Jake Cline

Mar 24, 2025 | washingtonpost.com | Jake Cline

“Sister Europe,” the compact and spiky new novel from Nell Zink, begins late on a Tuesday afternoon in Berlin and ends at 4 the following morning. Only a recluse, though, would mistake what happens here for a wild night on the town. Set in 2023, the novel’s main events are a literary awards ceremony and a trip to a Burger King. Sure, one character gets drunk on wine and another contemplates buying cocaine, but this novel’s drug of choice is unfiltered conversation laced with wit and desperation.

Jul 8, 2024 | washingtonpost.com | Jake Cline

Weirdos don’t know they’re strange. Anyone who claims to be weird isn’t, at least not inherently. Sure, a person can devise an infinite number of ways to separate themselves from everyone else, and they can engage in any number of methods of making sure everyone knows they’ve done so. But a true weirdo never tries to be different. A weirdo just is. And, to be clear, by “weirdo,” I mean “Floridian.”Laura van den Berg gets all that.

Jun 6, 2024 | washingtonpost.com | Jake Cline

“The writer is often faced with two choices,” the late Nigerian author Chinua Achebe argued, “turn away from the reality of life’s intimidating complexity or conquer its mystery by battling with it.” Based on the three novels he has produced so far, Chigozie Obioma appears to not even be aware of that first option. His books — “The Fishermen,” “An Orchestra of Minorities” and the new “The Road to the Country” — charge headfirst into the thorniest areas of human existence.

Sep 19, 2023 | lmtonline.com | Nathan HIll |Nathan Paul Hill |Jake Cline

- - - Jack Baker and Elizabeth Augustine are Generation Xers with true Gen-X concerns: She fears being perceived as a sellout. He worries about being seen as ordinary. Both think of themselves as orphans, even though their parents are alive, if emotionally distant.

Sep 19, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Jake Cline

Jack Baker and Elizabeth Augustine are Generation Xers with true Gen X concerns: She fears being perceived as a sellout. He worries about being seen as ordinary. Both think of themselves as orphans, even though their parents are alive, if emotionally distant.