Book Review: Self-Portrait with Nothing
September 2, 2024
Where lesser novels try to disguise a lack of substance, Pokwatka chooses to explore the inner worlds that multiple realities can mine.
Renata reads mostly fiction, especially novels and short stories from the broad church that is slipstream. Dearly beloveds include George Saunders, Toni Morrison, Mikhail Bulgakov, Ali Smith, Colston Whitehead, Louise Erdrich, Elizabeth Knox, Kelly Link, Alan Garner, Lydia Millet, Geraldine McCaughrean . . . She could go on and on — and if you meet her in the bookshop, she quite possibly will.
Where lesser novels try to disguise a lack of substance, Pokwatka chooses to explore the inner worlds that multiple realities can mine.
These prompts encourage philosophers young and old to ponder life’s mysteries, and embrace the idea that not every question has an answer.
The tender – and revelatory – nature of the pair’s relationship is just one of this incredible novel’s many expertly evoked complexities.
More impressionistic than ‘There, There’, this sophomore novel resists the pressure to repeat a winning formula – a pressure to which many breakout novelists succumb.
This is the jazz-infused, speculative crime noir mash-up you didn’t know you were looking for! Sparkling with energy and invention.
The London of the Lockwood & Co series has been hit by a plague of ghosts. Only special children can see them…
In this delightfully audacious novel, Mason combines fiction, nature writing, and more to bring a patch of Massachusetts woodland to life.
This book follows friendships formed, the troubles with school, beloved grandparents, pets, and the value of independence.
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