BookBrowse Editorial Review
Open, Heaven: A Novel
by Seán Hewitt
(6/4/2025)
Open, Heaven, the debut novel from Irish poet Seán Hewitt, opens with recent divorcé James returning to his hometown in northern England and contending with the intense memories his homecoming evokes. But it's not his marriage that he's thinking about—his ex-husband, who is never named, doesn't occupy much space in James's mind—it's an intense infatuation he had with another boy in his youth. Though it has shades of cult classic queer coming
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Julie Chan Is Dead: A Novel
by Liann Zhang
(5/7/2025)
The ephemeral nature of social media means that books about the internet often feel dated by the time they publish, but Julie Chan Is Dead feels believably current... A former skincare content creator herself, Zhang clearly lives and breathes social media; and her fluency in the superficial world of doom-scrolling, #sponsored posts, and snark subreddits will resonate with readers who spend time in it, too.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
City of Night Birds: A Novel
by Juhea Kim
(1/15/2025)
With a novel that feels raw and intimate and lived in, Juhea Kim captures the ruthless world of Russian ballet, where dancers are governed by artistry and precision. Inhabiting the psyche of someone so disciplined and driven to perfection is a fascinating exercise, one that Kim explores expertly throughout the novel, taking the reader on a whirlwind journey through the competitive dance scene.City of Night Birds is a worthwhile exploration of artistry, discipline, selfhood, and a determ
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
(12/4/2024)
Author Marjan Kamali distills Iran's complex contemporary history into a compelling narrative that centers on the intertwined lives of the two main characters. In emphasizing the contrast in the girls' upbringings, Kamali presents the reader with a multifaceted picture of Iran, and as personal and political conflicts build, she underscores how the differences between Ellie and Homa are not nearly as significant as their similarities as women living and surviving in a systemically misogynistic so
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Mina's Matchbox: A Novel
by Yoko Ogawa
(8/21/2024)
Mina's Matchbox is narrated by Tomoko thirty years after its events take place, and this distance allows the novel to explore complex, adult themes while still being about the activities and preoccupations of childhood. Tomoko sees glimpses of darkness behind her family's veneer of wealth and glamor—her aunt's drinking; her uncle prolonged disappearances; her cousin Ryuichi's distance from the family—but doesn't yet understand their full significance. The novel takes the form
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Toward Eternity: A Novel
by Anton Hur
(7/17/2024)
Hur, the Korean-to-English translator of many noted works, such as Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny, Baek Se-hee's I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, Sang Young Park's Love in the Big City, and Kyung-sook Shin's The Court Dancer, is understandably concerned with language, all its possibilities and limitations, and how deeply entwined language and humanity are. This is the question at the heart of Toward Eternity: through AI, how much humanity is preserved and
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Henry Henry by Allen Bratton
(6/5/2024)
Allen Bratton's Henry Henry chronicles a year in the life of Hal Lancaster. Readers already familiar with Shakespeare's history plays will immediately recognize the landscape of Bratton's novel in this modern-day queer reimagining of the Henriad. There's Hal, the disaffected, wayward son; Henry, the stoic, dutiful father; Ned Poins, the working class, rowdy youth with whom Hal spends his days; Falstaff, the has-been drunkard who's obsessed with Hal; and Harry Percy,
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Sicilian Inheritance: A Novel
by Jo Piazza
(5/1/2024)
In her author's note, Jo Piazza divulges that this story was inspired by her own family's history; the construction of the female characters—Serafina in particular—makes it clear that the novel is a passion project. While Serafina's historical chapters marginally outshine Sara's mystery narrative, the whole book comes together as a propulsive family saga and potent commentary on the deep roots of Italian patriarchy. Set against the beautifully evoked landscape of the Sicilian country
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Held: A Novel
by Anne Michaels
(3/6/2024)
Anne Michaels, once Toronto's poet laureate, employs a nontraditional narrative structure and tells this story in accomplished prose that engages the reader effortlessly; it's difficult not to inhale this strange, lovely novel in a single sitting. At a slim 200 pages, Held appears to be an ambitious project with its numerous locations and large cast of characters, but Michaels rises to the challenge she has set herself—everything is deliberate and nothing is underdeveloped.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
(6/22/2022)
Fuyuko walks through life as though blindfolded, but rather than presenting a straightforward fable where our unassuming protagonist comes to love her life through learning the value of asserting herself, Kawakami offers a thornier reality. The more Fuyuko tries to make the decisions one is theoretically supposed to make, the more these decisions chafe against her body and mind. The novel grapples with the complexity of societal pressures by showing a protagonist who lives an existence that soci
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Either/Or by Elif Batuman
(5/18/2022)
