L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 3

Review of The Aristocracy of Weak Nerves by Justin Isis

In Justin Isis’s most daring publication so far, the reader is asked to tour a philosophical zoo and peer into an abyss—not a void, but a liminal space populated by undisclosed presences and imbued with esoteric forces.  The two long tales exemplify a depth of subtext and an often baffling hint toward the numinous.The shimmering […]

Review of Alice Through the Needle’s Eye: A Third Adventure for Lewis Carroll’s Alice by Gilbert Adair

Overall, a diverting bedtime story.  Where you might get mightily lost in the original duology and vibrant Disney film, this reads less like a worthy successor and more like a valiant side-quest. Ample punning propels our precocious protagonist into petty arguments with pompous anthropomorphized plot devices in the form of rude, irreverent mammals and one […]

Review of KPop Demon Hunters

I Think I like K-Pop now. Coming into the film, I knew nothing about Kpop. The vague impression I had was an imitation of Japan’s pop idol cultural phenoms and the 90’s boy bands aesthetic. Therefore, my mind categorized the genre as generally silly. But I get it now. The style, choreography, amazing lyrics and […]

Review of The Morning Star 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 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 […]