Love Always

Ann Beattie. Vintage Books USA, $15 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-394-74418-6

Lacking the elements that distinguish Beattie's earlier novels, Love Always relies instead on transparent and relentless use of her several stylistic idiosyncracies. The results are stereotyped characters and situations. ""Bleak and unconvincing,'' PW found. (August)

Featured Fiction Reviews

Maggie Su

In Su’s marvelous debut, a Taiwanese American woman sculpts a seemingly perfect partner out of a sentient blob. Two years after failing out of college, Vi works as a hotel Continue reading »

Bob the Drag Queen

Bob the Drag Queen, a former winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, debuts with a vivacious narrative that sees Harriet Tubman magically brought back to life. Revived in the present day Continue reading »

Cristina Rivera Garza

A poetry-obsessed serial killer mutilates men in this unforgettable literary puzzle from Rivera Garza, who won the Pulitzer for her memoir, Liliana’s Invincible Summer. After a Continue reading »

Haruki Murakami

Bestseller Murakami (Killing Commendatore) unspools an intoxicating fantasy of a parallel world. The unnamed middle-aged narrator recounts how, at 17, he fell in love with a Continue reading »