(Portland, OR: University of Hell Press, 2016) The funeral director took my hand between her palms, looked into my eyes, and murmured I’m sorry for your loss. There were papers to sign, urns to peruse. Did we like a traditional … Continued
I first watched Houseboat late one night while holed up in the stuffy back guestroom of my dad’s house. I’d just had my wisdom teeth out, and dad was nursing me slowly back to a semblance of my old non-puffy … Continued
When I saw Jeff Allen in Miami this fall, he gave me a copy of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s great book Americanah, in which the protagonist, a blogger, writes “Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, … Continued
(New York, NY: Riverhead, 2014) Friendswood, the lyrical new novel by National Book Award Finalist René Steinke, is the kind of 300-plus-page book that devours you in a couple of afternoons. The prose is nimble but sure-footed, the narrative suspenseful, … Continued
Translated from Spanish by Nick Caistor (New York City, NY: New Vessel Press, 2013) The Missing Year, the first novel by Argentinian writer Pedro Mairal to be translated (excellently, by Nick Caistor) into English, is a slim 118 pages, beautifully … Continued