Category Archives: Modern Literary Fiction

The Copywriter – Daniel Poppick

(Reviewed by JD Jung) A witty, morally bracing portrait of an artist adrift in Trump-era America, where poetry, precarity, and conscience collide. (more…)Read More →

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Who Knows You by Heart – C. J. Farley

(Reviewed by JD Jung) In this multilayered and gripping novel, we are introduced to Octavia Crenshaw—a thirty-year-old Jamaican American software engineer whose journey is as compelling as the technological world that she navigates. A Columbia graduate and New Yorker, Octavia … Continue reading

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The Night Swimmer – Simon J Houlton

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Bill Eckersley, in his late thirties, drifts through life in the working-class seaside town of Hastings, England. He’s the kind of character who reminds us of the troubled, unstable writers we’ve all read about—but without the … Continue reading

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The Silence of Flesh: A Novel of Conscience, Identity, and Holy Vows – Glenn Cooper

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “People who are different, even outcasts by some, are not outcasts to the Lord.” Cardinal Anthony Budd had no desire to become Pope. Also, it was unlikely since he was an outsider and would be only … Continue reading

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Beautiful and Terrible Things- S.M. Stevens

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(Reviewed by Don Jung) Twenty-nine-year-old Charley Byrne is going through the motions of life without actually living it. Having lost her parents at age sixteen and her grandparents at age twenty-three, she works as a bookstore manager with few friends. … Continue reading

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Liars: A Novel – Sarah Manguso

(Reviewed by JD Jung)   When Jane met her future husband, John Bridges, she was ecstatic. Since she was a writer, she was attracted to him being an artist and photographer. What she didn’t realize was that the demands of … Continue reading

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Wait: A Novel – Gabriella Burnham

(Reviewed by JD Jung)     “They threw me out of the country like I was a nothing.” Wait delves into the intricate layers of family, identity, and the harsh realities faced by undocumented immigrants in the United States. Through … Continue reading

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The Deceived Ones – Judith Krummeck

(Reviewed by JD Jung)   “Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it.”-     Ukrainian proverb Vira Blyzinska fled to Poland from her home in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. She brought little with her … Continue reading

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Goldenseal – Maria Hummel

(Reviewed by JD Jung)   Lacey and Edith, ages seventy and seventy-one respectively, have been estranged for forty-four years. It’s now 1990, and Edith decides to travel across the country to visit her one-time best friend. Lacey, born in Prague, … Continue reading

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I Only Cry with Emoticons – Yuvi Zalkow

(reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “I feel like maybe he has an answer for me, because I don’t know how to act or what to do or who to be and I hate my job and I’m scared to lose … Continue reading

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