Category: Book Reviews
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How We’re Failing Our Boys in Education
Contemporary education methods are particularly unappealing to boys
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Elvis in Vegas: An Artistic Resurrection, Part I
Sinatra and Elvis make for an interesting study in contrasts.
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Normal People: Sally Rooney’s Insufferable Characters
At times it feels that Normal People could be categorized as women’s fiction more properly given that it is written specifically to appeal to female sensibilities.
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Is Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar a Feminist Novel?
The Bell Jar is commonly viewed as a withering critique of expectations of women in the 1950s. The novel is perhaps this, but it is also more. Themes of the stifling roles of women in the ‘50s are present, yes. Yet the alternative to these traditional roles, as represented by independent, career minded women, are…
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When I was Puerto Rican: a Portrait of the Soul of a Writer
The ironic title begs the question: How could it be that someone was Puerto Rican, if it’s an ethnic identity? Ah, but to live there can be a temporary thing, despite that it might live inside you. And moving is after all a motif of Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir. The amount of times Santiago moves is…
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An Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates’ Short Story “Big Burnt”
“Big Burnt” is one of several rich narratives from Joyce Carol Oates’ short story collection Beautiful Days. Protagonist Lisbeth Mueller is diffident, full of rich inner life, and emotionally vulnerable. The male protagonist, Mikael Brun, is cold and taciturn. Lisbeth, often referred to simply as “the woman,” goes on a trip with an accomplished, middle-aged…
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Girl, Interrupted: a Comparison of the Book vs. the Movie
A successful film adaptation works in synergy with the book, generating interest, and bringing acclaim to the author who could only welcome such a development. Such is the case with Girl, Interrupted. Angelina Jolie portrays the wild Lisa with swagger, bringing the character to life. Susanna Kaysen, author of Girl, Interrupted, describes Lisa as “thin…
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Michael Cohen’s Disloyal: a Repentant Lawyer Throws Stones
Cohen frequently expresses his moral revulsion at his own actions and antics as Trump’s executive vice president and personal attorney.