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Bridgette Bates

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Like Her or Not

by Bridgette Bates on May 1, 2013

On the grandiose end of the spectrum of self-delusion, Hitler genuinely thought of himself as good. “Nobody is a villain to themselves,” says novelist Claire Messud. In a menacing evil voice she mocks how real “bad guys” don’t stand around rubbing their hands together declaring, “I am evil.” Instead they battle their own tunnel vision like her new protagonist Nora Eldridge. Although Nora is not remotely as deplorable as Hitler, readers will deeply struggle with liking her. And how much does that fact matter? “It generally seems like we’re in a moment of cultural lunacy where it’s ...

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Superstar to the World, Insecure Patriarch Behind Closed Doors

by Bridgette Bates on March 15, 2013

If Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins had an illicit affair, Christine Sneed’s Little Known Facts might be the love child. The intertwining threads of pop-culture obsession, romantic triangles, and experimental form make for a comparable offshoot, but burrowing deeper into the DNA of Sneed’s debut novel, her own unique thumbprint emerges. Although this is her first published novel, this is the fourth Sneed has written, and it’s a follow-up to her 2010 award-winning short story collection Portraits of a Few People I’ve Made Cry. Sneed’s ...

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The Appalachian Trail to Everywhere

by Bridgette Bates on Feb. 26, 2013

Over the years, Ron Rash’s instincts for obliquely artful storytelling stationed in his native Appalachia have made him one of today’s most celebrated writers–both of his own region and in the nation at large. If Rash hasn’t wholly become a household name after writing the New York Times bestselling novels Serena and The Cove and winning a Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, then his readership will be sure to expand far beyond the Carolina mountains after Serena is adapted into a film starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. But before Hollywood greenlights the way ...

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At Home with the Middle Men

by Bridgette Bates on Feb. 20, 2013

Beyond the comic effect and the hankering for a burrito (leave your readers hungry, right?), why exactly is there a Del Taco reference in almost every story of Jim Gavin’s debut story collection? Gavin explains that although the motif was inadvertent, he grew up eating at the chain, so it feels like home (check out his Tumblr page if you think we’re kidding). Even if you’ve never been to southern California, as soon as you step into Middle Men, you will feel a sense of familiarity. In the spirit of the ubiquitous ode to home of the ...

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'We Live in Water' (and Stumble to the Ground)

by Bridgette Bates on Feb. 12, 2013

If you are one of the many fans of last year’s best-seller and critical hit Beautiful Ruins, you’ll be happy to know that Jess Walter has not left his readers in the usual five or 10-year gestational lurch. His new book, We Live in Water, a pithily wrought collection of short stories (and short short stories), is a first for the genre-stretching author, who began his career as a journalist. He has since written six novels, one nonfiction book, and a few screenplays and poems for good measure, but needing a writing break from the expansive breadth of ...

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