Category Archives: Fiction

Frankenstein Review: The Monster Is Not Who You Think

Shelley's novel is far richer than its film legend, with a creature whose voice still [...]

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Review: Old Hollywood, Big Heart

A hugely readable Old Hollywood saga with a magnetic, morally complicated heroine, let down by [...]

Dune Review: Sci-Fi’s Great Epic of Ecology, Power and Prophecy

Dune builds the most convincing world in science fiction and asks hard questions about power [...]

The Alchemist Review: A Beautiful Fable for People Who Want to Live Fully

Paulo Coelho's short, moving fable about a shepherd boy chasing his dream is a love [...]

Crime and Punishment Review: A Murder Story Told From the Inside

Dostoevsky's novel about a poor student who kills to prove a theory is a gripping [...]

The Road Review: Bleak, Spare and Impossible to Forget

McCarthy's bleakest novel is also his most tender: a spare, devastating father-and-son story that rewards [...]

The Kite Runner Review: A Moving but Melodramatic Redemption Story

Hosseini's story of friendship, betrayal and guilt in Afghanistan is gripping and emotional, but its [...]

The Satanic Verses Review: The Novel Behind the Fatwa

Rushdie's sprawling novel about two Indian migrants is inventive and often funny but frequently exhausting, [...]

The Great Gatsby Review: Short, Sharp and Still Dazzling

Fitzgerald's short novel about a self-made millionaire chasing a lost love is nearly perfect in [...]

Orbital Review: One Day in Orbit, Written Like a Prayer

A short, luminous Booker winner about six astronauts circling Earth for one day; exquisite prose [...]

The Catcher in the Rye Review: Holden Caulfield Still Divides Readers

Salinger's novel about a grieving, angry teenager adrift in New York is a brilliant voice [...]

It Ends with Us Review: A Romance About Abuse, and Its Limits

A readable, emotionally direct novel about domestic abuse that has helped many readers but blurs [...]