Arts & Entertainment

“Exit West” Love and Warfare

Mohsin Hamid brought “Exit West” to shelves last year, and this romance amidst war and destruction has received much praise and recognition. His novel follows a couple who must somehow keep their love alive when they become refugees who flee from a war-torn land, to London. This novel is a modern look at the migrant, unwilling traveler. Hamid is non-specific enough that the piece
Arts & Entertainment

Book Review: “The Grownup” Brings Modern Humor to Horror

Gillian Flynn, author of “Gone Girl,” presents a modern take on Henry James’s classic ghost story, “The Turn of the Screw,” with a woman who details her unique experience as a hand-job specialist in the back of a psychic’s shop called “Spiritual Palms.” The narrator, who is never named, retires her hands due to carpal tunnel and starts working as a psychic in the
Arts & Entertainment

“Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist” A Powerful Narrative with Seven Voices

Sunil Yapa’s debut novel tells a fictionalized version of the events of the 1999 Seattle protests on the World Trade Organization. Told in alternat­ing limited third-person, the novel follows seven very differ­ent characters that all experi­ence the same day. Over the course of the novel, readers follow nineteen-year-old Victor (a black run­away), police chief Bishop (Vic­tor’s white stepfather), King (a female twenty-something pro­testor), Officers
Arts & Entertainment

Book Review: “Ready Player One”

“Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline, immediately, based on its conception, is prime for instant nerd classic. A technology driven utopia? A virtual reality laden with quests, adventure, and magic? A competition for the perfectly set up Easter Egg with fortune and glory on the line? It sounds like a nerd fantasy of the ages. Except not quite. But... almost. The story features teenager