tue 15/07/2025

book reviews and features

Chantal Ackerman: My Mother Laughs review - too umbilically linked?

India Lewis

My Mother Laughs was first published in Chantal Ackerman’s native French in 2013. This year it has been...

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John le Carré: Agent Running in the Field review - fake news, Brexit and Cold war echoes

Marina Vaizey

That John le Carré! It turns out the agent isn’t so much running in the field as playing badminton. The master of the ...

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Hisham Matar: A Month in Siena review – memories, framed

India Lewis

A Month in Siena is a sweet, short mediation on art, grief, and life. Ostensibly describing the time and...

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Thomas J Campanella: Brooklyn - The Once and Future City review - out of Manhattan's shadow

Liz Thomson

For visitors to New York, it’s all about Manhattan, its 23 square miles of skyscraper-encrusted granite...

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Great Women Artists review - the book we have been waiting for

Sarah Kent

Every now and then a book comes out that can change lives. If a survey like this had appeared when I was a student at the Slade, the struggle to make headway as a female artist would have seemed...

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Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

theartsdesk

She has more armed guards than she has luggage. She has a sense of purpose even Magsalin admires. She rides along the coast toward a historic place and, by simply stepping on its soil, she will...

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Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

theartsdesk

She had clutched the envelope given by the shy messenger, but she had never opened it.

The Intended.

True. The message from the director was for her.

A joke between...

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Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

theartsdesk

At first, what puts Magsalin off at the pastry shop is Chiara’s voice. It is nasal, and her monotone, a bored flatness, even in the most interesting parts, keeps Magsalin, or the pastry shop...

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Zadie Smith: Grand Union review – a roller coaster collection

Sarah Collins

“Adorable cock, nothing too dramatic, suitable for many situations,” remarks Monica on the penis of her university boyfriend. She is the candid protagonist of ‘Sentimental Education’, the second...

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Joanna Cannon: Breaking and Mending review - can you feel too much?

Marina Vaizey

Joanna Cannon was a wild card. She left school at 15 with one O-level and after various jobs, including working as a barmaid, she was given a place at...

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