On Death and Dignity in Emily Ruskovich’s Beautiful Novel, ‘Idaho’
Idaho asks, is time the element that binds us all? What does it mean to dream? Can our dreams be shared?
Shyam K. Sriram
Shyam K. Sriram is a doctoral student in political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written for PopMatters since 2008, and has also contributed to The Aerogram, The eJournal of Public Affairs, The Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, South Asian Diaspora, and other publications. He considers meeting Gene Wilder in 2010 to be one of the highlights of his life. He can be reached at [email protected] .
‘Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows’, ‘Marriage of a Thousand Lies’ & ‘No One Can Pronounce My Name’
While the post-9/11 period and its racialization and criminalization of brown bodies marked one epoch of the South Asian experience, recent South Asian immigrant literature suggests the beginning of another frame: sexuality.
Thin Lizzy / Philip Lynott Bio ‘Cowboy Song’ Is Like Reading the Best Liner Notes, Ever
Cowboy Song is not the first biography of Thin Lizzy and/or Lynott, but it is profoundly well-researched and may be the best.
Behind Francis Ford Coppola’s Magic, the Work: ‘The Godfather Notebook’
No one other than Coppola could have directed The Godfather, because the mental effort to work Puzo’s world into film is on the level of science fiction.
To Be Iranian Is to Be in a State of Perpetual Motion and Discovery
Hamid Dabashi's Iran Without Borders is a paean to the alternate ways in which the “real” Iran has been depicted since the 19th century.
David Coggins’ ‘Men and Style’ and Our Infatuation With Being Cool
In an age of renewed discussion and debate over the true definition of masculinity “versus” femininity, how relevant is a book like Men and Style?
Gayle Forman’s ‘Leave Me’ Reminded Me of Erma Bombeck’s Work
Everyone who has ever been married might see some of themselves in this story.
A 21st-century Muckraker Pierces the Heart of the Internet in ‘Reading the Comments’
If Eggers' The Circle gave us a glance at the inimical nature of social media via Orwell’s idea of “groupthink”, then Reagle takes us even deeper into why we love to comment on anything and everything.
Race Mixing in ‘Absalom’s Daughters’
This is not an attempt to rewrite Faulkner as much as it's a cogent effort at bringing women and people of color to the forefront of a Faulkner-inspired work.
Thomas-Christopher-Greene’s Well-Crafted Vignettes in ‘If I Forget You’
Green’s new novel takes about 30 pages to get used to, but once our seatbelts are securely fastened and we have attained cruising altitude, it's difficult to put down.
Ottaviani and Purvis’s ‘The Imitation Game’ Is an Extraordinary Achievement
I thought of the notion of purity of the mind, of a kind of almost frustrating innocence, as I read this new biographical graphic novel about Alan Turing.
Charles Bukowski’s ‘On Love’ and ‘On Cats’
Bukowski's voice and style swung wildly over his lifetime, and collections varied considerably in quality depending on the whims of editors