Review

The Classics Club

CC Spin: Review, “The Iceman Cometh” by Eugene O’Neill

Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) O’Neill, nevertheless, remains all but unique in his persistent and increasingly more nearly exclusive attempt to deal with modern life in such a way as to achieve the effect of classic tragedy. . . . Certainly no other significant playwright has so persisted in the conviction that, if a drama is to

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Close Reading: A Pivotal Scene in “The Silent Patient”

When I posted about The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, I wondered how many people actually engage with the text of mysteries or thrillers instead of just skimming to find out how the story ends. Michaelides leads the reader along so scintillatingly that a large part of the pleasure of reading this novel lies in

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Review: “Y Is for Yesterday”

Grafton, Sue. Y is for Yesterday Random House Audio, © 2017 (print edition also © 2017) Recommended I’m always eager to read the newest installment of Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series. However, this time my pleasure in digging into it was bittersweet. Y is, after all, the penultimate letter of the alphabet. This time Kinsey is

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Review: “The Blinds”

Background: Genre Fiction Genre is a term applied to different kinds of literature that can be defined by their subject matter, form, or technique. According to A Handbook to Literature, 7th ed., by William Harmon & C. Hugh Holman (Prentice Hall, 1996): Genre classification implies that there are groups of formal or technical characteristics among

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Review: “Every Last Lie”

Kubica, Mary. Every Last Lie Harlequin Audio, © 2017 (print edition also © 2017) I enjoyed Mary Kubica’s first three novels: The Good Girl (2014), Pretty Baby (2015), and Don’t You Cry (2016). Each features a twist at the end. But these twists aren’t simple plot tricks designed to shock or titillate readers. Rather, they

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Review: “The Late Show”

Connelly, Michael. The Late Show Hachette Audio, © 2017 ISBN 978–1–619–69430–9 (print book © 2017) Recommended Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. His two series characters are LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch and criminal defense lawyer Mickey Haller, known as the Lincoln lawyer because he works primarily from the back seat of a

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Review: “Dark Matter”

Crouch, Blake. Dark Matter Crown, © 2016 ISBN 978–1–101–90422–0 Highly recommended It’s the beautiful thing about youth. There’s a weightlessness that permeates everything because no damning choices have been made, no paths committed to, and the road forking out ahead is pure, unlimited potential. (p. 10) I don’t give out many five-star ratings, but this

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Review: “So Long, See You Tomorrow”

Maxwell, William. So Long, See You Tomorrow Random House, 1980 ISBN 0–679–76720–7 I very much doubt that I would have remembered for more than fifty years the murder of a tenant farmer I never laid eyes on if (1) the murderer hadn’t been the father of somebody I knew, and (2) I hadn’t later on

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