A New (and Final) Open Letters Monthly
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I feel a potent mixture of regret and relief. Open Letters Monthly is pretty venerable in internet years–it was founded in 2007–and has had a very good run.
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OLM Favorites: Macaroni and Cheese
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"You come as opportunely as cheese on macaroni" is a terrible line, a symptom of all the reasons George Eliot's Romola is a failure. But is failure really such a bad thing? Maybe a novelist's reach should exceed her grasp.
Read MoreNo Trace of Lipstick
/An outstanding new biography argues convincingly that Olivia Manning is one of the most undervalued woman novelists of the 20th century. But was Manning a “woman novelist”? She thought not.
Read MoreThis Week In My Classes: Keeping Up
/I am, mostly, but today I had my doubts about my students, many of whom seemed pretty tired and some of whom I’m reasonably certain were also (probably not unrelatedly) too behind on the reading to have anything to say in class. That’s OK: it happens, especially around this time of term. It is startling […]
Read MoreVisitations in the Night
/A stylish new neo-Victorian novel uncovers the mystery of a mythical serpent returned from the deeps.
Read MoreI Am a Woman’s Life
/George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda nods to Pride and Prejudice then takes us to dark places Austen’s famously “light, and bright, and sparkling” novel would never go.
Read MoreOver the Top
/An ambitious new novel joins a long and illustrious parade of writers in telling the story of WWI as a tale of innocence lost.
Read MoreMind the Gap
/A new historical thriller hearkens back to the sensation novels of the 1860s, offering up a twisty tale of murder and madness. But can it live up to its predecessors?
Read MoreInfinitesimal Jest
/Ian McEwan's latest novel has an ingenious premise--but does it deliver on its promise? Rohan Maitzen reviews Nutshell.
Read MoreRead, Write, Love
/When Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri abandons English for Italian, she learns as much about herself as about her new language.
Read MoreComfort and Joy
/Mary Balogh’s Survivors’ Club novels are romances, which means they tell hopeful stories about people whose struggles end happily. Why should that optimism earn them such disdain?
Read MoreOccasional Fiction
/As a collection of stories about the complexities of marriage, Reader, I Married Him is good, sometimes even excellent. But how is it as a provocation to rethink Jane Eyre?
Read MoreAnswer in Paradox
/An intimate new biography gives us a Charlotte Brontë for our times - and raises questions about the entanglement of life and art.
Read MoreOur Editions, Ourselves
/How many copies of Middlemarch does one person need? When the edition is as lovely as this, there's always room for one more.
Read MoreThe One Who Gets Wounded
/Adam Johnson’s stories cast us adrift in moral, emotional, even existential uncertainties; the only reassurance they offer lies in the excellence of the fiction itself.
Read MorePen and Tell Her
/Elizabeth Gilbert wants you to be creative, without fear. Whatever brings you to life, whether it’s learning a dance, writing a song, or drawing on the wall, just do it! But what if you want to review her book?
Read MoreThe Truth of a Thing
/Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life emphasized the contingency of any single story. In contrast, her new novel focuses on one life lived to the full. But for better or for worse, Atkinson can’t resist the lure of metafiction…
Read MoreShallow Sargasso Sea
/Can you improve on a classic? A new novel retells George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda — but much more is lost than gained in the attempt.
Read MorePeer review: Elena Ferrante’s Hunger, Rebellion, and Rage
/The critical consensus around reclusive Italian novelist Elena Ferrante is enough to make you suspect collusion - but to what end? and at what cost? Rohan Maitzen reviews the reviewers.
Read MoreTitle Menu: 8 More George Eliot Novels
/Middlemarch is all the rage now – as it should be! But what if you’ve already read not just George Eliot’s masterpiece but all of her novels? Do not despair: these eight books will bring you close to her in spirit.
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