Review

Ron Carlson recommends A Proper Knowledge, a novel by Michelle Latiolais: “Here is a deep look at a doctor who works with autistic children, so frustrated with science and the tiny progress he’s making with the young people with whom he works, that he comes to life himself. Latiolais writes sharply and beautifully about the…

Philip Levine recommends Space Walk, poems by Tom Sleigh: “Sleigh’s reviewers use words such as ‘adept,’ ‘elegant,’ and ‘classical.’ Reading his new book, I find all those terms beside the point, even though not one is inaccurate. I am struck by the human dramas that are enacted in these poems, the deep encounters that often…

David St. John recommends Intaglio, poems by Ariana-Sophia M. Kartsonis: “I only discovered this prize-winning collection earlier this year, and it stunned me with its rich and sensual language and complex narrative architectures. Without question one of the very finest debut volumes of recent years.” (Kent State)

Jane Hirshfield recommends The Opposite of Clairvoyance, poems by Gillian Wegener: “This is a first collection of uncommonly sure-handed grace. These poems, many set in California’s Central Valley, mix the recognizable with the revelatory in a way quietly but entirely Wegener’s own. They see exactly what was there to be seen, but wasn’t, and then…

James Alan McPherson recommends The Interloper, a novel by Antoine Wilson: "The Interloper is an admirable exploration of the complex emotional bond that develops between an imprisoned man and another male, bent on vengeance, who employs the affectations of a female. The exploration of this developing bond will enlighten the novel’s readers. Antoine Wilson, a…

David St. John recommends Litanies Near Water, poems by Paula Clausson Buck: “Paula Clausson Buck’s latest collection is a stunning and quietly elegant series of meditations upon the power of human endurance and the grace of the imagination. Sometimes these lyrics feel prayer-like in their simplicity, and timeless in their daily revelations.” (LSU)

Gerald Stern recommends My Body, new and selected poems by Joan Larkin: "Over the decades of writing, Joan Larkin has proved her mastery, whether the poem is mythic, elegiac, or biographical. Her honesty is overwhelming, but it is coupled with poetic cunning, gorgeous language, and a rhythm and tone so precise and appropriate that it…