Books, Reviews, Issue 689
6 articles
Sorted by popularity / date
Don Delillo - The Angel Esmeralda
18 Oct 2011
Challenging but ultimately rewarding collection of short stories spanning the author's career
(Picador) Is anyone ever truly happy in a Don DeLillo universe? As the astronaut narrator of ‘Human Moments in World War III’ puts it, ‘happiness is not a fact of this experience’. The profundities and quandaries of existence weigh down mightily upon…
Daniel Clowes - The Death-Ray
18 Oct 2011
Amusing and poignant deconstruction of the super-hero genre
(Jonathan Cape) More gorgeousness from writer/artist Daniel Clowes with this oversized hardback reprinting of 2004’s The Death-Ray. A slacker superhero story about 17-year-old orphan Andy discovering that smoking cigarettes charges him with…
The Midnight Beast - Book At Us Now
18 Oct 2011
Unfunny pop-parody book designed to cash in on upcoming TV fame
(Coronet) ‘We mock the living hell out of stuff for a living,’ claim London pop parody trio The Midnight Beast. Even in this disposable age, simply poking fun at more talented people can only stretch so far before the game is up. Success rarely…
Emma Donoghue - The Sealed Letter
18 Oct 2011
Re-issue of a slow-burning Victorian-set drama by the Booker-shortlisted author
(Picador) ‘No corsets, no crinoline’ is the unladylike lot of one who takes up the cause of women’s rights amidst the bustling, vital Victoriana of this reissued 2008 novel from Room author Emma Donoghue. Emily ‘Fido’ Faithfull has matured into just…
Christos Tsiolkas - Dead Europe
18 Oct 2011
Brutally bleak but beautiful novel, re-issued in the wake of The Slap's international success
(Atlantic) The Slap was a major breakthrough for Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas, winning the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2009 and becoming an international bestseller into the bargain. In the wake of that success, Tsiolkas’ backlist is…
Margaret Atwood - In Other Worlds
17 Oct 2011
Slightly patchy collection of critical sci-fi essays
(Virago) A companion to Margaret Atwood’s published science fiction rather than an essential purchase in its own right, In Other Worlds charts the Canadian Booker Prize winner’s relationship with SF from an early age, bringing a welcome clarity and…
