Fiction: In Photos, His Face Is Not His Own. Blame 19th-Century Imperialism.
The teenage protagonist of Ariel Dorfman’s novel “Darwin’s Ghosts” is made to atone for his ancestors’ crimes.
'Undead Girl Gang:' Mister, They ARE The Weirdos
In Lily Anderson's debut novel, a string of suspicious deaths prompts teen witch Mila to try to solve the mystery by raising the dead girls to ask who killed them — but of course, it's not that easy.
(Image credit: Razorbill)
Fiction: Bored in Brazil: Is She the 21st-Century Ugly American?
The narrator of Ian MacKenzie’s novel “Feast Days” has followed her banker husband to São Paulo. But the city and its people may be too much for her.
Fiction: The Heroines in Curtis Sittenfeld’s First Story Collection Are All Grown Up
“You Think It, I’ll Say It” revives the adolescent female archetypes of her novels, now grappling with adulthood.
'Barracoon' Offers A Vivid, First-Hand Account Of Slavery In America
In 1927, author Zora Neale Huston interviewed Cudjo Lewis, the last known living person who could recount the experience of being taken captive in Africa and transported on a slave ship to America.
(Image credit: Courtesy of McGill Studio Collection/The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of South Alabama/Harper Collins)
New & Noteworthy
A selection of books published this week; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.
'Barracoon' Brings A Lost Slave Story To Light
Both terrifying and wonderful, Barracoon is Zora Neale Hurston's long-unpublished account of her conversations with Cudjo Lewis, who was brought to America on the last trans-Atlantic slave ship.
(Image credit: Claire Harbage/NPR )
'Warlight' Illumines Family Secrets In Ondaatje's Latest
Set during and after World War II, Warlight follows a young man trying to find out what really happened when his parents disappeared and left him and a young sister in the care of two mystery men.
(Image credit: Knopf)
Match Book: Books Your Teenager Is Reading That You Should Too
Don’t worry if you failed to appreciate the classics in your high school classroom: These novels — like their readers — only get better with age.
Nonfiction: What Does Quantum Physics Actually Tell Us About the World?
Adam Becker’s “What Is Real?” explores the controversy around quantum physics and its ability to describe anything definite about the world of atoms.
Fiction: Paula McLain Returns to ‘The Paris Wife’ Territory
Fiery passion and fierce disagreements roil “Love and Ruin,” the story of Ernest Hemingway and his third wife, the journalist Martha Gellhorn.
Nonfiction: From the Rwandan Genocide to Chicago: A Young Author Survived to Tell Her Story
Clemantine Wamariya crisscrossed Africa with her teenage sister, enduring hunger, poverty, violence and trauma. Her memoir, “The Girl Who Smiled Beads,” recounts her journey.
Nonfiction: If You Want to Really Understand Bibi
Anshel Pfeffer’s new biography of the Israeli leader offers insights into how Benjamin Netanyahu sees the world.
Sharply Written 'Mars Room' Ventures Behind The Bars Of Women's Prison
Rachel Kushner's new novel centers on a young mother serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering a man who'd been stalking her. Critic John Powers calls The Mars Room "searingly intelligent."
Fiction: Rachel Kushner’s ‘The Mars Room’ Offers a Blackly Comic Take on Prison Life
The author’s much-anticipated new novel, a page turner set in a women’s correctional facility, reveals an imagination Dickensian in its amplitude — and in its reformist zeal.
'The Queen's Embroiderer' Stitches Up A Twisted Family Saga
Joan DeJean's latest dive into French history starts with something simple — the appointment of a royal embroiderer. But then things get weird: inheritance fraud, elopements, double lives and more.
(Image credit: Bloombsbury Publishing)
'Love That Bunch' Immortalizes Lifelong Troublemaker Aline Kominsky-Crumb
This heavy, important-feeling retrospective covers several decades of Kominsky-Crumb's flawed but fascinating work. Our critic says it's certainly comprehensive — but lacking somewhat in fun.
(Image credit: Drawn and Quarterly)
The Book Review Podcast: There Is Nothin’ Like a Tune
Todd S. Purdum talks about “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,” and Fran Leadon discusses “Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles.”
Inside the List: A Meditation on Biscuits, Tomatoes and Red-Eye Gravy
In his new memoir, “The Best Cook in the World,” Rick Bragg celebrates his mother and her down-home Southern cooking.
New in Paperback: ‘Priestdaddy,’ ‘The Golden Legend’
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
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