Rumaan Alam

A Formative Loss

In her novel The Furrows, Namwali Serpell’s pyrotechnics convey the madness, repetition, disruption, and shock of grief.

Reading in the Bath

“I read to be lifted out of my own life, which I thought boring.”

Diary of an Adducer

Elif Batuman’s Either/Or is faithful to the experience of growing up; whether we want fiction to depict reality accurately is a separate matter.

Jean Stafford’s Delicious Debut

There’s a fairytale quality to Boston Adventure, a sweetness cut by the acidity of the book’s social satire. 

Return of the Nameless Man

The wit and exuberance of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer and its sequel, The Committed, entice the reader to reflect on colonialism, war, and racism.

Fiction and Life

The Element of Surprise

Lorrie Moore’s ‘Collected Stories’