Though it can be read as a standalone novel, part of the charm of Either/Or is in the reader having followed Selin's journey from its inception. Following in The Idiot's footsteps, it is a relatively plotless endeavor, and will not appeal to readers who need a fast-paced story to keep them engaged. But for the more contemplative reader, this pair of novels is nothing short of a delight. The strength of both books is Selin's incisive narrative voice. In turns dark, funny and philoso
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
(1/5/2022)
Each chapter is centered on a person or relationship significant to Young, but they cohere to form a fuller picture of the life of the novel's sardonic, flirtatious, fun-loving protagonist. Told with equal parts pathos and humor, Love in the Big City is a tender examination of young queer life in South Korea's most dynamic city. The characterization and the narrative voice are so distinct and nuanced that Young feels like an old friend by the end of the novel; someone you feel that you kn
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
(10/6/2021)
When it focuses on the female characters, The Women of Troy is a quiet, subtle novel. In many ways, this project exemplifies what Barker proved in The Silence of the Girls: that she isn't interested in the battlefield, but rather, the unassuming moments that follow bloodshed. Unfortunately, Briseis's narration never fully justifies itself. Still, Barker's characters are so brilliantly drawn (Pyrrhus in particular is a marvelous addition), and her writing is so sharp that The Wom
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness
by Kristen Radtke
(9/8/2021)
The artwork in Seek You suits the subject matter beautifully. Radtke's figures often lack expression and she uses blank space very effectively, giving the book an almost drab, dreary mood, which feels tonally appropriate given the topic. It is an ambitious project, and consequently, it does become unfocused on occasion. On the whole, though, it's a well-crafted, thought-provoking work that successfully seeks to destigmatize an emotion that plagues so many different facets of 21st-century
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Vixen by Francine Prose
(7/14/2021)
Francine Prose's The Vixen is a thoughtful, incisive commentary on the relationship between stories and reality, and the moral obligations of the individual when it comes to retelling history. Set during the height of McCarthyism, Prose captures the fraught atmosphere of distrust that pervaded the U.S. — Simon's inability to confide his true thoughts about the Rosenbergs to anyone makes his dilemma even heavier. Overall, it's an undoubtedly fun, well-paced book — both absorbing and subtly
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Edie Richter is Not Alone by Rebecca Handler
(4/21/2021)
Edie Richter Is Not Alone is an absorbing, sharp, acerbic book about guilt and loss, easy to read in a single sitting but with a lasting impact. Although it's light on plot, it's a difficult book to put down; Rebecca Handler so effortlessly immerses the reader in Edie's interior that the book feels both all-encompassing and intensely intimate. Her prose is assured and wry. While the novel is disturbing in some respects, it's also brutally honest, and digs at the question of what it means
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Project by Courtney Summers
(3/17/2021)
The Project's weakest element is its uncertainty about its audience. Though ostensibly categorized as young adult with crossover appeal, the novel's themes and subject matter are perhaps better suited to an adult audience: teens can certainly read and enjoy this, but it's a marked departure for Summers — it's slower and quieter, its subject more mature — that she should have perhaps leaned into a bit more. The result is a 19-year-old narrator dealing with a 30-year-old's problems. Still,
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Dark Horses by Susan Mihalic
(2/17/2021)
It's an uncomfortable book from start to finish, and I would strongly advise that you exercise caution in deciding whether the rewards of reading this sound like they will outweigh the costs. It's graphic at times, and it will make your skin crawl, though it's never gratuitous. The world that Susan Mihalic creates is insular and suffocating as she skillfully places the reader entirely into Roan's life. Dark Horses is not for everyone, but in its harrowing yet sensitive portrayal of abuse
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell
(1/6/2021)
The dynamic between Gideon and Cutter is this book's shining jewel: their dialogue is witty and droll — Cutter being a man of few words and Gideon being a man of far too many, a characterization in line with his academic background. The older, bitter, hardened Cutter proves a worthwhile foil to the youthful, romantic Gideon, and the pair's evolving dynamic provides the novel with its emotional center. The author also successfully paints a portrait of the dark side of Victorian London that is des
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
(11/4/2020)
It isn't apparent just how much of an accomplishment The Devil and the Dark Water is until you reach its brilliant conclusion. There are elements that may give the reader pause throughout — notably the slow pace and a number of coincidences that starts to border on the absurd — but this is a book that rewards both patience and attention to detail. Trust that Turton knows what he's doing, that he is leading you somewhere both shocking and rewarding. In the meantime, there's ple
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Hamnet
(8/5/2020)
The first two-thirds of the novel are split into a dual timeline, bouncing back and forth between the week of Hamnet's death (the present), and the blossoming romance between William and Agnes (the past). It's a tender yet fraught courtship, and the pacing here is slow and deliberate. The final third speeds up and takes place after the death of their son. Both parts are equally as successful — the languid pace is sustained by O'Farrell's lyrical prose, and the more frantic pace is made tense and
