Category: Micro-Reviews

This historical fiction tells the story of two men—one German and one British—who in 1938 try to stop Hitler from invading Czechoslovakia and starting World War II. The book’s historical elements come across as well-researched and authentic, the tension is palpable, and the characters are …

This is a very American true story. In the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a successful painting business in New Orleans. When the storm approaches, Kathy and the kids flee to higher ground while Abdulrahman stays in order to …

Old Turkish proverb: “When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a sultan; the palace becomes a circus.” Sounds about right, but this book, by a now-exiled Russian journalist, proves the saying wrong. When a clown enters the palace, the entire government becomes …

Dubus’ first novel tells the story of Leo, a teen coming of age in smalltown Massachusetts during the Vietnam war. For the first time in his life, Leo is having sex, falling in love, and feeling like an adult thanks to a real job building …

A decade before he wrote AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, Tracy Letts came up with this hyperbolic story about angst in a trailer park in the South. Chris, the play’s main character, gives us the flavor of the tale when he describes his home state of Texas …

Haven’t seen the movie, but the book tells an absorbing true story. Cea’s family leaves California in 1960s for the rugged wilderness of western Canada. The journey that follows takes her from a childhood spent in the bush to a First Nations reserve west of …

From our Obscure Works file, here’s a 40-year-old play that’s guaranteed to make you laugh like a Filipino ferret. Four movie people are stranded together in the Philippines during a typhoon. While the blockbuster movie’s insanely expensive sets sink into the mud, a writer, an …

A Kurdish asylum seeker flees Iran and boards a leaky boat chugging toward a better life in Australia. What follows are six years behind bars on Manus Island, Australia’s off-shore detention center north of Papua New Guinea. The conditions are harsh, the tropical weather is …

Here is some bite-sized post-apocalyptic fiction about a woman who might be the last living female on earth. A virus has decimated humankind while Faye Wills lay in a coma. After waking up in a corpse-filled stadium, she has to repair her body and mind …

Aging hiker Jeremy is keenly aware that the clock of life is ticking. To prepare for senescence, he finds soulful nourishment in lonesome backpacking trips through the mountains. One day he wanders off the beaten path and comes across a young couple who lead him …