“At the core of each lay suffering; . . .We must try to see one another in this way.”

October 30, 2025

A review of “Lincoln in the Bardo” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

This novel, set in the time of Lincoln’s son Willie’s death, is the most challenging book I’ve read in years. Its subject is grim, its list of characters exceeds 100, and its style resembles … Read More

“It was fun, although admittedly difficult . . .”

October 17, 2025

A review of Mary Jo Bang’s translation of Dante’s “Inferno” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

The world is changing, and in this case especially, I’m glad it is. Traditionally, translators have believed that they should remain “invisible,” and “true” to the text. But is that even … Read More

“Time to purge . . . impossible futures, manacled to metal desks and manicured lawns.”

October 10, 2025

A review of “Trace” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

Reading poetry silently can be a mistake when part of the poem’s power lies in the rhythm and music of the verses. When Brenda Cárdenas read her poetry as a keynote speaker at the Wisconsin Writers Association … Read More

“I have a pact with myself not to think about money in the morning.”

September 29, 2025

A review of “Writers & Lovers” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

The rest of the opening paragraph of this novel lists the other things the narrator tries not to think about: sex, her boyfriend, death, and her mother who died on vacation last winter. She shows … Read More

“That should be my epitaph: All because of my stupid childhood.”

September 19, 2025

A review of “Will and Testament” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

How do you write a successful novel about a traumatic childhood?  Let’s raise the bar: how do you write a best-selling book about a person who remembers being raped by her father? Norwegian author Vigdis … Read More

“You want to eat clam chowder and lobster rolls . . . served to you by someone who calls them chowdah and lobstah.”

September 10, 2025

A review of “The Identicals” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

This novel is a beach read about people who debate how Martha’s Vineyard compares to Nantucket Island. They actually do have passionate conversations about their beaches. Rich? Why, yes. Happy? Of course not. Readers may be … Read More

“The present changes the past.”

August 31, 2025

A review of “The Inheritance of Loss” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

Let’s just say that you wanted to write a novel that was built around that idea that “the present changes the past.”  How would you structure it? Would you tell the story chronologically? Illustrate … Read More

“An American friend of mine in New York once fumed to me about a female colleague of his who was asking to work part-time from home after having children.”

August 21, 2025

A review of “The Nordic Theory of Everything” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

How does an author strike a balance between writing about political science and writing a personal narrative? There are so many ways it could go wrong: Too much angst and emotion can become … Read More

“You put all the [decoy] mallards out there, but if you’re going hunting you need something like this egret, for a confidence decoy.”

August 11, 2025

A review of “The New Yorker Stories” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

How did she do that? Readers often ask this after reading an Ann Beattie story. Just when it seems as though not much is happening, boom! The story explodes. For example, in the … Read More

“What’s before me but trails of stories, one story leading to another . . .”

July 31, 2025

A review of “Becoming Story: A Journey among Seasons, Places, Trees, and Ancestors” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

A reader will learn more about the facts of Greg Sarris’s life by reading his Wikipedia page than by reading his memoir. This book tells us little, for … Read More

“Holding my breath, I pressed the blade to my left wrist and pulled it across.”

July 22, 2025

A review of “An Indian Among Los Indígenas” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

How much should a memoirist reveal? This is the most challenging question for the writers I work with. Too much information heightens vulnerability. Too little results in generic and unconvincing prose. This author … Read More

“In the middle of my life – just past the middle – walking along the street with our little dog Jack on a leash . . . I came to the edge and did not know the way.”

July 10, 2025

A review of “New and Selected Poems” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

About 700 years ago, Dante wrote a poem that begins this way, “Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark / For the straightforward pathway had been … Read More

“My feelings didn’t have enough space inside my body.”

June 27, 2025

A review of “A Little Less Broken” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

Marian Schembari’s memoir about learning she was autistic at age 34 is called a “hybrid memoir” because it combines a personal story with biomedical research. But is it stirring?  Do people love this … Read More

“If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat.”

June 22, 2025

A review of “I Know the Caged Bird Sings” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

What makes a memoir great? Honesty, insight, humor, compassion? What about metaphors? Comparing a feeling to something you can see requires a lot of creativity. Look at how Angelo compares “shame” … Read More

“The ground suddenly seemed a long way down and escape far away.”

June 14, 2025

A review of “Five Tuesdays in Winter” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

Short stories can be more than appetizers. But the challenge of creating a world with vivid characters who do something that matters to us in a compressed format is great. The length is a … Read More