Michael Schaub

Echoes Of Orwell In 'The Office Of Mercy'

Michael Schaub — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:03:12 +0000

It was no less than the master of dystopian fiction, George Orwell, who noted in a 1946 essay that "political language has to consist largely of euphemism. ... Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air ...

'Vampires' Isn't Sparkly — It's Magnificent

Michael Schaub — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:39:50 +0000

There's a popular misconception that literary fiction is supposed to be staid, boring, realistic to a fault. Like all stereotypes, it's deeply unfair, but it endures, perhaps because readers keep having traumatic flashbacks to novels, like Sister Carrie, that they were forced to read in high school.

But in her new short story collection, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, it takes Karen Russell only a few pages to put the lie to that idea. The book opens with the title story, the tale of an aging vampire couple falling out of love with each other.

Here's To The Pleasures Of 'Drinking With Men'

Michael Schaub — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:25:44 +0000

"More than anywhere else," writes Rosie Schaap, "bars are where I've figured out how to relate to others and how to be myself." It's the same for a lot of us, though many won't admit it. Americans tend to have a weirdly puritanical view of drinking, and a lot of people see bars as nothing more than havens for lowlifes and alcoholics. But as Schaap points out in her new memoir, they're missing out. "You can drink at home. But a good bar? ...

From George Saunders, A Dark 'December'

Michael Schaub — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:27:33 +0000

Since the publication of George Saunders' 1996 debut story collection, Civilwarland in Bad Decline, journalists and scholars have been trying to figure out how to describe his writing. Nobody has come very close. The short story writer and novelist has been repeatedly called "original," which is true as far as it goes — but it doesn't go nearly far enough. Saunders blends elements of science fiction, horror and humor writing into his trademark brand of literary fiction.

True Originals: Biographies That Defy Expectations

Michael Schaub — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:26:00 +0000

It's probably not true that truth is stranger than fiction, but in the hands of a great biographer, it can be just as compelling. Novelists can create unique and unforgettable characters — there's never been anyone quite like Jane Eyre or Ignatius J. Reilly — but there's no shortage of fascinating literary protagonists who just happened to exist in real life.

This year brought us some brilliant biographies of world-famous leaders like Lyndon B.

'Elsewhere' Has Beauty, But No Happy Ending

Michael Schaub — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 05:15:43 +0000

Richard Russo sits in his elderly mother's home, holding her hand. She's just been diagnosed with dementia, one more illness to add to the long list of ailments she's been battling for years. She wonders aloud whether she'll ever be able to read again, plainly scared at the prospect of a life without her favorite hobby. She takes a look around her small apartment, and tells her son that she hates it.

"I just wish you could be happy, Mom," he says, heartbroken. "I used to be," she responds.

'Brain On Fire' Details An Out-Of-Mind Experience

Michael Schaub — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:12:37 +0000

It's a cold March night in New York, and journalist Susannah Cahalan is watching PBS with her boyfriend, trying to relax after a difficult day at work. He falls asleep, and wakes up moments later to find her having a seizure straight out of The Exorcist. "My arms suddenly whipped straight out in front of me, like a mummy, as my eyes rolled back and my body stiffened," Cahalan writes. "I inhaled repeatedly, with no exhale.

A Question Unanswered: 'How Should A Person Be?'

Michael Schaub — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:03:00 +0000

The unexamined life isn't worth living, according to Socrates, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a writer who disagrees. Few, though, have taken it to the extreme that Toronto author Sheila Heti does with How Should a Person Be? The relentlessly introspective "novel from life" earned critical raves when it was released in Canada in 2010. The book chronicles Heti's struggle — sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking — to answer the seemingly simple questions: "What was the right way to react to people? Who was I to talk to at parties?

Literary Look Ahead: 13 Great Books On The Horizon

Michael Schaub — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:03:00 +0000

Despite what the book section of your local supermarket would have you believe, publishers don't really expect you to turn off your brain for the summer.

'Bodies': 'Wolf Hall' Sequel Outshines Original

Michael Schaub — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:03:00 +0000

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. If you grew up in England, or just had a world history teacher who was weirdly obsessed with Henry VIII, you've probably heard the rhyme explaining the fates of each of the king's wives.