From The Moscow Times, Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate is a sweeping panorama of World War II that mercilessly juxtaposes Stalinism and Nazism. A review of Christopher's Ghosts by Charles McCarry: CIA agent Paul Christopher confronts his Nazi-era past to learn the fate of his parents. Life's pain, joys infuse Red-baiting '50s: A review of Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon.
In the face of crushing totalitarianism, the artist Josef Koudelka served as our single most important witness to the flickering human spirit in Eastern Europe. Writing in the Dark: Israeli novelist David Grossman reflects on what literature can accomplish in a time of permanent political emergency and personal loss.
Darkness visible: Inside view of slippery slope that can lead to terrorism: A review of The Sirens of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra. A review of The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan (and more). Author Edmund White has written a controversial drama about the Oklahoma bomber in Terre Haute. From the ashes of 9/11, Don DeLillo assembles a shattering portrait of a tragedy's aftermath in Falling Man, and more by Jonathan Yardley, and more and more and more and more and more and more. Rebuilding Ground Zero: After an eternity of politicking, the real construction begins.
In Cathleen Schine’s fable of urban loneliness, The New Yorker, dogs play the fairy godmothers. Bright lights, big city: Barb Carey ponders contrasting views of the busy streets. Beyond the horizon Ordinary women find adventure by leaving home in Tourist Season, a collection of short stories. Young women of few words: There are signs that the short story may be on the cusp of a renaissance. It's officially spring, which means that publishers are sending us reams of chick-lit novels. A review of Writing in an Age of Silence by Sara Paretsky: A call for social activism from a premier mystery novelist.
Cristina García’s novel A Handbook to Luck is about estrangement — geographic, cultural and political. Do not be deceived. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles is not a love story, unless it is a love story about dust storms and despair, oil-well speculation and horse racing. A couple of human organisms adapt to love as an endangered species in The Sea Lady by Margaret Drabble Harcourt.
An interview with Natasha Trethewey, Native daughter: The 41-year-old poet talks about growing up mixed-race in Mississippi, her mother’s murder and whether it’s better to remember or to forget. And the silence and the lambs: Josephine Dickinson became profoundly deaf when she was 6. Now she is a poet
