Alfred Döblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin My rating: 4 of 5 stars Let’s get the literary-historical info and honorifics out of the way first: Berlin Alexanderplatz is one of the monuments … Continue reading
Theodor Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections on a Damaged Life
Minima Moralia: Reflections on a Damaged Life by Theodor W. Adorno My rating: 5 of 5 stars It helps to know that this 1951 book, an unclassifiable philosophical masterpiece consisting … Continue reading
Jerzy Kosinski, The Painted Bird
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński My rating: 3 of 5 stars This 1965 novel is a text so overwhelmed by its various contexts that it is almost impossible to … Continue reading
Philip Roth, Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories by Philip Roth My rating: 5 of 5 stars She walked away and around the oak tree. When she appeared again she’d stepped out … Continue reading
Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow My rating: 4 of 5 stars Most famous or classic books are more complicated, more contradictory, and more strange than their capsule-summaries … Continue reading
Bernard Malamud, The Assistant
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Assistant (1957) is Bernard Malamud’s second novel. Frank Alpine, its eponymous anti-hero, becomes a clerk in the failing … Continue reading
Philip Roth, The Ghost Writer
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Ghost Writer is the good Roth, the safe Roth, wholesome enough to give to children and kittens … Continue reading
David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet My rating: 4 of 5 stars Look. Look. Are you LISTENing to me? I’m not some Brooklyn beggar, okay? I’m not some fucking Oberlin … Continue reading
Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon My rating: 2 of 5 stars The original jacket copy compared The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay to American … Continue reading
Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems
Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg My rating: 2 of 5 stars I read this—and I don’t think I’ve ever read this volume as a volume before, though I’ve … Continue reading
