There is a paradox in all great short stories: they leave large marks that bely their stature. Like a tiny comet crashing to Earth, they are brilliantly devastating forces of nature that make a hell of a profound impact.
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Category: Reviews
Book review: Frédéric Dard’s vintage noir The Gravediggers’ Bread is begging to be exhumed
Dard is brilliant at describing the unspoken tones of noir – the creeping dread, the red-blooded lust and the vein-bulging tell-tale signs of sin’s smothering aftermaths.
Film review: You Were Never Really Here – a corkscrew descent into the allure of violence
Fusing old school grit with contemporary cloth, You Were Never Really Here emerges from an acid trip to the cutting room as one of the most remarkable films of this generation.
Review: Paul Howarth’s debut novel Only Killers and Thieves – a western of grit and grace
As we immerse ourselves in a bracing loss of innocence, we are riveted to the rhythm of this doom spiral.
Lost and found: The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland by Nicolai Houm is a novel yearning for discovery
Often when reading narratives that decide to play with time, jumping back and forth without warning, I wonder if the book would hold up as well if it were rearranged in chronological order.
The dark, beautiful magic of reading Russian master Gaito Gazdanov’s stories for the first time
There’s a tenderness within Gazdanov that seems to recall Carson McCullers or Anne Tyler
