John Keating’s edgy first-person narrative jumps around over the decades from 1987 to 2021, studded with brilliant character sketches. Chief among them are Keating’s fellow teacher and former girlfriend, Enid Smeal, a dedicated artist with little time for personal interactions; her awkward son, Jacob; the boy’s classmate Clara Hightower, serious and calm beyond her years; […]
The titular pair have settled into second grade, but worrywart Shermy has plenty to contend with, from a substitute teacher who doesn’t follow the class schedule to anxieties about Shake’s possible upcoming move. Short sections, organized by month from December through February, contrast Shermy’s orderly nature and “fizzy and loud” Shake’s more laid-back one. On […]
In “Room,” an unnamed narrator finds herself locked inside a white room in Vienna, where she has come to finish a book, and becomes increasingly agitated. “Night,” the longest section by far, brings us another unnamed narrator in a room. This woman—a German writer—suffers from insomnia and spends her hours sifting through her own memories, […]
Raised in Denmark and shaped by a Nordic sense of stoicism and ambition, the author left home to study and build a cosmopolitan life in Toronto and New York. Beneath her successes—she had a good career, traveled, and was married—was a widening emptiness (“Happy-go-lucky was no longer my nature”). A toxic relationship and a mysterious […]
“The authors of these articles all have day jobs,” writes Doti in his preface. “Somehow, some way, they carved out enough time to experience and then record their adventures, pushing against the boundaries that often constrain the range of life’s offerings.” The contributors—Scott Chapman, Ryan Dahlem, Adam Doti, Lynne Doti, Daniele Struppa, and Dan Temianka—recount […]
Drugan’s father was a well-respected man around their suburban Boston-area town. The local dentist, he was known for his bedside manner, his local philanthropy, and his involvement in the town’s Catholic parish, which his family had attended for generations. The author knew a much different man from his public persona, however; his father seemed to […]
Bartov, a Brown University professor of Holocaust and genocide studies, offers a frank, sure-to-be-controversial analysis of Israel’s past and present, arguing that the country has “engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal actions” in Gaza in response to Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The native Israeli and Israel Defense Force veteran’s […]
In this lively account, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and Sustainable Media Center executive director Rosenbaum takes readers on a road trip through contemporary thinking on AI and truth. From anecdotes, lectures, blog posts, and interviews with both prominent and lesser-known scholars and cultural commentators, he assembles a curated collage of issues. Rosenbaum repeatedly notes that AI-moderated truths […]
Stars shine outside a pale blue room; through a flower-framed door, a darting swallow leads the way to the titular path. A child (seen only from behind) at the foot of a sweeping set of steps is urged to set down a burdensome load as an unseen narrator assures youngsters that “you are not alone.” […]
Aki Kitamura is 27 and a full-time staff member at Pegasus Books. Recently married, she’s beautiful, hotheaded, stubborn, and unwilling to back down from her opinions. She landed the coveted job because of her grandfather’s ties to Pegasus Books, which doesn’t win her any friends at work. And she doesn’t get along with one of […]