‘Things in Nature Merely Grow’ Tackles Death Differently
Yiyun Li’s beautiful and complex autobiography Things in Nature Merely Grow is not about death or loss; it is about who we become when we lose.
death
‘The Shrouds’ and David Cronenberg’s Cinema of Bodily Grief
David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds harkens back to his early body horror obsessions with a poet’s tone, retaining the connective tissue that embodies him.
Ian Winwood’s ‘Bodies’ Laments Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Contractual Terms
In Bodies: Life and Death in Music, critic Ian Winwood chronicles the wreckage of a reckless industry and wonders if there is another way.
‘The Baby-Sitters Club’ Can Help Children Cope with COVID-era Death
As the COVID-19 pandemic upends our families, communities, and way of life, children, especially, struggle with loss. Rachel Shukert's Netflix series, The Baby-Sitters Club can help.
‘I Am, I Am, I Am’ Is a Celebration of Life in the Midst of (Near) Death
Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am is a unique twist on the memoir, framed by 17 stories of harrowing near-misses.
The End of Endings: How ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ and Don DeLillo’s ‘Zero K’ Explain the Current State of Storytelling
Somehow, without realizing it, for both DeLillo and Rowling, death, the end of the world, and endings themselves are best emblematized by a dysfunctional father/son relationship.
The End of Endings; or, Why Won’t Anyone Stay Dead?
What does it mean when our stories and our characters, unlike our lives, refuse to come to an end?
Probing the Unfathomable in Samantha Hunt’s ‘The Dark Dark’
Hunt turns the domestic inside out to find the supernatural lurking within.
‘Rebellious Mourning’ Explores Getting Through the Darkness to the Other Side
Those on the journey -- from initial mourning to grieving (finite or long-term) -- must have a guide.
Madonna Isn’t That Interesting, But Alina Simone Is
Madonnaland is not the end-cap of Simone's existential musings; it's an intense jewel in the already sparkly crown of a consistently perceptive critic.
Donald Hall’s ‘Essays After Eighty’ Is an Unsparing Look at Extreme Old Age
To presume to review works of this level is farcical; we can only be overjoyed by their continued existence.