David Cooper's Blog, page 6

Book review: The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping by Aharon Appelfeld

“With its universal themes of healing, recovery, creativity, and finding one’s vocation The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping should engage the wide readership Appelfeld’s prose deserves. Readers may want to buy extra copies and donate them to VA hospitals.” — from my review in New York Journal of Books.






Filed under: book reviews Tagged: Aharon Appelfeld, bildungsroman, book reviews, books, coming of age literature, fiction, healing, holocaust, immigrant literature, Israeli literature, novels, recovery, refugee fiction, wounded soldiers

Book review: Recitation by Bae Suah

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“…  a challenging yet cognitively engaging and rewarding read.

“… This is not a book for lazy readers; Bae expects us to show up ready to work. Her handsome prose, however, is never an obstacle.

“… Recitation will make Bae’s anglophone readers and other fans of post-modern fiction eagerly await the publication of more of her novels in English.”

— from my review in New York Journal of Books

Filed under: book reviews Tagged: Bae Suah, books, cerebral fiction, dense prose, fiction, foreign literature in translation, globalization, Korean literature, novels, philosophical fiction, post-modern fiction

Book review: Recitation by Bae Suah

Recitation by Bae Suah



"... a challenging yet cognitively engaging and rewarding read.

"... This is not a book for lazy readers; Bae expects us to show up ready to work. Her handsome prose, however, is never an obstacle.

"... Recitation will make Bae’s anglophone readers and other fans of post-modern fiction eagerly await the publication of more of her novels in English."
-- from my review in New York Journal of Books

Book review: Judas by Amos Oz

“For Oz’s fans and liberal Zionist fiction readers Judas is a required text whose writing is its own reward.” — from my review of in New York Journal of Books

Filed under: book reviews Tagged: Amos Oz, books, historical fiction, Israeli literature, Judas, literary fiction, literature in translation, New York Journal of Books, novels, Zionism

Book review: Judas by Amos Oz

“For Amos Oz’s fans and liberal Zionist fiction readers Judas is a required text whose writing is its own reward.” -- from my review in New York Journal of Books

Book review: A Greater Music by Bae Suah

"Bae Suah’s prose alternates between detailed descriptions of everyday life and ruminative passages on music, ideas, and her character’s mental state. The late American poet William Matthews once described his taste in literature as a preference for prosy poetry and poetic prose. A Greater Music exemplifies the latter category; it requires and amply rewards rereading." -- from my review in New York Journal of Books 

Book review: A Greater Music by Bae Suah

“Bae’s prose alternates between detailed descriptions of everyday life and ruminative passages on music, ideas, and her character’s mental state. The late American poet William Matthews once described his taste in literature as a preference for prosy poetry and poetic prose. A Greater Music exemplifies the latter category; it requires and amply rewards rereading.” — from my review in New York Journal of Books 

Filed under: book reviews Tagged: A Greater Music, Bae Suah, book reviews, books, fiction, Korean fiction, Korean literature, literary fiction, novellas, novels, world literature

Book review: Two She-Bears by Meir Shalev

“Is a proclivity to violence and vengeance a gender and/or regional trait? Are the minds of men more than women and/or rural folk more than city dwellers predisposed to violent acts of revenge? Or put another way, are violence and vengeance intrinsic components of the male psyche, and if so are men more likely to resort to them in rural settings? These are the central questions posed by Israeli novelist Meir Shalev in his seventh novel Two She-Bears (in the original Hebrew Shtayim Dubim, Am Oved, 2013).” — the opening paragraph of my review in New York Journal of Books

Filed under: book reviews, Uncategorized Tagged: book reviews, books, fiction, foreign literature in translation, historical fiction, Israeli literature, jewish, Meir Shalev, novels, psychological fiction, vengeance, violence

Book review: Leaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon

“ Leaving Lucy Pear is recommended to readers who enjoy historical fiction, a cast of well developed mainly female characters, and handsome prose.” — from my review in New York Journal of Books

Filed under: book reviews Tagged: assimilation, book reviews, class relationships, historical fiction, Irish-Americans, Jewish-Americans

Book review: Leaving Lucy Pear

" Leaving Lucy Pear is recommended to readers who enjoy historical fiction, a cast of well developed mainly female characters, and handsome prose." -- from my review in New York Journal of Books