Books In Review: A robot learns to be a child The central character of Kazuo Ishiguro’s virtuosic 2021 novel is an “Artificial Friend” with a young girl’s body. by David Hoekema May 2, 2022
Books In Review: At Tara Isabella Burton’s fictional boarding school, the hunger for transcendence gets dark A tale of beauty, religion, and how easy it is to exploit them by Benjamin J. Dueholm March 4, 2022
Books In Review: Lauren Groff builds a proto-feminist medieval world But the enchantment of Matrix is ultimately broken by her language. by Amy Frykholm January 24, 2022
Books In Review: A novel about purity culture and its harm At its core, God Spare the Girls is about a family history doomed to repeat itself. by Ella Schmeits December 13, 2021
Books In Review: 15 London children died in a World War II attack Francis Spufford’s novel imagines the lives they might otherwise have led. by Kaitlyn Lindgren-Hansen December 6, 2021
Books In Review: Jonathan Franzen writes a family that feels familiar In Crossroads, a troubled associate pastor faces his deepest desires and doubts. by Joshua B. Grace November 15, 2021
Books In Review: Sister Agatha roller-skates away from the church The heroine of Claire Luchette’s novel realizes she became a nun to avoid being herself. by Jessica Mesman November 1, 2021
Books In Review: Miriam Toews explores religious trauma through the voice of a nine-year-old Swiv isn’t an unreliable narrator, but she’s living in a world that feels unreliable. by Amy Peterson October 5, 2021
Books In Review: A novel about baseball, wealth, and human frailty Christopher Beha’s characters find themselves in pits, and the way out is not remotely clear. by Amy Frykholm August 16, 2021
Books In Review: I want more for Deesha Philyaw’s church ladies I want a sequel where they don’t have to hide their sexuality. by Lillian Daniel June 9, 2021
Books In Review: The Death of Vivek Oji shows us what we are afraid of Akwaeke Emezi’s stunning novel will leave you broken. It will also let the air back into your lungs. by Oluwatomisin Oredein May 10, 2021
Books In Review: The Kindest Lie is a story about race and much more In Nancy Johnson’s debut novel, a family secret draws a successful Black woman home to small-town Indiana. by Katara Patton April 22, 2021
Books In Review: Piranesi is the best kind of fantasy novel Susanna Clarke weaves magic into her readers’ lives. by Joshua B. Grace December 16, 2020
Books In Review: Would we recognize a modern-day messiah? Sean Gandert’s novel asks us to decide if a man is a saint or a sham. by Melissa Earley December 2, 2020
Books In Review: Journeying with Father Dan and a coyote along the via negativa Daniel Hornsby’s debut novel has a wonderful road-trippy feeling. by Amy Frykholm November 20, 2020