L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 15

Review of Anthem by Ayn Rand

Writing in the first person plural toward a central theme, Ayn Rand tests the reader’s patience.  I recommend Doris Lessing instead. Her wonky, awkward descriptive power is more attuned than Rand’s. Rand has a tendency to produce a monotone. I was picturing THX 1138 the whole time. Naming characters with numbers was also a poor […]

Review of Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong

Told in first person present tense.  A dysfunctional protagonist leads us through her obsession with a coworker. The main character self-consciously sabotages herself through ritual superstitions and coping mechanisms. The list of her disorders is not delineated but the reader may observe tell-tale signs of nearly every social issue a person can contain within one […]

Review of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Not much left to be said about this brilliant book.  It was brilliant and disturbing and a perfect reading experience. Another first person narrative by this famous author plumbing the depths of human loneliness, wish fulfillment and modern society. A magnificent satire and unputdownable headlong plunge into the heart of all that is wrong with […]

Review of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

My ranking of Ottessa Moshfegh’s books. 1. My Year of Rest and Relaxation2. Homesick for Another World3. Lapvona4. Eileen5. McGlue6. Death in Her Hands Lapvona was midrange Moshfegh, in my opinion. It lacked the intimate first person perspective of her other works and possessed a cold, alien tone, making use of uncommon sentence rhythm, like […]

Review of Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Why do people read literary fiction? I ask myself this whenever I try to define the difficult term “literary fiction.” I think of Philip Roth and John Updike most readily. I see that Moshfegh manages to impress literary readers while also capturing a large audience, ie, being a bestseller. But unlike Roth or Updike, I […]

Review of My best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Listening to 80s Synthwave Halloween mix on Youtube while writing this review. This was the kind of audiobook I had to invent chores to continue listening to. An incredible audiobook performance first of all. And a beautifully written book, oozing nostalgia from every acne-scarred pore. The angst. The rich details, and the evocation of 80s […]

Review of Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I only plan to read a few autobiographies in my life. I would consider reading Mark Twains and Casanova as well. Rousseau’s reputation is immense. As soon as I began listening to the audiobook I felt at home in the author’s style. It was a long and rambling account of his life, going over his […]

Review of Edgar Allan Poe: Collected Works by Edgar Allan Poe

It was nice to pick up a leather bound edition of Poe for my Halloween rereading of his stories.  I rediscovered amazing stories like “King Pest” and “The Devil in the Belfry.” this activity reminded me of the many qualities I admire about his writing. I was disappointed in the presentation of the text, however, […]

Review of The Exalted and the Abased by Damian Murphy

Several more novellas with occult-aesthetics from the master of neo-decadent novellas. It is a niche genre perhaps, but the sumptuous descriptions and elegant interior design, the descents into esoteric epiphanies, the occluded worlds steeped in reverent awe of dark forces – none of these things get old when the prose sparkles and snaps, when every […]

Review of The Neo-Decadent Cookbook by Various

A fun companion piece to the other Decadent anthologies from Snuggly Books (though this was published by Eibonvale) featuring returning favorites: Brendan Connell, Quentin S. Crisp, Justin Isis, Damian Murphy, and several others. The short tales center around food, ingredients and people. They are rich in detail and surprising in content, since none of them […]