by Uzodinma Iweala
CRITIC'S CHOICE
Set in an unnamed West African country splintered by civil war, Uzodinma Iweala's brilliant debut tells the story of Agu, a boy drafted into a platoon of rebels. Told in the first person, Iweala's anguished, matter-of-fact narrative is amplified by Agu's soft-spoken patois. In Beasts of No Nation, less is much more. “If I am doing all of this good thing and now only doing what soldier is supposed to be doing,” Agu asks himself, comparing his schoolboy life to his current situation, “then how can I be bad boy?” The answer is far more complicated than Agu's broken English lets on. Over the course of the novel's brisk 142 pages, Agu and his friend Strika remain engaging heroes even as they are forced to murder and pillage. Other members of the group are less reluctant to follow orders. When a soldier named Luftenant dies of stab wounds, he teaches a bitter lesson: “I am seeing that the only way not to be fighting is to die,” Agu realizes. “I am not wanting to die.” Iweala refuses to judge his characters, though the atrocities they commit are horrifying. As a result Agu leaps off the page, a child of war in the midst of a harrowing ordeal. This is a remarkable novel; that its author is just 23—a recent Harvard grad who grew up in both Washington, D.C., and Nigeria suggests a dazzling literary future.brisk 142 pages, Agu and his friend Strika remain engaging heroes even as they are forced to murder and pillage. Other members of the group are less reluctant to follow orders. When a soldier named Luftenant dies of stab wounds, he teaches a bitter lesson: "I am seeing that the only way not to be fighting is to die," Agu realizes. "I am not wanting to die." Iweala refuses to judge his characters, though the atrocities they commit are horrifying. As a result Agu leaps off the page, a child of war in the midst of a harrowing ordeal. This is a remarkable novel; that its author is just 23—a recent Harvard grad who grew up in both Washington, D.C., and Nigeria—suggests a dazzling literary future.
NOVEL
by Anne Rice
Anne Rice isn't afraid—and may be drawn to—curious and controversial subjects: In 1974 she began writing about the undead and went on to produce wildly successful works including Interview with the Vampire. After 20-odd bloodcurdlers, she is venturing into radically different territory; in her latest, Christ the Lord, she boldly imagines the early childhood years of Jesus, written in first person. Will her vampire-philes turn away now? Will Christian readers take offense? If they do—and there might be a backlash—it won't be because Rice has lost her touch. Christ the Lord is well-researched and nicely written, and Rice (who has said that the book was inspired by her return to the Catholic faith) uses restraint in telling her tale. She believably represents Jesus' gradual understanding of his origins and fate. Inevitably, the story doesn't offer many twists, but Rice's version is reverent and often moving.
NOVEL
by John Banville
John Banville's new novel, which recently won Britain's Man Booker Prize, sent me to the dictionary 18 times in search of such words as "ichor" and "mephitic." But far from suggesting pretense in Banville's prose, such language confirms his extraordinary precision: Banville is a master at capturing the most fleeting memory or excruciating twinge of self-awareness with riveting accuracy. So it hardly matters that the book unfolds without much action, as the interior musings of an aging art historian named Max Morden. Unhinged by his wife's death from cancer, he returns to the scene of his childhood holidays and rooms in the villa that once housed the neighbors who inspired his social striving. Grief turns him back on a tragedy buried in those summer memories, and the book ends with a revelation that—like a camera flash—casts all that has gone before in stark relief.
Nonfiction
MARLEY & ME by John Grogan
A journalist writes a funny, touching tribute to his 97-lb. Lab, who was as loyal and loving as he was disobedient.
THE COLDEST WINTER by Paula Fox
Another vibrant memoir from the author of Borrowed Finery; here, she remembers life in postwar Europe.
740 PARK by Michael Gross
Here's a gossipy history of Manhattan's most luxurious co-op, with revealing tales about tenants including Jackie Onassis and John D. Rockefeller Jr.
THE TROUBLE WITH TOM by Paul Collins
Savor this peculiar history of the way Thomas Paine's ideas—and his corpse—traveled after he died.
THE BEATLES Bob Spitz
Beatlemaniacs will swoon for this 984-page history, with arcane facts, candid photos and fresh anecdotes about the Fab Four.
PHOTO BOOK
Bar Mitzvah Disco
Authors Roger Bennett, Jules Shell and Nick Kroll asked friends to offer up photos and memories for this hilarious history of the bar mitzvah from the late 70s to the early '90s-"a story of style," they write, "that makes it seem like the full-length mirror was only invented in 1992."
- Contributors:
- Jonathan Durbin,
- Natalie Danford,
- Lee Aitken.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
