Allegra Goodman Journalist Profile

Articles

Anne Tyler’s ‘Three Days in June’ kicks off 10 best books of February

2 months ago | csmonitor.com | Jack Wang |Amanda Peters |Tom Lamont |Allegra Goodman

The Riveter, by Jack WangJack Wang’s debut novel about a Chinese Canadian man serving his country during World War II offers a fresh perspective on an oft-covered conflict. Logger Josiah Chang leaves the backwoods to work in Vancouver’s shipyards. Driven by a love affair and the hope of citizenship, he enlists. Whether he’s in training or in battle, Josiah’s principled decency powers the absorbing tale.
Book Report Vol. 13

2 months ago | beccafreeman.substack.com | Sarah Adams |Carley Fortune |Allegra Goodman |Lucy Parker

Hi book pals,January was a big reading month over here. It was cold, the real world was generally bad, and I was awaiting feedback on my latest book draft, so had more reading time than usual. Which means, today’s book report is a long one. You might want to open it in your browser to see the whole thing… there’s lots of tasty book-to-screen news worth making it to the bottom for. Also, since I already told you my Onyx Storm thoughts the other week, I’ll skip them here.
'Private Rites,' by Julia Armfield

Nov 29, 2024 | nytimes.com | Allegra Goodman |Julia Armfield

PRIVATE RITES, by Julia Armfield"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!/You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout/Till you have drench'd our steeples," Shakespeare's King Lear shouts into the storm after he is spurned by two of his three daughters. Taking his desperate cry as its inspiration, Julia Armfield's captivating novel "Private Rites" imagines a present city resembling London where storms haven't just drenched steeples; they've drowned entire churches.
Starred Reviews for Jonathan Evison, Neil Shubin, Sacha Mardou, Allegra Goodman, and more!

Nov 20, 2024 | penguinrandomhouselibrary.com | Kate McManus |Ada Calhoun |Victoria Christopher Murray |Allegra Goodman

By Kate McManus | November 20 2024 | Starred Reviews With starred reviews from publications including Booklist and Library Journal — your patrons will want to read these much-anticipated books that reviewers are raving about.
Book Review | The Young, the Rich and the Guilty

Oct 8, 2024 | momentmag.com | Allegra Goodman

Long Island CompromiseBy Taffy Brodesser-AknerRandom House, 464 pp. “They were the shining realization of the Jewish American dream, people who could load their plates with all that this country had to offer.” These are the Fletchers in Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s rollicking, unsettling new novel Long Island Compromise. Zelig Fletcher makes his fortune in polystyrene and with his wife Phyllis establishes a family compound on Long Island Sound.
“Ambrose,” by Allegra Goodman

Sep 22, 2024 | newyorker.com | Allegra Goodman

Lily wants to live in the old days. Her mom, Debra, says, No, you don’t, because in the old days all women did was cook and sew and die in childbirth, but Lily still wishes she could travel back in time. Her older sister, Sophie, says, Stop, you just hate school, and that is true. Lily hates sixth grade. However, Lily hates other things, too, like parties and kissing games and boys keeping score. Guess what? Sophie says. There were parties in the old days, too. Sophie is more pragmatic than Lily.
Light and Darkness

Apr 26, 2024 | jewishreviewofbooks.com | David Wolpe |Akiva Schick |Allegra Goodman

Farrar, Strauss and Giroux 352 pp., $29 Marilynne Robinson’s God makes surprising sense. Not that her conception of God is simple. Long before Robinson published her new commentary of the book of Genesis, she and her characters were mindful of its unpredictable God.
Od Tireh, Od Tireh . . .

Apr 26, 2024 | jewishreviewofbooks.com | Allegra Goodman |Akiva Schick |Michael Weingrad

New Vessel Press 320 pp., $17.95 The first time I laughed out loud was on page eleven, when Ilana Goldstein, the titular Hebrew teacher of Maya Arad’s new collection, meets the newly minted professor of Hebrew and Jewish literature at her midwestern university. Yoad Bergman-Harari trained at Berkeley and has just completed a postdoc at Columbia.
Review | For an aging novelist, the blurring lines of fact and fiction

Jul 20, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Allegra Goodman

CommentArt reveals and conceals. Fiction is a noble pursuit and a fool’s errand. An attempt to convey true feeling, and a pack of lies. These are just some of the paradoxes Tom Rachman explores in “The Imposters,” a witty novel about a Dutch novelist named Dora Frenhofer whose life has become a jumble of fact and fiction.
Book Review: ‘Pete and Alice in Maine,’ by Caitlin Shetterly

Jul 1, 2023 | nytimes.com | Allegra Goodman

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/books/review/pete-and-alice-in-maine-caitlin-shetterly.htmlFictionRemember the people who fled to second homes during the pandemic? Caitlin Shetterly wrote a novel about them. July 1, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ETPETE AND ALICE IN MAINE, by Caitlin ShetterlyWherever you go, there you are.