Chelsea Leu

San Francisco

Writer and Book Critic at Freelance

Words in @nytimes, @TheAtlantic, @NewYorker, @believermag; formerly @the_rumpus, @wired. Desperately uncool.

Articles

'Perspective(s),' by Laurent Binet

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Chelsea Leu

Laurent Binet's novel "Perspective(s)" begins with an artist lying dead in a Florentine chapel. When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. PERSPECTIVE(S), by Laurent Binet; translated by Sam TaylorIn one of the more improbable moments in "Perspective(s)" - a novel filled with improbable moments - the 16th-century painter and author Giorgio Vasari uses the artistic technique of perspective to save his own life.
Colored Television by Danzy Senna review - race as performance

Oct 16, 2024 | theguardian.com | Chelsea Leu

Early in Colored Television, 46-year-old Jane Gibson imagines her past self peering through the window of the home she lives in. “Brooklyn Jane” would admire this architecturally interesting house on the hills overlooking Los Angeles, she thinks, and see within it an idyllic scene of family life featuring Jane’s painter husband Lenny – “From a distance, in his horn-rimmed glasses, reading his serious book, he would look like an inspired choice” – and their two children, Ruby and Finn.
Seven Books That Explain What Makes Other People Tick

Sep 5, 2024 | msn.com | Chelsea Leu

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Seven Books That Explain What Makes Other People Tick

Sep 5, 2024 | msn.com | Chelsea Leu

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Seven Books That Explain What Makes Other People Tick

Sep 5, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Chelsea Leu

Other people can be baffling. Even in our closest relationships, loved ones frequently behave in ways that can seem inexplicable. Why can’t your friend recognize her self-destructive foibles? Why do you find your co-worker so grating? Partners insist on misinterpreting each other; voters are convinced that their political opponents are irredeemably wrong—and in these disputes, the other side’s point of view feels not just incorrect but also completely alien. In short, why are other people like this?
What to Read When You Want to Quit

Aug 7, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Chelsea Leu

Even if you like what you do for a living most days, actually working can be tough. In pursuit of hazy notions of success, many of us spend the prime of our lives jumping through hoops that other people tell us to jump through, or toiling toward a promotion we’re not at all sure is coming. Frequently, labor is less a source of purpose and more a necessity that allows one to pay the bills.
Don’t Give Up on Tourism. Just Do It Better.

Jun 30, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Chelsea Leu

In 1956, the poet Elizabeth Bishop worried about the imprudence and absurdity of going abroad. “Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?” she writes in her poem “Questions of Travel.” “Is it right to be watching strangers in a play / in this strangest of theatres?
Eight Books to Read If You’re in a Creative Slump

Jun 12, 2024 | msn.com | Chelsea Leu

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What to Read When You’re Out of Ideas

Jun 12, 2024 | theatlantic.com | Chelsea Leu

Having a creative block is an invisible psychological torment. You sit and stare at a computer screen or a blank page, willing ideas to come into your head. But none appear, or they’re all terrible, and eventually you begin to wonder whether you’ll ever have an original thought again. The worst part is the horrible feeling of helplessness that comes with a block. The condition is like quicksand: The harder you try to dig your way out of it, the more your own lack of inspiration overwhelms you.
Real Americans by Rachel Khong – the lottery of life

Apr 24, 2024 | msn.com | Chelsea Leu

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