L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 6

Review of Himmler and the Handmaid by Erik Martiny

Martiny has put out a lot of books recently. I was surprised to find another one coming out this year called Bloodberry. I’ve written reviews of all his previous productions from River Boat Books. This one was engrossing and historically intriguing. It offered a well-researched fictional look at a mistress of Himmler’s. The short chapters […]

Review of Creepy Sheen by Rebecca Gransden

An entertaining and thought-provoking collection of scary stories to peruse in the half-light of sun-baked twilights. A moody, unhurried taste of dreamy apocalyptic nostalgia. With an appreciation for film and music, the author frames the scenes in enigmatic layers of imagery, where molting skyscrapers and abandoned stores abound, where dead rats leak opioid crystals into […]

Review of All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami

A slowly paced romance.  The sheepish first-person narrator lives a solitary, repetitive existence, two-steps away from becoming a hikikomori. Her relationships are explored in several unremarkable scenes containing a lot of small talk and quaint dialogue. The author has a tendency to conduct most scenes at restaurants, with two characters having a dialogue, which ranges […]

Review of The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The book is not long enough. To read it is to drink at the firehose of Burton’s accumulated research.Reading about the book can scarcely convey the experience. Many reviews of it quote from the first 50 pages, where Burton describes his own method and mentality, his madness and genius, the form and structure of his […]

Review of City of Mann by L. Ross Coulter

The author poses an interesting thought experiment and uses it as a vehicle to make many utopian s-f speculations about humanity, the almighty, and modern society. One must ponder the concept of intelligent design, entering into the strange world of sentient cities he created. Though lacking in action and traditional genre plots, there is enough […]

Review of Neo-Decadence Evangelion

I don’t summarize plots in my reviews. (Some of these tales do not contain plot). But I do offer impressions.  This volume compliments the Neo-Decadent canon curated by Justin Isis, enlarging and enriching the aesthetic and providing a unique form of entertainment which will surprise and challenge any brave reader. The Slug – Brendan Connell: […]

Review of Self-Portraits by Osamu Dazai

Can you turn a terrible life into high art?  Dazai’s life was astoundingly reprehensible. Attempting three love suicides, succeeding at one, and attempting at least 3 other suicides. Combined with addiction, mental illness, alcoholism, infidelity, multiple marriages and illegitimate children, supporting prostitutes, engaging in public violence and insults, following illegal Communism in a war-torn developing […]

Review of Memoirs and Misinformation by Jim Carrey

The average star rating of this book is under 3 stars. I’m one of the few who enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down. It can only be compared to the works of Mark Leyner and Antkind by Charlie Kaufman (who plays a role in the book). If it had been written by Mark Leyner, […]

Review of Early Light by Osamu Dazai

Three stories from the best era of Japanese fiction in my opinion. These three longer stories, “Early Light,” “One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji,” and “Villon’s Wife” are a good introduction to Dazai. Two of them are contained in the new volume entitled “Self-Portraits.” His stories are often called autobiographical. Most of his first person […]

Review of Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura

Fact-checking errors in this book: The lecturer claims trillions of humans have died since the beginning of time. It’s actually around 117 billion.The lecturer claims your body’s matter is 100% replaced through natural processes every year. It’s actually 5-7 years.The lecturer says there are tens of millions of neurons in the brain. It’s actually 100 […]