Wonder is a strange book. By turns sarcastic, hallucinatory, satirical, and dreamlike, it relates the misadventures of one Victor-Denijs de Rijckel, a teacher who pursues a mysterious woman only to find himself posing as an expert of Crabbe, a messianic figure associated with Nazi collaboration. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Wonder (1962), by Hugo Claus
I begin a limited-run series where I review three books about the Supreme Court of the United States, exploring its historical and ideological conflicts, and the transformations it wrought upon law and society. Continue reading Mondays with the Supremes: Part I: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
The slim novel Aberration of Starlight by Gilbert Sorrentino traces the events one summer in 1939 through the perspectives of four different characters. The title is taken from an astrological phenomenon involving the movement of both the observer and the subject under observation. Right from the start, Sorrentino will upend the reader’s expectations. The four characters lives become revealed through various narrative techniques. These include letters, question-and-answer, and stream of consciousness. The four main characters are Billy Recco, the son of Marie Recco. He idolizes Tom Thebus, a salesman wooing Marie, much to the chagrin of Marie’s father, John McGrath. … Continue reading Aberration of Starlight (1980) by Gilbert Sorrentino
On a mid-March afternoon in Denver, Ed O’Fallon and a DPD SWAT Team enter a run-down building on a no-knock warrant. He comes upon a sleepy Mexican man who doesn’t respond to his commands. A gun is drawn (or not?) and Ed fires. The man is killed. Ed later finds out that the no-knock warrant had the wrong address and the man had a name, Salvador Santillano. The Ringer by Jenny Shank chronicles the repercussions in Denver’s Latino and law enforcement communities. While the engine that propels the narrative forward revolves around Santillano’s death, Shank begins the novel with Ed … Continue reading The Ringer by Jenny Shank
Joanna Higgins crafts a novel that extends beyond the normal genre boundaries of the murder mystery and courtroom drama. Dead Center revolves around the Weber family. Dr. Benjamin Weber is a beloved pediatrician with a practice in Hawaii. He lives with his wife Karen. Prior to marrying Ben, Karen had two daughters, Laura and Lin, from a previous marriage. Ben and Karen also have a daughter of their own, Katherine. Ben Weber married Karen following the death of her husband, Peter Hyland. Ben was present when Peter died in Tunley, Michigan. Was it an accident? Was it murder? Now, twenty … Continue reading Dead Center by Joanna Higgins
If Permanent Press had a prestige novel, To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck would it. The novel presents a fictionalized version of real life events that happened in Michigan. In 1945, Senator Warren G. Hooper was murdered in a gangland-style slaying. To this day, the murder case has never been solved. William C. Whitbeck, the author of the novel, also works as Chief Judge of the Michigan Court. He presents us with the tale of one Charlie Cahill, a disabled vet, prosecutor, and son of an Irish bootlegger. Set in Lansing during 1945 and into 1946, Whitbeck paints … Continue reading To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck
The Dissemblers is a story about creativity, betrayal, art, crime, and jealousy. Ivy Wilkes has recently graduated from art school and has moved to New Mexico to work in the Georgie O’Keeffee Museum. She works as a cashier, but hopes being close to where O’Keeffe created her work will inspire her to do the same. Ivy lives below a couple of musicians, Jake and Maya. When not playing with the orchestra, Jake works as a guard at the museum. Ivy eventually becomes romantically involved with Omar, café owner and Jake’s brother. As an artist, Ivy is remarkably perceptive. She narrates … Continue reading The Dissemblers by Liza Campbell
The representation of Hell as a cartographic region has its origins in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante adapted the imagery already present in medieval painting and sculpture to comment on his political situation and his own scientific and theological beliefs. He populated it with real people, including political heroes and villains, good popes and bad popes, adulterous princesses, and monsters human and mythological. On Dante’s spiritual journey, he traveled with the Roman poet Vergil down the various circles of Hell and then up Mount Purgatory. Finally, led by his beloved Beatrice, he journeyed through the heavenly spheres until he was in … Continue reading Critical Appraisal: The Landscape of Hell
The appreciation of a novel can occasionally come down to something as random as timing. When one reads a book too early or too late, one can miss important elements within the story. This reviewer read Lord of the Rings too late and found its cod-archaic prose akin to downing a sedative. Similarly, when reading Paradise Lost in middle school, the only thing gained was “bragging rights” since the poetry remained impenetrable. All this represents a roundabout preface for my appreciation of Georgeann Packard’s novel Fall Asleep Forgetting. In the months leading up to September 11, 2001, the inhabitants of … Continue reading Fall Asleep Forgetting by Georgeann Packard
Fidel distills the life of Fidel Castro into less than two hundred pages. Written by Néstor Kohan and illustrated by Nahuel Sherma, the book functions as a short biography and a primer on such topics as Latin American politics, South American fascism, and anti-globalism. (The hyperventilating political discourse of today has reduced the term “fascism” to an empty meaningless term. For an academic investigation, one should consult Stanley Payne’s A History of Fascism: 1914 – 1945. For a more literary examination, one should read Robert Bolaño’s Borges-esque Nazi Literature in the Americas.) Kohan writes about Leftist topics and Seven Stories … Continue reading Fidel by Néstor Kohan and Nahuel Sherma
The Driftless Area Review 