Written Reviews

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh: “Audition”

September 3, 2018

This week’s New Yorker story is Saïd Sayrafiezadeh’s “Audition.”

William Trevor: “The Unknown Girl”

August 31, 2018

William Trevor’s “The Unknown Girl,” from Last Stories, is a devastating look at a life that didn’t seem worth living.

Wolfgang Hilbig: Old Rendering Plant

August 30, 2018

Paul reviews Wolfgang Hilbig’s 1991 novel Old Rendering Plant, translated from the German by Isabel Fargo Cole.

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea: Memories of Underdevelopment

August 29, 2018

This week, The Criterion Collection has released Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s 1968 film Memories of Underdevelopment.

Haruki Murakami: “The Wind Cave”

August 27, 2018

This week’s New Yorker fiction is Haruki Murakami’s “The Wind Cave,” translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel. This is an excerpt from Murakami’s 2017 novel Killing Commendatore, which will be published in English in October.

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Episodes of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast: discussions of books and authors, shaped by curiosity, rereading, and the pleasures of talking things through.

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The Mookse and the Gripes Instagram features a more immediate space with posts and videos about current reads, recent finds, including a steady dose of Criterion films.