Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel, Karen Russell’s The Antidote, and Torrey Peters’ Stag Dance all feature among the best reviewed fiction titles of the month.
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1. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
(Pantheon)
8 Rave • 6 Positive • 1 Mixed
Read an excerpt from The Dream Hotel here
“Powerful, richly conceived … Lalami skates along at the height of her powers as a writer of intelligent, complex characters … Although it relies on a speculative technology for its plot, The Dream Hotel is astounding, elegantly constructed, character-driven fiction.”
–Anita Felicelli (The Los Angeles Times)
2. Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
(Random House)
11 Rave • 1 Mixed
“Peters excels at plumbing the murky hearts of queer people … A great Torrey Peters story feels like punching yourself in the face, laughing at the bleeding bitch in the mirror and then shamefacedly realizing you’re aroused by the blood on your lips. The four pieces in Stag Dance will leave you bruised, broken and wanting more.”
–Hugh Ryan (The New York Times Book Review)
3. The Antidote by Karen Russell
(Knopf)
9 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan
Read an interview with Karen Russell here
“Russell constructed a novel underpinned by an elaborate embroidery of social, geological, historical, and environmental research on the impact of American Western expansion … She effortlessly weaves in other characters whose unique gifts shed light on the lacunae of history … If this sounds like a dense novel, you’re only halfway right. The book is threaded with more subplots and histories as well as characters than I can elaborate upon here. However, her sharp narrative grasp guides the reader from character to character as the book unfolds. Russell’s vivid characters retain an element of mystery, which speaks to the novel’s larger point.”
–Lauren LeBlanc (The Los Angeles Times)
4. Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett
(Riverhead)
7 Rave • 5 Positive
Read an excerpt from Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One here
“Wild, luxurious and absurd is also a killer (clown) description of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, a novel in which Arnett’s craft and her comedy are on full and feral display.”
–Annie Berke (The Washington Post)
5. Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah
(Riverhead)
8 Rave • 2 Positive • 1 Mixed
“There’s something almost disorienting about Gurnah’s narrative as he moves from one person to the next, willfully thwarting our desire to settle on a protagonist … Delicate … Karim develops into a dashing, volcanic, morally compromised character who catches the eye. But Gurnah’s heart—and ours—lies elsewhere in this novel. Writing a story around a young man as subtle and apparently insignificant as Badar is a kind of argument about the value of true character.”
–Ron Charles (The Washington Post)
