Heller McAlpin

3 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Heller McAlpin

John Seabrook’s “The Spinach King” is a great American tragedy – about his own family. In this thoughtful, cautionary tale, the longtime New Yorker magazine staff writer reports on how three generations of his forebears, beginning with his great-grandfather, revolutionized vegetable farming and the frozen food business in southwestern New Jersey. And how, in the process, they amassed a fortune but fractured their family. As in most tragedies, the Seabrooks’ rise and fall are driven by hubris.

1 month ago | nhpr.org | Heller McAlpin

Consider yourself kissed — and hugged and understood — by Jessica Stanley's smart, oh-so-relatable tale of a woman who seems to have assembled all the pieces of a happy life but feels like she's lost herself in the process.

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Heller McAlpin

NowEdward St. Aubyn returns with a wide-ranging narrative anchored by a schizophrenic patient. PARALLEL LINES, by Edward St. Aubyn “My funny Guillotine … sweet, comic Guillotine,” he sings. Also: “Pill-cutter, pill-cutter, cut me a pill.” And: “Senator Krupke, I’m down on my knees, because nobody wants …

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Heller McAlpin

In "The South," a Malaysian man recalls the life-changing period he spent on his family's dilapidated farm when he was a teenager. When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. THE SOUTH, by Tash AwAs a critic, I often come across international writers, even those who write in English, who are widely celebrated in their own countries while barely known in the United States.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Heller McAlpin

In 2019, Ocean Vuong, an award-winning Vietnamese American poet, stunned readers with his first novel. “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” was a brutal and tender coming-of-age story about surviving the aftermath of political and domestic trauma, written in the form of a son’s letter to his illiterate mother. In his unremittingly gorgeous second novel, “The Emperor of Gladness,” Vuong again deftly walks a tightrope between despair and hope, heartache and love.