News - Book Reviews

News - Book Reviews

Financial Times gave Idra Novey's TAKE WHAT YOU NEED a rave review. Reviewer Arin Keeble writes: "[TAKE WHAT YOU NEED] depicts the complexities of a contemporary America whose divisions are often crudely defined. It is an excoriating critique of the violence of MAGA culture that also urges caution at the assumptions one might make of those caught in its currents...That Novey is a novelist, poet, translator and professor is unsurprising, as this textured and compelling novel is redolent of a real depth of experience. TAKE WHAT YOU NEED is a major novel of contemporary America that urgently reminds us of the messiness and complexity of people, love and intimacy." The novel was also reviewed in Spectator, where reviewer Susie Mesure raves: "On the strength of Novey’s third novel, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED, an adept tale about an estranged stepmother and daughter set in a fictional former steel town in Appalachia, all writers should heed her advice. In spare, affecting prose, she moves effortlessly between her two first-person narrators…Novey’s own fairy tale similarities are plentiful and purposeful as she explores the polarisations in American society alongside what it means to ‘make art.’" Meanwhile, Granta published Novey’s short story “Conversations with My Father.” Viking published the book on March 14, 2023.

Molly Dektar's THE ABOLUTES received a wonderful review from Kristen Arnett in The Washington Post, who raves: “Wanting to be seen only as one’s most perfect self is a thrilling through line in this novel…There is much to admire in the way Dektar delves headlong into this delayed adolescence….It’s a riveting thing, desire; THE ABSOLUTES asks you to consider what matters more: the moment the stone is dropped into the pool or the ripples that spread across the surface long after the stone has sunk out of sight. Either answer could be right.” Mariner Books published the novel on July 11, 2023.

National Jeweler featured Ronald Winston’s forthcoming KING OF DIAMONDS: “[R]eaders will get one perspective on the protracted years-long battle between [Harry] Winston’s sons, Ronald and Bruce Winston, that culminated in the company’s sale about two decades after Harry’s death in 1978…KING OF DIAMONDS recounts Harry’s incredible legacy from the ultimate insider’s view, as Harvard-educated son Ronald forewent a career in chemistry and rocket propulsion to work alongside Harry in the family business at the patriarch’s behest.” Skyhorse will publish the book on September 19, 2023.

AND DON'T F&%K IT UP by Maria Elena Fernandez and World of Wonder received a starred review from Library Journal: “Fernandez’s oral history of the first 10 seasons of RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE is an immensely entertaining look at how a little TV show shot in a basement studio went from a cult favorite to a taste-making cultural juggernaut and global success…Loaded with heartbreaking and hilarious first-person confessions, this book’s a winner, baby!” Book Riot and LGBTQReads included the book in their roundups of June publications, and People published a great review highlighting some of the spicier moments on the show. The book was also featured in The Daily Mail, Out Magazine, and Gay Times. Lastly, an excerpt of the book was published by Literary Hub. Grand Central Publishing published the book on June 6, 2023.

HALCYON, Elliot Ackerman's new novel, received an abundance of rave reviews following its publication last month. BookPage reviewer Harvey Freedenberg writes: “With the passing of Ward Just in 2019, the literary world lost a fine writer who was comfortable grappling with the moral dilemmas surrounding the exercise of power and the lives of those who wield it. Journalist and novelist Elliot Ackerman’s fifth novel, HALCYON, suggests that he may be one of the inheritors of Just’s preoccupations. Blending alternative history with science fiction, Ackerman artfully explores several provocative issues that have become flash points in contemporary America…Ackerman prefers challenging questions…over convenient answers. With this choice, he leaves ample room for readers to engage in leaps of imagination as bold as the ones he’s undertaken. Anyone who accepts that invitation will come away from this ingenious story with fresh ideas of what past, present and future truly mean.” For The New York Times, reviewer Stephen Markley calls the book “idiosyncratic and engrossing throughout,” and an “expert juggling act.” For The Washington Post, reviewer Mark Athitakis writes: “HALCYON is an entertaining thought experiment, and Ackerman writes with a gentle, graceful style…Ackerman delivers a potent critique of the what-if nature of talking about history…[and] as much as any working novelist today, is invested in getting the facts of war and history right.” Ackerman was also profiled by Emily Bobrow in The Wall Street Journal. Knopf published the book on May 23, 2023.

NPR gave Monica Brashears’ HOUSE OF COTTON a stellar review, calling it "an incredible debut that announces the arrival of a unique voice in contemporary fiction" and “peculiar and slightly surreal, but also dazzling, full of surprises, and told with a voice that's unpredictable and, more importantly, that lingers.” Flatiron Books published the novel on April 4, 2023.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED received a wonderful review from The New Republic. Reviewer Kristen Martin writes: "Novey upends familiar platitudes on our country’s divisions in an odd novel about the ways that the people and places we love can become enigmas to us, and the ineffable impulse to make art…Grappling with the mysteries we present to one another, Novey pushes back against the fairy tales we’ve told ourselves about polarizing places like Appalachia, spinning a far more artful story." Viking published the book on March 14, 2023.

THE LAST ANIMAL by Ramona Ausubel received a wonderful review from Ron Charles in The Washington Post. He writes: "If you could cross Anne Tyler’s novels with strands of DNA from Michael Crichton’s thrillers, you might produce this new book by Ramona Ausubel. From a taxonomic point of view, THE LAST ANIMAL is a sweet, poignant descendant of JURASSIC PARK...The paradox that this novel confronts with such tender sympathy and humor is how to love the time we have left." Riverhead Books will publish the novel on April 18, 2023.

HOUSE OF COTTON by Monica Brashears received a rave review from The New York Times, where reviewer MJ Franklin writes: "It’s a testament to Brashears’s enchanting storytelling that the deluge of plot doesn’t overwhelm the book. Just the opposite: The cascading waves of unsettling encounters and unexplained phenomena imbue it with the thrilling energy of possibility. As the story developed, it felt like anything and everything could happen next…There is a word commonly used to describe books like this: gritty. Fair enough. HOUSE OF COTTON is unafraid to peer at the unsavory minutiae of getting by. But for this novel, I’d add a few other labels too: magnetic, singular and completely unforgettable.” HOUSE OF COTTON was also included on Book Riot's "8 Terrifyingly Claustrophobic Horror Books," Bustle's roundup of “The Most Anticipated Books of Spring & Summer 2023,” and Debutiful's roundup of "Can’t-Miss Debut Books You Should Read in April." Flatiron Books published the novel on April 4th, 2023.

A review from Publishers Weekly raves that Elliot Ackerman’s HALCYON is a “thought-provoking alternate history,” adding: “Ackerman is great at probing the scientific ethics of resurrection. This visionary tale is worth a look.” Knopf will publish the book on May 23, 2023.