The Devil & Sherlock Holmes is a collection of David Grann’s investigative journalism, covering a wide range of topics (though, as the subtitle of this book suggests, he is a bit fixated on stories of murder, madness and obsession, particularly the latter). David Grann is very good at what he does, and this collection is proof of that. All the essays in this book have been previously published in newspapers and magazines, including the two essays that gave the inspiration for the mashed-up title (“Mysterious […]
I’m not joining the fan club
This book has gotten a load of press, particularly since the Trump election. Reviewers and pundits see it as an explanation of the Trump phenomenon — who voted for that rat bastard and why? The disaffected and neglected white working class, that’s who! Of course, it is a mistake to think that it is just the white working class who bear responsibility for Trump. As Ta Nehisi Coates and others have pointed out, Trump’s support is all about being white, with class having little to […]
She was, all by herself, an entire tribe of contradictions
You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me is a memoir about Sherman Alexie’s mother Lillian, his childhood, and Native American history; it’s about grief, anger, and forgiveness; it’s about victims of abuse, their bullies, and fighting back as a point of honor. It’s about the specific lives of Lillian Alexie and her son, and the general experience of Native Americans in white America. Ultimately, in order to try to understand the mother who both gave him so much and hurt him so much, Alexie […]
DISAPPOINTED
In 2002, I sat in a dark movie theater watching Attack of the Clones. Around the time Yoda goes from wise wielder of the Force to crazy Ninja muppet, I contemplated walking out. I’ve never left a movie theater mid-screening, but on that day I was sorely tempted. Not because Attack of the Clones was the worst movie I’d ever seen, or even the worst movie I’d ever paid to see; I just couldn’t face any more disappointment in that series. What was once a […]