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel
by Cho Nam-Joo
(5/6/2020)
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is less of a character study than an extrapolation of the lived experiences of a generation of women in South Korea. An understanding of Cho Nam-Joo's intentions and the context of the setting is essential to appreciating the novel. It is plotless and straightforward in a way that could be perceived as artless, or curiously devoid of emotion. And yet it simmers with untapped fury, destined to resonate as strongly with Western readers as it has in its native country.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Everlasting by Katy Simpson Smith
(4/8/2020)
Broad and ambitious in scope, The Everlasting endeavors to capture the history and spirit of Rome across generations. It is a wildly ambitious book that is sometimes more compelling for its ideas and structure than its narratives, but it ultimately comes together as a cohesive, clear-eyed portrait of a city where love, lust, and immorality have been inextricably combined for centuries.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
(4/8/2020)
While not necessarily a thriller, there's an addictive, almost obsessive quality that compels the reader to turn pages both out of excitement and anxiety. The Glass Hotel is Mandel at the top of her craft: from prose to structure to character work to emotional heft, it's a supple, poignant book, as suspenseful as it is quietly affecting.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
(3/18/2020)
Saint X is not a traditional mystery in the sense that the novel is driven less by the crime and more by its aftermath. It's a book that gathers steam as it goes, with themes that gradually reveal themselves to be more complex and multifaceted than they first appear. Schaitkin raises questions about privilege, obsession, guilt and grief that Claire grapples with alongside the reader, right up to the book's thrilling conclusion.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Little Gods by Meng Jin
(2/5/2020)
The panoply of narrators naturally means that certain sections are more successful than others; certain voices are more compelling, certain storylines feel more relevant. But when viewed as a whole, Little Gods is like a jigsaw that falls into place as soon as you close the final page. An intricate novel about grief, loss, memory and the self as it relates to one's culture, Little Gods is a smart, emotionally charged novel that at times is nearly as elusive as Su Lan's charact
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Find Me
(11/13/2019)
Can the euphoria of first love ever be recreated? Is it worth sacrificing something sturdy to chase after something fleeting? Was what Elio and Oliver had in Call Me By Your Name any less real simply because it was so brief? Find Me is perhaps more contemplative than its predecessor, but ultimately no less enchanting, and arguably even more affecting. The unhappiness, emotional distance, and unspent desire that these characters must first grapple with in order to attain closure mak
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Divide Me By Zero by Lara Vapnyar
(10/30/2019)
At its core this is a book about human connection—forced connection, organic connection and everything in between. There's a certain universality to her conflict that will resonate with most readers, despite the backdrop of Russian immigration that makes this story so singular. With refreshing honesty and expertly employed tongue in cheek humor, Divide Me By Zero is a whip-smart, razor-sharp book that defies easy genre categorization, but which leaves a lasting impression.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
The Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
(10/2/2019)
The Liar works, despite its difficult, arguably antifeminist premise, because Gundar-Goshen sheds light on a dark part of human nature—people lie, and sometimes it's only for something as inconsequential as attention—while still reminding the reader that Nofar is a young, impressionable, imperfect girl. It's darker and more cynical than your average coming of age story, and rather lacking in a moral (we all know that Nofar was wrong to lie, so Gundar-Goshen mercifully does not
BookBrowse Editorial Review
We, the Survivors by Tash Aw
(9/18/2019)
If this book has one failing, it's the overly languid pace; this isn't a book that necessarily gets its hooks in the reader from the onset. Without much of a narrative to propel the story forward, it's easy to set it down and not feel compelled to pick it right back up. However, with its sharp social commentary and eventual emotional payoff, it rewards perseverance.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
(8/21/2019)
A subversive feminist noir mystery set in a remote Polish village, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead both dazzles and defies categorization. Tokarczuk deftly weaves together commentary on the limitations of the body, animal welfare, justice and the nature of violence – which all condense into a fundamental question about fate vs. free will.
BookBrowse Editorial Review
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
(6/19/2019)
Vuong first demonstrated his linguistic prowess in his lyrical poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds, and now he's extended this talent effortlessly to prose. Both an examination of the cultural scars that span generations, and an exacting distillation of the tension between the stories inside us and our inability to share them, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is an accomplished and unforgettable debut.
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