Below its hilarity, so wild that it hurts, Catch-22 is the strongest repudiation of our civilization, in fiction, to come out of World War II.... To compare Catch-22 favorably with The Good Soldier Schweik would be an injustice, because this novel is not merely the best American novel to come out of World War II; it is the best American novel that has come out of anywhere in years.
The Nation
From the trenches of WWI to the coast of Australia, these two debut novels depict the ubiquity of coming of age, even when the circumstances are drastically different. In Alice Winn’s In Memoriam, two young men find love and tragedy on the fields of battle. Winn talked with us abouthow the story came into being, the extensive research required to create her characters […]
In Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of The Shining, by Stephen King, the director uses time title cards to disrupt the viewer’s sense of time. The text on the cards initially seems very specific and designed to ground the viewer in the timeline, but by the time the word MONDAY flashes on the screen midway through […]
Today marks the paperback release of Anthony Breznican’s Brutal Youth, which received a starred review from Library Journal and extraordinary blurbs from such heavy hitters as Stephen King and Gillian Flynn. Youth is an emotionally devastating book that centers on bullying at a Catholic High School in the 1990s, and the heartbreaking friendships forged out of that fire. A Entertainment Weekly who reports behind-the-scenes film news, Mr. Breznican graciously found […]
As the year winds down, it’s natural to turn your thoughts toward the truly important issues, specifically what your screen-watching schedule is going to be in 2019. Hollywood, as usual, is turning to our favorite books, graphic novels, and other stories to get our butts into movie theater seats. We’ll allow it. Here are some […]