The Chamber of Secrets: J.K. Rowling's Second Act
The Identity Crisis of Zadie Smith
NW By Zadie Smith (Penguin Press, 401 pp., $26.95) READ MORE >>
The Limits of Feeling
Across the Land and the Water: Selected Poems, 1964–2001 By W.G. Sebald Translated by Iain Galbraith (Random House, 166 pp., $25) READ MORE >>
The video lasts all of twenty seconds. We see the doorway of a nondescript apartment building, several stories high, and neighbors above peering curiously down. A newlywed couple proceed down the steps: The groom wears a top hat and formal suit, the bride carries a lavish bouquet. The camera pans up, and there she is, leaning out of a second-floor balcony, instantly recognizable. READ MORE >>
Was ‘Frankenstein’ Really About Childbirth?
No Book Will Fix What’s Wrong With American Parenting
The other day, a friend and I were walking down a crowded sidewalk when we noticed a little boy of about three. We noticed him not because he was adorable (though he was), but because he was hitting his father with a giant stick. As they passed us—the boy hitting, the father ignoring—the boy’s flailing stick hit my companion. Only the boy’s mother, running after them, seemed to notice. “Sorry,” she flung out breathlessly, smiling. READ MORE >>
