L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 12

Review of Abel and Cain by Gregor von Rezzori

Another book about a writer writing a book. How many literary novels and works of literature are simply compilations of writers’ notebooks full of ramblings?  In the same style as William Gass’s The Tunnel, Abel and Cain is cobbled together from literary fragments and disparate scenes, some of which seem totally random and others of […]

Review of Glass Children by Carlton Mellick III

A book to finish in one sitting. One with a purposely transparent message.  CM3 airs a lot of grievances about today’s generation gaps, while lobbying for some semblance of understanding between divided Americans. He includes a bloodbath for the sake of the Bizarro label. It seems more like an episode of Black Mirror though, than […]

Review of When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

I picked up this book because Cat Valente mentioned it in an interview. I admit the premise intrigued me.  The style was easy to read but in my opinion, not innovative or eccentric enough for my liking. There is nothing wrong with a conventional style, but as I listened to the audiobook, I could not […]

Review of The Appearance of Death to a Hindu Woman by Rick Harsch

This is the 2nd book set in India Rick Harsch wrote, and after finishing it, I am eager to read the other one, called Arjun and the Good Snake. This is a story of an American making his way from Madras to Calcutta and journeying through surrounding areas, mostly on trains or by autorickshaw or […]

Review of Tales From the Hereafter by Ted Myers

I am a fan of short stories taking place in the afterlife.  I recently read a book called Snuggly Tales of the Afterlife, which I would not necessarily recommend. They were less out-there than I imagined they would be. I want my alternate worlds to be unexpected. That is why I enjoyed A Short Stay […]

Review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Why don’t more authors write novels about video games? My favorite part of the book was exploring the games the main characters conceptualized. The story of their lives, interwoven with video game logic, was interesting, but did not hook me as readily as the obsessive focus on the number one most profitable form of media […]

Review of Bubblegum by Adam Levin

Reminded me of when I read David Foster Wallace for the first time.  Passing through phases of amusement to annoyance to disgust, then subtly sliding into intrigue, fascination and finally settling on the far side of appreciation, but only through much readerly turmoil, many near-death-by-boredom experiences. If you like Adam Levin you will probably like […]

Review of White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link

Kelly Link’s fourth (or fifth?) collection was a surprise.  I remember liking less than half of her stories from her previous collections and I liked only half of these. But taken as a whole, reading the entirety of her work is worth the effort. Though I find the quality inconsistent there is a generally pleasing […]

Review of Weasels in the Attic by Hiroko Oyamada

There is no humor in this book, or if there was, I could not recognize it.  It is very short, maybe 25K words. Another mish mash of random thoughts dashed off by the author, like her other two books currently available in English. The characters are generic and unmemorable. The writing is very basic, lacking […]

Review of Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

Murakami is not an authority on writing. Rather, he is an expert on music. See his other nonfiction book for proof. He is untrained in the craft of writing, as he admits in the opening pages. He also does not play an instrument. What does that tell you? Established rules mean little to him when […]