Desire & Disquiet: Kaveh Akbar’s Portrait of the Alcoholic

Review by Santino DallaVecchia

Since Kaveh Akbar’s debut full-length collection is due out from Alice James Books this fall, it’s worth taking the time before it’s published to read his chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic, a brief but arresting portrait of a consciousness surveying life as a solitude within it. The title inclined me to think I’d be reading a every-pers...

American War by Omar El Akkad

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

This book is one of the most imaginative that I have read in some time. When I first

saw it, I assumed that it might be a novel about American military presence in the Middle

East or something like that. When I looked further, I found it was going to be a different thing

all together.

The author begins by setting up a frame for the novel. A writer and historian is

reflecting o...

Vievee Francis’ Forest Primeval: Delving Into the Obscured World

Review by: Santino DallaVecchia

Vievee Francis’ third collection, Forest Primeval, immerses us in a world revealed, an undertone

beneath the day to day. It’s a poetry not just of the more common and dramatic revelation but of

revealing, of looking into the submerged forest under the cities of human interaction. In

“Another Antipastoral,” a prelude p...

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

 

This time I was drawn to the book not by the cover but just by its title. It’s the same as one of my favorite albums by one of my favorite bands, Iron and Wine. So I picked it up and decided to read it on a whim and the positive association of its title with one of my favorite albums.

 

I found in the pages a complex and engaging book that I re...

Marie Howe’s Magdalene: the Voice, the Mystery, the Language

I’d been excited to see Marie Howe was releasing something new since I saw a blurb for the

collection a few months back– she’s a striking lyrical talent, and she’s also got that one book a

decade mystique, like Donna Tartt or (until the end of his career) the late Jack Gilbert. There’s

something stirring about these artists– it’s always an event wh...

Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

 

The first thing that drew me to this book was, naturally, the cover. The black background featuring a woman or girl removing a mask of her own face drew me in right away. I went over to where it was displayed to get a closer look at the title that went with such an enticing graphic. As I read the inside jacket I thought it might be something that I wanted to read, but I was in the mid...

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

At first I was a bit skeptical about this book. If I’m being honest, it was largely due to the large alligator on the cover. I am just not a huge fan of alligators, but one of my co-workers at the bookstore convinced me to overcome my apprehensions about the prevalence of alligators in the book and give it a try. What I found was a book that is inventive, adventurous, and rewarding.

The ...

History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

I had been thinking about reading this book for a while. When it came out recently, it lingered on my radar. I was reading several other books though, so I was not in a hurry to get another one on my plate. One day, glancing around, I saw that there was a used copy available and I snatched it up and moved it to the top of my reading list.

The first ch...

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

I first encountered this book as I was choosing something to display in the bookstore I work at. I perused a list of titles and when I saw Grief is the Thing with Feathers I knew I had to see what a book with a title like that looked like. I went over to the shelf and found a slim volume with a striking minimalist cover dominated by grey and yellow with three windows and a crow. It did...

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Reviewed by Jacob Hammer

This book had been on my mind for a month or so before I decided to read it again. The last time I had read it was about three years ago and I knew that I wanted to experience it again when I found myself recommending it to everyone anytime I had a chance.

There’s a lot that could be said about this book. McCullers gives us incred...