Eat A PeachDavid ChangClarkson Potter/Publishers 2020 Review by Caileigh Broatch David Chang wears a lot of hats, the first of which is a chef’s hat. He is, after all, the founder of the Momofuku Restaurant Group (with a new...
SevenFarzana DoctorDundurn Toronto, 2020 Review by Kiran Bhat The number seven is a number of great meaning in many religions, particularly the Abrahamic ones. The day of rest after creation was the seventh; the number of heavens, or afterworlds,...
Death in her HandsOttessa MoshfeghPenguin Press, 2020 Review by Alexandra Trnka Ottessa Moshfegh’s fictions are an exercise in relating to obscenity. Her oeuvre is united by her intentionally unlikeable characters, leading to the popular classification of her work as...
Throw Down Your ShadowsDeborah HemmingNimbus Publishing, 2020 Aubrey McKeeAlex PusgleyBiblioasis, 2020 Review by Marcie McCauley The marketing copy for Deborah Hemming’s Throw Down Your Shadows compares it to Emma Cline’s The Girls and Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter, whereas Alex Pugsley’s...
Grand Union: StoriesZadie SmithHamish Hamilton, 2019 Review by B. H. Lake Zadie Smith, the author of such masterworks of contemporary literature as White Teeth, Feel Free, and Swing Time, published a new collection of short stories in the fall...
How To Pronounce KnifeSouvankham Thammavongsa McClelland & Stewart, 2020 Review by Leslie Palleson In a recent interview with the Atlantic, Souvankham Thammavongsa describes laughter as the cornerstone of the stories in her debut collection How to Pronounce Knife. “Laughter does...
The Foley Artist: StoriesRicco Villanueva SiasocoGaudy Boy, 2019 Review by Serkan Görkemli Queer literary writing is enjoying unprecedented exposure in the world of publishing, but we need more stories that reflect the racial, ethnic, and geographical diversity in our...
Familiar FaceMichael DeForgeDrawn & Quarterly, 2020 Review by Kris Rothstein A time of isolation. Bodies beyond our control. Unprecedented control by the state. As we live through a global pandemic, it is tempting to look to art for extra...
The Baudelaire FractalLisa RobertsonCoach House, 2020 Review by Margaryta Golovchenko Sitting in the packed atrium of the MOCA for the launch of The Baudelaire Fractal (Coach House, 2020) as Lisa Robertson discusses history and legacy, I recall the words...