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Home of the American Circus, by Allison Larkin: On Found Family and Coming Home Again
One of my very favorite subgenres in fiction is the "return to small hometown after extended absence" narrative.
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Greg Zimmerman
Have You Even Read Jess Walter, Bro?
This week, I got to review Jess Walter's latest novel, So Far Gone, for the Chicago Review of Books. It's a fantastic novel -- one of my favorites of…
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Greg Zimmerman
6
Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2025
This year, hot girl summer will give way to old white guy fall.
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Greg Zimmerman
11
The Antidote, by Karen Russell: Sparkling with Life and Originality
Karen Russell's new novel The Antidote is absolutely freaking brilliant.
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Greg Zimmerman
2

May 2025

Shelf Lives, Vol. 3: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
In the spring of 2012, as a fledgling books website calledBook Riot was just getting its legs, one of its leaders, Rebecca Joines Schinsky, began…
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Greg Zimmerman
7
Support Indie Presses That Lost NEA Funding: Open Letter Books Edition
Last week, The Chicago Review of Books published a tremendous tribute to indie publishers and literary journals who lost their National Endowment for…
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Greg Zimmerman
Bleeding Edge, by Thomas Pynchon: To the World Wide Web...and Beyond!
My head hurts, and I'm tired.
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Greg Zimmerman
"How Can I Be Brave?": An Interview with Samira Ahmed of Authors Against Book Bans
I have an interview piece up today on the Chicago Review of Books and I humbly implore you to read it; not because I did anything spectacular, but…
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Greg Zimmerman
1

April 2025

Dream State, by Eric Puchner: A New Take on the Multi-Generational Family Saga
Normally, you hear "multi-generational family saga" and your thoughts go to a novel starting around World War II and finishing up in present day.
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Greg Zimmerman
Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino: What Even Is a Human?
A few weeks ago, I got to hear Marie-Helene Bertino read from the short story that became the basis for her novel,Beautyland. The passages she read were…
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Greg Zimmerman
5
Shelf Lives, Vol 2: Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
(To read an introduction to Shelf Lives, and the first "issue" about Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's Americanah, click here.)
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Greg Zimmerman
8
Ron Currie Is Back, Let's Celebrate! (Or, a Peek Inside the Reviewer's Mind)
Ron Currie's 2009 novel Everything Matters! blew me away -- it's a story about a kid who knows the exact moment he's going to die.
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Greg Zimmerman
1
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