book was still intelligent and more entertaining than 99% of inanimate objects on this planet. Ellmann’s acerbic brand of feminism doesn’t really work with the goofy male narrator, as other reviewers have pointed out. You most certainly won’t like this plastic…
-
Interview in The Collidescope
Thank you to The Collidescope for the interview. Check out this fascinating literary publication for informative and brilliant content. Click Here
-
Good Ol’ Maggie, short story
Red Fez also published a literary fiction piece of mine. Check it out: Click Here
-
The Egg & I, a short story
My new short story was published in Red Fez. Check it out! Click Here
L. S. Popovich 