New & Notable Fiction: May 2012

by Ben Fountain

War is hell in this novel of inspired absurdity. Full review >

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by Richard Ford

At the start of the novel’s coda, when Dell explains that he teaches his students “books that to me seem secretly about my... Full review >

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by Jillian Medoff

Medoff’s fully realized novel beautifully explores the most important relationships we create: as parent, as sibling, as... Full review >

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by Daniel Friedman

A sardonically appealing debut for a detective who assures his long-suffering grandson, “I care about people. I just don’t... Full review >

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by Therese Bohman

A slim novel with a taut narrative line and a sense of impending disaster. Full review >

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by Lucia Perillo

Emotionally unflinching stories of considerable power, wonder and humor. Full review >

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by Laurent Binet translated by Sam Taylor

Binet deserves great kudos for retrieving this fateful, half-forgotten episode, spotlighting Nazi infamy, celebrating its... Full review >

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by Toni Morrison

At the outset, this might seem like minor Morrison (A Mercy, 2008, etc.), not only because its length is borderline novella,... Full review >

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by Joseph Kanon

With dialogue that can go off like gunfire and a streak of nostalgia that feels timeless, this book takes its place among... Full review >

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by Paul Theroux

Theroux has recaptured the sweep and density of his 1981 masterpiece The Mosquito Coast. That’s some achievement. Full review >

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by José Saramago translated by Giovanni Pontiero

Saramago writes beautifully, and his style is ruminative—not for every taste, but definitely for those who appreciate finely... Full review >

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by Jerzy Pilch & translated by David Frick

It’s hard to do justice to the outré and eccentric but gorgeous quality of Pilch’s prose. Here he manages to pull off some... Full review >

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by John Irving

Woody Allen’s bon mot about bisexuality is that it doubled one’s chances for a date, but in this novel Irving explores in... Full review >

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by Jon Talton

Talton (Deadline Man, 2010, etc.) crafts a solid mystery while telling the engrossing, sometimes poignant story of a cop... Full review >

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by Victor del Árbol

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by Lynn Shepherd

Shepherd offers an intricate plot and a thousand details of the least-admirable side of Victorian life. A must-read. Full review >

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by Jo Baker

Immediate, poignant and rarely predictable, this searchingly observant work captures a huge terrain of personal aspiration... Full review >

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by Deni Y. Béchard

Reportedly at work on a book about conservation in the Congolese rainforest, the author clearly has ambitions as big as his... Full review >

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by Jennifer Miller

A gripping thrill ride that’s also a thoughtful coming-of-age story. Full review >

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