Ape House, by Sara Gruen; 320 pp., Spiegel & Grau; $26.By Terri L. ParkerReading Sara Gruen’s Ape House, I was reminded of one April Fool’s Day when my daughters were 6 and 4.I got up in the morning and excitedly called them: “Come quick, our cat Mittens is talking!”Their astonished but not disbelieving faces as they rushed into the living … [Read more...]
Book review: ‘Invisible’ masterfully chronicles ambition, mystery, loss
By Chauncey Mabe It would be too much to say that Paul Auster’s latest novel constitutes a comeback or even a return to form.His recent work, although sometimes roughed up by critics, has not exactly been inferior, or the product of an imagination grown slack with maturity and success. Yet for all that Auster accomplishes with, say, Man in the Dark (2008), it is a small book. … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Books: Miéville’s brave new novel remarkable, and a page-turner, too
By Chauncey MabeAdmirers of China Miéville’s brave new novel, The City and the City, are advised to take care lest they hurt themselves straining for comparisons to describe – to begin to describe – this amazing literary performance. Raymond Chandler meets Franz Kakfa? Philip K. Dick collides at a busy intersection with Georges Simenon? A mad scientist sews George Orwell’s head … [Read more...]