5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

This week's must-read book reviews include Dwight Garner's praise for Marlon James's The Disappearers, a massive novel exploring gay experience and murderous homophobia in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s. Garner calls it a masterpiece, comparing it to the works of Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, and William Faulkner. The novel's lengthy and blunt language is raw and unsettling, yet deeply impactful.

Kate Tuttle reviews John Dos Passos's U.S.A. trilogy, a collection of three novels covering the birth of the 20th century to the Great Depression. Tuttle praises the ambitious scope and naturalistic style of Dos Passos's characters, who face the social and economic contradictions of their time. She notes the trilogy's political fervor and parallels to modern events.

Parul Sehgal reviews Rachel Cusk's The Life of M, describing it as a hard book to discuss in a family newspaper due to its coarse and wired language. Sehgal likens the novel to the slang of Patricia Highsmith, making it difficult to categorize in a conventional way.

Laura Miller reviews Kai Bird's American Scoundrel, a biography of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Miller notes that the book is more than the sum of its parts, covering a vast array of topics during the birth of the 20th century to the Great Depression. She praises the book's ambition and naturalistic portrayal of its characters.

Alexandra Harris reviews Colm Tóibín's The Bridge, a novel about a love affair between two men in 1930s Paris. Harris describes the novel's maximalist style and powerful exploration of themes such as love, identity, and the impact of historical events on personal lives.