Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: Fariba Hachtroudi’s THE MAN WHO SNAPPED HIS FINGERS

cover_9781609453060_657_600Christopher’s book review of THE MAN WHO SNAPPED HIS FINGERS, from author Fariba Hachtroudi, appears in Prairie Schooner Volume 90 Number 4.

Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: Amy Dupcak’s DUST

51n-kphn0dlChristopher’s book review of DUST, a debut collection of short stories from author Amy Dupcak, appears in Issue Eighty-Eight (December 2016) of The Collagist.

The opening of this review of Amy Dupcak’s DUST:

James Hurst’s 1960 short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” is commonly required reading for high school kids (and was adapted into an opera last year in New York City). It’s a remarkable story that opens with a garden…

From Lucid River Press: “A daring debut collection, Dust dives headfirst into the complicated waters of youth. Exploring themes of alienation, longing, self-destruction and ultimately self-awareness, the characters in Dust attempt to find meaning and form connections via sex, art, drugs, apple seeds, a cardboard dreamachine, and an aloe vera plant.”

Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: Chantel Acevedo’s THE DISTANT MARVELS

Christopher’s book review of The Distant Marvels from author Chantel Acevedo, appears in The Brooklyn Rail.

From the Europa Editions website: “The story of a lifetime told in the eye of a hurricane. Maria Sirena tells stories. She does it for money—she was a favorite in the cigar factory where she worked as a lettora—and for love, spinning gossamer tales out of her own past for the benefit of friends and family. But now, like a modern-day Scheherazade, she will be asked to tell a story so that eight women can keep both hope and themselves alive.”

Here is the opening of the review:

Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: Stanley Crawford’s TRAVEL NOTES

Christopher’s book review of Travel Notes from author Stanley Crawford, appears in The Brooklyn Rail.

“Originally published in 1967, TRAVEL NOTES is a hallucinogenic dream journey thru the incomparable mind that subsequently brought us Log of the S.S. the Mrs. Unguentine, then dropped off the grid to become a garlic farmer in New Mexico.” –Calamari Press website

Here is the opening of the review:

Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: EVERYWHERE STORIES anthology of international fiction

Everywhere StoriesChristopher’s book review of Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet, an anthology edited by Clifford Garstang, appears in The Collagist.

Here is the opening of the review:

Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: Brandon Hobson’s DEEP ELLUM

Deep_Ellum_coverChristopher’s book review of DEEP ELLUM from author Brandon Hobson appears in Southern Literary Review.

Here is the opening of the review of Brandon Hobson’s DEEP ELLUM:

Categories
Essays & Criticism

Book Review: Oonya Kempadoo’s ALL DECENT ANIMALS

20130520-215820.jpgChristopher’s book review appears in New Orleans Review of ALL DECENT ANIMALS from author Oonya Kempadoo. This is her third novel and is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Here is the opening of the review of Oonya Kempadoo’s ALL DECENT ANIMALS: