L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 2

Review of The Morning Star by by Karl Ove Knausgård

Rather well-balanced weirdness. Put me in mind right away of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Subsequent volumes failed to sustained my pique. But they carry on an intricate tale, interlarded with intrigue. Prevalent are the themes of life and death. How do we find meaning and meaningless in each? Heavy helpings of elegant imagery, rather droll storytelling, […]

Review of Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Vegetarianism for edge-lords. Sure, there are some pros and cons to consuming meat,—who among us has not read Ruth Ozeki’s Year of Meats?—but the taboo of cannibalism is more persuasive than the supremacy of meat in our gustatory culture. The author seems to forget that hundreds of millions of people go their entire lives without […]

Review of Elio

Squandered Wonder Elio is a perfect example of why there should be a space between seeing and reviewing a film. I left the theaters thinking I had seen a decent sci-fi palate cleanser after Lightyear. After a day’s contemplation, I realized it is one of my least favorite Pixar movies. However, most people may look past the […]

Review of Nick and the Glimmung by Philip K. Dick

Surprisingly absorbing children’s fiction from grandmaster of social s-f from the pulp era. Nick is a kid with a cat. Earth is a planet that banned cats. So the family has to move to Ploughman’s Planet, where aliens like wubs, werjes, father-things, and printers, among other species, all waging war against the notorious Glimmung, who […]

Review of Happy Bunny and Other Mischiefs by Rebecca Gransden

Beginning with a descent into uncanny horror, the collection invades other genres, reaching tentacles into Realism, science fiction, and magic realism with aplomb, grasping at philosophy, abstraction, and startling dream-logic, but maintaining a steady undercurrent of tension while germinating unsettling horror elements. Ever think, when you’re adjusting the stats on your video game character, you […]

Review of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

The ideal audiobook experience. I’ve attended many workshops and critique groups which were obsessed with the “Show, Don’t tell,” mantra, which some writers seem to regard as the be all, end all rule of writing.For me. I enjoy narration, even hundreds of pages of narration at a time. I don’t need to see a character […]

Review of Life of Chuck

Life of Chuck is a symphony dedicated to the quite awesomeness of living that hits a discordant note in its structure. Still, many people will forgive its missteps and find it a worthwhile watch. Life of Chuck is an exploration of what gives our relatively short lives meaning, while constantly reminding us of the cosmic timeline, going as far as explaining […]

Review of Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart

I would normally drool over a book about a rabid watch-collection, because I have been a rabid watch enthusiast (at least in theory) but found my eyes rolling of their own volition while enduring this second novel I’ve read by the author. While it’s fun to say to yourself, I can visualize the watch he […]

Review of M Train by Patti Smith

Coffee-addict Patti Smith returns with another engrossing memoir-thing. She writes well about writing. I find my reading tastes lining up with hers. She conveys her burgeoning obsession with visiting writers’ graves in far-flung places, touching down in Japan and hunting down the resting place of Akutagawa, Dazai, Ozu and others. I have never done that […]

Review of The White Book by Han Kang

Han Kang describes white things well. But it would’ve been more intriguing if the pages were black and the text was white. You can achieve this by getting an ebook and turning your kindle to Dark Mode.I would not call these interconnected stories, but rather, observations orbiting a theme. An obvious compilation of memory and […]