Is satire allowed anymore? We’re living through a period which largely demands literality from art. We want to know where the author stands. Unambiguously, with no shade or contradiction. Satire, on the other hand, lives in the gray and attempts to get at larger truths. Christian TeBordo’s new novel is set unreservedly outside the bipolarity […]
Category: Book Review
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From World’s Fair to living rooms
To cover Chicago theater is to carry a ghost map in one’s head of all the lost spaces. Some buildings are gone (or nearly gone) altogether, like the original Goodman Theatre at the Art Institute, or the Jane Addams Hull House Center on Broadway at Belmont, which at various points housed Steppenwolf, Bailiwick Repertory, Famous […]
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A Living Female Rock Critic spoke to me
The first time I read Jessica Hopper’s work, I was awestruck. Her essays in the online publication Rookie felt so emotionally honest in contrast to my own close-to-the-chest media consumption. I hadn’t heard the entire Smiths discography at that point (should I have?) or the Sex Pistols but in the interest of seeming cool, effete, […]
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For Kyle Beachy, skateboarding is The Most Fun Thing
The author takes a deep dive into the culture of the lifestyle and his personal connection to it.
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Class is in session with The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop
Felicia Rose Chavez’s book challenges how educational institutions support people of color—and provides a blueprint to be better.
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Avner Landes’s Meiselman gets it right
Even though its titular character always does just the opposite
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Amy Sillman breaks down art barriers
In her book Faux Pas, the painter makes a rarified field approachable with humor and profundity.
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Theorem is more than a book of poetry
Evoking memory and mystery, two artists collaborate on an art piece.
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The sad, funny monster in Running the Light
Stand-up comedian Sam Tallent’s hilarious novel follows a dumpster fire of a man looking for redemption.
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An Alphabet for Joanna is a lyrical look at memory loss
Poet Damian Rogers explores her relationship with her mother in her new memoir.
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A travel guide to your block
The 99% Invisible City takes a second look at familiar cities.
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The South Never Plays Itself reckons with the south onscreen
Ben Beard’s new book attempts to answer the question of which versions of the south are represented on screen and why.
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Golem Girl unpacks queerness, intimacy, and disability
In 1958, the mortality rate of children born with spina bifida was 90 percent. Riva Lehrer tells her story of beating those odds.
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Cuyahoga brings long ago midwest back to life
In his debut novel, Pete Beatty fashions historical fantasy that feels contemporary.