My review of Sam Lipsyte’s story collection, The Fun Parts, is titled “Laughing at Despair,” and that kind of sums up—in my mind, at least—the career of the author. He has such a gift for examining people living on the fringe, these desperate, lost souls. Yet what makes Lipsyte’s fiction so great is the fact that it turns these lives into uncomfortable comedy.
“Louis Armand’s Breakfast at Midnight crackles across the page like a cloaked drummer keeping time on a hi-hat cymbal in some broken down, forgotten nightclub on the wrong side of the tracks …” So begins my descent into Prague’s literary underbelly. Armand’s novel is quite fantastic, in a make-you-want-to-take-a-shower kind of way, and you can read my thoughts on it over at Rain Taxi.
My thoughts on Richard Ford’s wonderful novel, Canada, are now up at Numero Cinq Magazine. Click on through to take a peek.
I just learned that my review of Brian Doyle’s story collection Bin Laden’s Bald Spot is in the latest print issue of Rain Taxi. You can see the issue’s complete Table of Contents (and order a copy of your own) right here. I dug Doyle’s book. The narratives are short, zany, and potent.
It feels kind of funny, though, announcing a review of a book titled Bin Laden’s Bald Spot on September 10th.
Benjamin Woodard 