Maddie Crum

Jun 4, 2024 | vulture.com | Maris Kreizman |Emma Alpern |Maddie Crum |Tope Folarin

best of 2024 The novels and nonfiction that offered unique robotproof perspectives. It has been a rough year for makers of original media, with the increasing use of generative AI threatening the livelihood of writers, editors, and artists of all kinds as well as the intelligence of readers.

Apr 3, 2024 | vulture.com | Emma Alpern |Maddie Crum |Tope Folarin |Emily Gould

This list is updated monthly with new “best of the year” worthy titles. The year may still be young, but 2024 has already brought a treasure trove of surprising new books. Multiple celebrated first-time authors have returned with highly anticipated, ambitious follow-up novels. Memoir and reportage are skillfully blended together for a collection of essays on the climate crises. A former Village Voice journalist delivers a vibrant oral history of the beloved alternative weekly.

Mar 11, 2024 | washingtonpost.com | Maddie Crum

“Eight two-minute rounds, with time-outs and pauses between rounds, is barely enough time for anything at all to happen,” writes Rita Bullwinkel in her first novel, “Headshot.” Yet, her book is framed within those confines: as a set of matches between eight American teens competing in Reno, Nev., to win the Women’s Youth Boxing Association title.

Nov 21, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Maddie Crum

CommentSaveLexi Freiman has the qualities of a great comic writer: She’s deeply skeptical, sparing no one, including herself; she doesn’t ruminate at the expense of good timing; and most of all, she understands that the spirit of comedy, like the spirit of art, is risk, that a joke is a leap, and that an uncertain landing is what makes it pleasurable, rousing, even deep.

Oct 27, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Maddie Crum

CommentSaveMelissa Broder’s third novel, “Death Valley,” is a metafictional dark comedy set in an enchanted desert. It is also, above all else, a study of sadness. This isn’t a fault but a challenge: how to render emotional suffering not only as a tone or an affect, but as a story in itself, with twists and turns and characters who make choices — with a plot? The book’s unnamed narrator is wrestling with this question, mostly because her editor wants her to.