Trevor Berrett Though I haven’t been enjoying Saunders’ recent work, I have enjoyed him so much in the past that I’m always hopeful when I get my hands on something “new” (really, this story was originally published in January 2010 in McSweeney’s 33 (the issue that was a Sunday-edition sized newspaper), though it has been revised for this publication). When I … Read more
Today, they announced the shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The winner will be announced on June 5. Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson May We Be Forgiven, by A.M. Homes Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple NW, by Zadie Smith … Read more
“Dougbert Shackleton’s Rules for Antarctic Tailgating” is the sixth story in Karen Russell’s second short story collection,Vampires in the Lemon Grove. For an overview with links to review of the others stories in this collection, please click here. One of the risks of setting out to review every story in an unread short story collection is … Read more
The winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is The Orphan Master’s Son, by Adam Johnson The two finalists are: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey I’ve heard great things about The Orphan Master’s Son, but it hadn’t really tempted me. I … Read more
As you probably know, once a decade Granta unveils a selection of what they consider to be the 20 best British novelists under the age of forty. Today the new list came out, and the next issue will contain a selection from each of the following authors. Naomi Alderman Tahmima Anam Ned Beauman Jenni Fagan … Read more
Click here to read the story in its entirety on The New Yorker webpage. Roberto Bolaño’s “Mexican Manifesto” (tr. from the Spanish by Laura Healy) was originally published in the April 22, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. Trevor Reading “new” fiction by Roberto Bolaño is problematic. From what I know (which isn’t much), now that we’ve received his published material, we are tapping … Read more
“The Barn at the End of Our Term” is the fifth story in Karen Russell’s second short story collection,Vampires in the Lemon Grove. For an overview with links to review of the others stories in this collection, please click here. I planned to, but I haven’t been reviewing the stories in Russell’s collection regularly. I keep … Read more
Following the steps of Suicide, which last year was longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award, Levé’s Autoportrait (2005; tr. from the French by Lorin Stein, 2012) was recently named a finalist for the Best Translated Book Award. When I reviewed Suicide (here), I began with a quote from a piece by Levé that The Paris Review published, “When I look at a Strawberry, I … Read more
Trevor and Betsy explore the titular final story in Alice Munro’s first collection, Dance of the Happy Shades.
Here are the six books to make the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist: The Detour, by Gerbrand Bakker; tr from the Dutch by David Colmer (in the U.S. this book was published as Ten White Geese) Bundu, by Chris Barnard; tr. from the Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns (this will be available in the U.S. on May 1, … Read more